As an organisation the Little Art School has always aimed towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). We want to ensure that as a business, we have a positive impact on the local community where we operate. The #DailyDraw has been a good example where being part of communal effort, not only makes us feel good about doing something positive but it can also have a positive impact on our reputation. We have found over the years that by living to our values does not have to collide with our ambition to grow our business; the two go hand in hand.
In recent months, as we have grappled with the challenges of the Pandemic, we have also begun to actively make changes to ensure that we live by our values with regard to the environment. Consideration towards our natural environment is an important part of being socially responsible. Minimising the negative impacts that our daily activities might have on the environment is therefore part of our efforts towards Corporate Social Responsibility. We are currently in the process of developing an Environmental Policy together with our CSR Consultant Anne-Mari Gillespie. This will be implemented to all our studios, and through our partner charities Dementia Arts Trust and Little Art Stars.
Our aim is to live by promises we have made this week as part of the National Lottery #PlanetaryPromise, a campaign encouraging people to reduce their environmental footprint.
Our promises are……
Our determination to ensure that the Little Art School grows our green values led us to fully embrace an art project run by Copenhagen-based artist Emma K. Thomas, @withNature2020. @withNature2020 is a really exciting global art project to highlight challenges to biodiversity. On 22nd May the Little Art School will be creating a giant Scottish Wildcat in the playing fields at Belmont Academy. The image of the Scottish Wildcat will be created using different coloured clothing laid out on the ground. The creation of the image and a photograph of the image (filmed by drone from above) will then join with images all taken on 22nd May at staggered times across every time zone in the world. All the images will form a major art work to highlight the challenges to biodiversity. It is such an exciting project, with species being created in Nepal, Australia, the USA and countries right across the world. We are really excited to be part of this project, representing Scotland and highlighting the plight of the Scottish Wildcat.
As well as building our giant Wildcat, using the design shown here, created by Little Art School graduate, Nathan Connell, we have also been using our resources to help other countries raise awareness of native endangered species. Using what we learned in the creation of our #DailyDraw, we have made 4 films for countries which are unable to gather together on 22nd May. Organisers in Ghana, Brazil, Bulgaria and South Carolina are all making giant digital images of their species by asking children to follow the Little Art School guided art lessons and sending their drawings in to be part of ‘the bigger picture’. You can find the films on our YouTube Channel, we would love you to draw along with us and to learn more about the wonderful species highlighted in the films.
We are moving forward as a company with our charity partners towards a greener future for the Little Art School; inspired by the amazing young people we work with a focused on trying to be part of a global shift to a sustainable future.