Crush designs anniversary logo for Artsmark awards

Artsmark presents black, silver and gold awards to schools with the best opportunities in dance, music, art and drama to set benchmarks and help teachers audit their arts education.

Crush won an initial three-way pitch to design the ten-year anniversary logo in 2009 and began work on the print communications in January, after the consultancy was added to the Arts Council England roster.

Crush was briefed to create an identity with the theme of celebration, which would complement the Arts Council logo, says Arts Council England Artsmark manager Vanessa Connell.

The logo, which will be used on Artsmark certificates, information packs, event invitations and the Arts Council website, features the number ten made up of coloured confetti and balloons. Publicity materials will be sent out to participating schools, local authorities and Members of Parliament.

The Arts Council also commissioned Crush to produce a film about the work of Artsmark, which saw the consultancy spend a week visiting schools around the country to interview children and film arts lessons.

Crush creative director Carl Rush says, ’Artsmark is all about how art influencesother areas of learning. We talked to some “naughty kids” in Liverpool and it was encouraging to see how by getting involved in dance they were doing better in their other lessons. In our industry, it confirms that creative endeavours do work.’