WESTFIELDWARD CITYOF MEDIAARTS
“There’s a lot of bad news at the moment, a lot of apathy. Angels in art can be an antidote to that.” Greg McGee, Director
WITH THANKS TO CITY OF YORK COUNCIL’S WESTFIELD WARD
CREATIVITY APPEARS WHEN ANGELS ARE NEAR
Draw with Denmark started during the Covid pandemic in 2021 and moved from a Danish charity event to a UNESCO Global campaign focused around creative and positive messages of hope. Draw with Denmark has involved children and young people in 45 countries and in citiesfromallcontinentsacrosstheworld, and has released a very special magic along with thousands of drawings. The programme has caught the imagination and featured on BBC News and BBC Look North There have been exhibitions, involving drawings by children in York schools, at the National Gallery in Copenhagen, and at the UNESCO Creative Cities’ Annual Conference in Braga,PortugalandinCali,attheUNESCO Conference in Paris, and in Wuhan, in ChinaandinYork
From 2025 the focus for ‘Draw with Demark’ will be ‘Angels of Hope’ and REACH (York's Cultural Education Partnership) now invites children and young people in York to take part in this global drawing campaign! Children and young people are being asked to create drawings of Angels that will send messagesofhopearoundtheworld. The Danish campaign is running from now until the 15th October 2025. Local school Westfield Primary led the way with a session in late July, employing me to demonstrate Manga Angels: hundreds of angels were subsequentlydrawn,allofthemrepresenting different things to the dozens of pupils who drewthem.
Thisoneoffsession,withWestfieldchildrenin Westfield's Our Lady's Church Hall, continues to build on the good work Many ideas are inspired by the friends and places of this fascinating area of York Many thanks must gototheWestfieldcouncillorsforthefunding andguidancewhichmadethispossible
“It was wonderful to see so many young people enjoying creativity in the area The atmosphere was lively and the results were superb, the young artists are a credit to their families ” Cllr Andrew Waller
“The young artists knew exactly what they wanted to draw They were inspirational to be around ” Greg McGee, artist
"It's great that we have these workshops during Half Term for the local children They're creative, they're fun, and it really is a wonderful asset that the ward provides the funding."
Catherine Claudius-Cole,
Community
Officer Acomb
Ward, Dringhouse and Woodthorpe Ward, Westfield Ward
DISCUSSING ASPIRATIONS AND OPTIMISM
"Angels mean a lot of things to a lot of people. It quickly became obvious that this session wasn't going to be based on Christmas card angels. We had Angels of Acomb, Angels of Bananas, Angels of York RI, and Angels of K-Pop It was an education!" Rowan, Art Camp advocate
A N G E L S O F W E S T F I E L D
Contact Greg McGee (greg@accordingtomcgee com) to discuss how we can get your group involved: so far we have had Manga illustrations, photography, and communal designs of feathers and wings. All art will be exhibited digitally internationally We’re open to ideas! Once again, huge thanks to City of York Council’s Westfield ward for the funding and guidance for the session on which this digital magazine focuses.
