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The Artsmark is a national award that accredits quality arts education. It is Arts Council England's flagship programme to enable schools, further education colleges and youth justice settings to audit, celebrate and develop high quality arts education. It is a key driver in their aim to ensure every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts.

For the last ten years schools have been successfully engaging with Artsmark.  But in 2011 it was decided to expand Artsmark to colleges and revamp the application process. It is these developments which have contributed to this year's roll of successful institutions.   A new online application system and refreshed criteria have addressed both the quantity and quality of provision. A priority of the new scheme was the opportunity for applicants to work with arts education professionals to develop relationships and broaden resources, ensuring that future arts provision is balanced, sustainable and of high quality.

Laura Gander Howe (Arts Council England, Director of Learning Skills Strategy) comments:

'Artsmark is a key way for the Arts Council to deliver our goal for every child and young person to experience the richness of the arts and culture. We've been keen to extend the range of educations settings that can apply to the programme and have worked with the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural to introduce Artsmark to the further education sector. We are pleased to say that 70% of the Founder College network have led the way this year by achieving Artsmark. The involvement of further education in Artsmark highlights the importance of industry collaboration in shaping inspirational learning. We share an aspiration with the Skills Academy that the all colleges in the network as well as their education partners achieve Artsmark over the next three years.'

Twenty percent of schools in England hold the Artsmark. Through the Skills Academy, Creative & Cultural Skills has worked closely with Arts Council England to both develop and promote Artsmark to the further education sector.

The following Founder Colleges applied for and gained the Artsmark:

The application process is currently being evaluated and shaped ready for the 13^th round of the scheme which will be open for applications from early 2013. Full details and updates can be found at http://www.artsmark.org.uk/

Notes to editors

The National Skills Academy for Creative & Culturalis a network of creative and cultural employers and professionals.

We develop and deliver industry-approved standards, training and related skills through our Academy network.

We develop the delivery of industry-approved standards, training and related skills through our network of creative and cultural employers, and education and training providers.

We have over 200 members and work with 20 Founder further education Colleges across the nine regions of England.

We are the delivery arm of Creative & Cultural Skills, the sector skills council for the UK's creative and cultural sector which includes craft, cultural heritage, design, literature, music, performing arts and visual arts.  Working with them, we help those employed within the sector and those who want to be to acquire the skills employers are looking for by giving them access to relevant qualifications and training.

The Skills Academy currently operates only in England but we are starting to develop programmes and services for the UK and across the wider Creative & Cultural Skills footprint.

For further information, please see www.nsa-ccskills.co.uk