The British School Manila comes back to colour with The Big Draw Festival 2022

Over the last week, the community at the British School Manila have been participating in The Big Draw Festival 2022.

The Big Draw is a pioneering visual literacy charity dedicated to raising the profile of drawing as a tool for well-being, thought, creativity, social and cultural engagement. The charity leads a diverse programme of advocacy, empowerment and engagement, and is the founder and driving force behind The Big Draw Festival, the world’s biggest celebration of drawing. 

Emma Justice, Head of Visual and Performing Arts at the school said “The Big Draw festival, founded in 2000 is a global festival to celebrate creativity and engagement with the arts. Being back on campus, the festival was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the arts at BSM. Over the week, we have seen children express themselves with a variety of colours and media, building tape and dot murals, working on our drawing walls and helping to fill the school with colour." 

This year, the Big Draw Festival’s theme is #ComeBackToColour, described as “a love letter to each other and the world around us. The theme encapsulates what we all hope will be a rediscovery of the vitality, health, care and vibrancy in everyone's lives after what has been a challenging last few years.” 

Large community art boards and a chalk mural were set up around the school campus to engage the students, staff and their families in the shared collaborative art projects using a range of different materials. 

Mrs Justice adds, "We have had the honour of mural artists Gerilya, a Filipino street art collective, create a commissioned piece over the week, with the help of the Year 12 students; this will be displayed as a new art piece in the lobby of the Creative Arts Centre for our community to enjoy. We hope that everyone has had the opportunity to engage with art and tap into their creativity over the last week with the Big Draw, and we will be thinking of ways we can participate next year!”