Quick Draw Café

Northgate Community Partnership volunteers threw a party in the church hall, turning it into a café for the afternoon. They invited residents from an area of high social deprivation to pay for their meals with drawings.

With no language barriers, people from different ethnic backgrounds were able to join in, happy to be coaxed by their children to try new activities.

They made portrait sketches, laminated place mats, designed paper hats and cups, all in payment for healthy food.

Guests studied Google Earth maps of the area and decorated simple templates to represent their homes, which were added to a giant 3-D map of Northgate’s Victorian, Edwardian and 20th century buildings.

This was later exhibited in the local library, highlighting Northgate’s rich heritage and projecting a positive image of the community.

Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Awards

The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust aims to increase public appreciation of the arts and music. Their awards recognise educators, artists, teachers and others who use The Big Draw to extend their audience’s perception of drawing and to engage them in innovative activities. They reward organisers whose events relate to their setting, local environment or community, show a clear purpose and good results. Individual drawings may have been used to create a collective artwork, or a public display to celebrate participants’ achievements.