A COMMUNITY artist has set up an arts award for youngsters this summer.

Rosie Goodwin, who runs MakeMore Arts, started the Big Healthy Art Project having run workshops for a similar scheme in York.

She said: “I wanted to give our Ryedale youngsters the same opportunities to take part in arts activities that are open to those living in cities. I wanted to make art really accessible.”

Children are invited to take part in three activities and to research an artist of their choice, before sharing their artistic output in their school or local library at the end of the summer.

A variety of free and low-cost activities are being offered across a range of Ryedale and Scarborough venues, including Helmsley Open Air Swimming Pool, Malton Museum, Nunnington Hall, Peagreen Pottery, Rievaulx Terrace, Ryedale Folk Museum, Scarborough Art Gallery, as well as several libraries in the area.

Rosie launched the project at school assemblies and has distributed booklets about the project to more than 2,000 children so far.

“Young people have so much going on in their lives and, as they get older, can end up feeling stressed and anxious, including about exam pressures,” she said.

“Taking part in art activities has been shown time and again to have positive impacts on mental health. What’s been amazing is that many of the primary-aged children were so keen to talk about the project.”

To take part, families can collect booklets from Pickering, Malton or Newby and Scalby libraries, Helmsley Open Air Swimming Pool or Scarborough Art Gallery.

For more information, go to makemorearts.com