The Nationwide Big Draw Gets Off to a Flying Start
East London Event Launches Month Long Celebration of Drawing Across UK
Quentin Blake, Gavin Turk, Zandra Rhodes, Genomic Scientists, Engineers and Designers Help Get People Back To The Drawing Board

30 September 2007: World famous illustrator Quentin Blake launched the Big Draw - a free month-long celebration of drawing at over 1,300 venues throughout the country and almost 200 events in London - when he released a giant flock of paper birds from the V&A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London, today.

The Big Draw takes place across the UK throughout October and enables adults and children to discover the joy of drawing and explore different ways of seeing the world. Over 500,000 people are expected to take part. Forthcoming events range from Manga art in Luton, 'Drawing Jaws' beside the shark tank at the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth, creating rockets in the Isle of Wight through to drawing dragons as part of the Terracotta Army exhibition at the British Museum, and a two day festival of drawing in Covent Garden [more example Big Draw events below]. The Big Draw is run by the Campaign for Drawing. Most events are free and all are listed in full at www.campaignfordrawing.org

Forty Five separate Big Draw events were held across Hackney and Tower Hamlets to launch the Big Draw as well as celebrating the area's rich creative wealth and cultural diversity. The events enabled thousands of Londoners to release their inner doodler and get back to the drawing board with some of the UK's leading designers, illustrators, scientists, artists, architects and engineers.

Gavin Turk, Zandra Rhodes, Posy Simmonds, Adam Dant, Andrew Logan, Jessica Voorsanger, Bob and Roberta Smith and Lucinda Rogers drew on a giant 'Big Picture Frame' in front of large crowds in Museum Gardens, Bethnal Green. They demonstrated how drawing is a powerful tool for creative thinking, invention and communication.

Some of the inspirational drawing activities today involved:

	A Hammerson Sponsored event involving architects from leading firms such as Future Systems and Foster + Partners helping people see the City differently from a route master bus in Bishop's Square;
	A Wellcome Trust funded project enabling children and adults to work with artists from Bow Arts Trust and Genomic Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London to better understand human biology and create and race virtual creatures;
	Building and flying airplanes and designing carbon neutral airfields with Chris Wise, one of the team who created the Millennium Bridge;
	Exploring the world of insects, spiders, months and beetles with eco-artist Brandon Ballengee's Love Motel at the SPACE gallery.

Over sixty-seven organisations were involved including museums, universities, studios and schools. Children from Hackney and Tower Hamlets have been involved in preparations for the Big Day in schools across the two boroughs, making artwork for the event. Derwent, England's only pencil manufacturer, and Tullis Russell, Scotland's premier papermaker, provided free, high quality materials at each venue.

The Campaign for Drawing's mission is to remove the phrase 'I can't draw' from everyday usage and to prove that drawing is a key to understanding and knowledge. The Big Draw, launched in 2000, by the Campaign for Drawing has encouraged over a million people back to drawing, shown that drawing can be a social activity, and notched up two Guinness World records - for the longest drawing in the world (one kilometre) and the greatest number of people drawing simultaneously (over 7000). The Campaign for Drawing's initiatives are winning international recognition and Big Draw events are now planned for New York, Washington, Boston, Vancouver, Australia, New Zealand and Portugal.

The Big Draw In London
Over 200 events are taking place across the Capital during October. All are listed at www.campaignfordrawing.org. Highlights include:

	Covent Garden hosts National Big Draw Day The Campaign for Drawing will launch its nationwide Big Draw Day in Covent Garden this year for the very first time. Held over the weekend of Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th October, celebrity drawers and art enthusiasts including broadcaster Andrew Marr and cartoonists Gerald Scarfe and Posy Simmonds, plus the crème of London's art community will come together to take part in a series of drawing games. The Covent Garden Big Draw will offer unique workshops exploring the excitement and magic of drawing - all for FREE!
Other London Big Draw Events
	Jerwood Space - drawing with some of the shortlisted artists from the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2007
	London Zoo - making a giant snake inspired sculpture
	Bank of England - designing your own money.
	National Portrait Gallery - creating large scale iconic pop sculptures.
	Royal Armouries, Tower of London - create armour for the Royal Armouries' Armadillo
	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - Inspired by Henry Moores' sculptures in the garden, artists and scientists have teamed up to offer a range of free workshops which highlight some of the work which goes on behind the scenes at Kew.

Other events will be held at: The Design Museum, The British Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum, Guardian Newsroom, National Gallery, HMS Belfast to name a few.

The Big Draw Across the UK
Over 1,300 Big Draw events take place across the country throughout October. Venues range from royal palaces, museums, galleries and castles to parks, schools, hospitals and village halls. Collectively they demonstrate that drawing is a universal language connecting people of all ages, abilities and cultures. Example events range from sending art work round the world and back again at Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury; learning how to draw Egyptian hieroglyphics at Llandudno Museum, Conwy; dreaming up 'creatures from the deep' at the Fergusson Gallery, Kinross through to creating a palace of your dreams at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. Full listings at www.campaignfordrawing.org.

Quentin Blake said: "Drawing is a fundamentally important skill. The Big Draw enables people to loose themselves in the world of drawing, it inspires people to explore and enjoy drawing the way they did as children and understand how they can use in every day life."

Sue Grayson Ford, Director, Campaign for Drawing said: "This year's Big Draw is the most exciting yet. Today's launch, involving over so organisations and people demonstrates how popular drawing is and how ready people are to get back to the drawing board and get drawing. We look forward to the rest of the Big Draw month and all the drawing events about to take place across the country."

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About The Big Draw
The Big Draw is the UK's biggest annual free celebration of visual art, with 1,000 events and over 500,000 participants. In last year's national Big Draw launch, 7000 participants celebrated the Amazing Spaces of Somerset House and King's College London with a packed programme of activities - from making watercolours of the fountains to knitting a giant London Townhouse.

About the Campaign For Drawing
The Campaign for Drawing has a simple aim: to get everyone drawing. The Big Draw, its annual October showpiece, proves that drawing can be a public activity as well as a private passion. The Campaign was inspired by the great Victorian writer and visionary, John Ruskin. His mission was not to teach people to draw, but how to see. Each Big Draw season brings fresh opportunities to discover how drawing can connect us to our environment and heritage.

The Campaign's education programme turns its research findings into practical guidance in a series of books, DVDs and other resources. These share the knowledge gained over the last six years with teachers and other educators, artists, designers, scientists, technologists and more. The Campaign for Drawing is supported by Arts Council England, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers and Foster+Partners.

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