Ards Arts Centre in Newtownards will be celebrating The Big Draw Festival on Saturday 7 October when everyone is invited to come along and take part. The 2023 Big Draw Festival theme is Drawing with Senses which explores the way we personally process the world and internalise our experiences through our senses. The creative team at the Arts Centre will take time to explore the five basic senses and creatively experiment with these to transpose your experiences into creative work and drawings. No drawing experience is required!

The Big Draw Festival takes place all year round, with the official Festival month being celebrated in October. Since 2000, the international celebration of drawing, which brings people together under the banner ‘drawing is a universal language’, has taken place annually across over 25 countries, involved over 1000 events and has encouraged over four million people back to the drawing board.

Arts education charity, The Big Draw, which is the founder and driving force behind the festival believes that ‘everyone can draw’. They also promote drawing as a universal language that has the power to change lives and unite people of any age, background, race, or religion from around the globe.

Amy McKelvey, Community Arts Development Officer for Ards and North Down Borough Council said: “This is always a lovely event bringing people of all ages together to enjoy some unique and engaging creative activities with our wonderful arts facilitators. Everyone is welcome!”

The Big Draw at Ards Arts Centre takes place on Saturday 7 October, 2pm – 4pm. The event is free to attend, no registration is required but spaces may be limited.