This is a guest blog from Dan Tiley of Spectral Park

I am incredibly lucky.

For as long as I can remember my family and close friends have supported me in what I have wanted to do, encouraging me to express myself in any way, shape, or form that I have naturally leant towards. As a young child I was never artistic in a traditional sense; I am still not. I was, however, abnormally fidgety, always tapping on anything and everything. Being a volatile and short-tempered youngster meant that I would more-often-than-not be at odds with my parents. This lead to a wealth of arguments and the utterance of hurtful words (on my part) that would instantly fill me with remorse and regret.

Not exactly a troubled background, but one that I feel I needed to introduce to give you a sense of how my creative outlets were shaped and formed. After 15 years of putting up with relentless tapping my parents finally agreed to allow me to have drum lessons. From the very first time that I sat at my school’s ‘house’ drum kit, I felt a certain kind of calm fall over me. All of my energy and emotion came together to focus on learning how to coordinate my hands and feet and I have not looked back since then, playing in various projects, each differing in style and capacity, all of them providing me with an essential emotional and psychological outlet.

The other form of creative expression that developed from my childhood was writing. After every storming row with my mother I could not help but write poems of apology to her. I can remember some of them like they were yesterday, a process of putting pen to paper that had no thought involved, just pure emotion, which in turn meant that I could compose poetry of a reasonable standard. As I grew into my teenage years, so too did my love for literature (both reading and writing it) and I now write in a creative capacity as a profession. I no longer find myself writing poetry as often but then again I am quite a happy individual, which leads me on to the crux of what I am trying to say.

I can not even begin to imagine the horrors that some children have to live through, learn and grow from. I had a wonderful upbringing and take for advantage the opportunities that I was given; I wanted to drum, so I drummed, I wanted to write, so I wrote. But what if I had no one to support and encourage me with creative expression? Even worse, what if I did have people who were indeed there, but did not allow me to express myself in a creative manner?

Channelling your energy through an art-form is such a cathartic processes that it is essential for every child to, at the very least, have the option to explore such a creative path. It is charities such as the wonderful We Heart Arts and people such as Tony who understand this more than most. They have seen first-hand how soothing a simple painting class or music session can be for a troubled child.

Unlike most charities they do not rely on financial donations to further the cause. All they aim to do is bring together like-minded creative people to promote and reach out to children through art. Whether you’re a musician, illustrator, author, actor, designer or any other kind of creative person, I implore you to get in contact with this simple, yet entirely unique charity, and see how you can help. You’ll be surprised how valued your art is, not just by Tony and the charity, but by children from all walks of life.

Make a difference, share your passion.

You can find Dan drumming for Spectral Park

It’s scientifically proven* that lemurs are one of the best animals to look at on a Friday, our twelfth #awesomebet print backs this up.

Designed by Ben Mercer this awesome poster will help with the creation or sustainment of young peoples creative arts programs wherever it’s needed.

*limited to 25 prints only*

Pick yours up today!  

*it’s not proven but we like to think it is

What’s more awesome than riding a fairground ride? Not much if you ask us! If you were to ask Robert Powell he’d tell you the same thing!

That’s why he designed the sixth A3 print in our AwesomeBet project, F is for…

Check it out - 100% of all monies raised goes directly to the sustainment  or creation of young peoples creative arts programs wherever it’s needed.

Our fourth A3 heavyweight print in the AwesomeBet series is the letter O, 100% of the monies made from this project will go towards the creation or sustainment of young peoples creative arts projects wherever it’s needed.

Once all 26 posters are completed we’ll be turning this project in to an alphabet book for kids (and giving away a free copy to a school for every five that we sell).

O is for… was created by Sky Nash and is limited to 25 prints only

Our third A3 heavyweight print in the AwesomeBet series is the letter E, 100% of the monies made from this project will go towards the creation or sustainment of young peoples creative arts projects wherever it’s needed.

Once all 26 posters are completed we’ll be turning this project in to an alphabet book for kids (and giving away a free copy to a school for every five that we sell).

E is for… was created by Tiger Tea and is limited to 25 prints only

Our second A3 heavyweight print in the AwesomeBet series is the letter C, 100% of the monies made from this project will go towards the creation or sustainment of young peoples creative arts projects wherever it’s needed.

Once all 26 posters are completed we’ll be turning this project in to an alphabet book for kids (and giving away a free copy to a school for every five that we sell).

C is for… was created by Belle Tragedie and is limited to 25 prints only

Today we launch our brand new project “The AwesomeBet”

We asked 26 of our favourite designers to take a letter from the alphabet and design an A3 heavyweight print about what they thought was awesome. As always 100% of the monies made from this project will go towards the creation or sustainment of young peoples creative arts projects wherever it’s needed.

Once all 26 posters are completed we’ll be turning this project in to an alphabet book for kids (and giving away a free copy to a school for every five that we sell).

Check out the first poster up for sell now! M is for… Munching!