OREANDA-NEWS. The education of some of the UK’s most disadvantaged young people has received a boost through a donation to Ark of over ?100,000 after works by some of Britain’s most influential artists went under Sotheby’s hammer last night. The auctioned pieces were donated by Bank of America Merrill Lynch from its corporate art collection and included works by British artists, David Hockney and Henry Moore.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch also announced an additional US\$1mm (?650k) gift to further facilitate Ark’s Mathematics Mastery rollout to the widest possible community.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s support for the arts is extensive and varied, enabling cultural institutions to deliver world-class programmes. The company partners with museums across the globe to support important exhibitions and also preserves and protects art for future generations through its unique Art Conservation Project. Through the Art in our Communities® programme, the company shares its art collection with museums and other not-for-profits. Last night’s auction follows similar donations in 2014 to the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Those auctions raised over US\$2.3mm.

Monies raised last night, will be used to help improve arithmetic skills amongst young people across the UK through the expansion of Ark’s acclaimed Mathematics Mastery programme to schools most in need, with new opportunities for GCSE and A level students. This highly effective curriculum and teaching process uses objects, pictures and words to help pupils explore maths and understand the important role it plays in their lives. Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s employees will also connect with recipient schools to help students through mentoring, maths tuition and employability/skills development sessions.

The live auction featured extremely rare pieces created by artists native to the UK and Ireland, including:

  • ‘International Boogie Woogie I’, Peter Hutchinson (1998)

  • ‘Intimate Relations’, Michael Craig Martin (2001)

  • Three ilfochrome prints from ‘River Taw’ series, Susan Derges (1997–99)

  • ‘City Moon’, John Hoyland (1999)

  • ‘Carrera’, Peter Doig (2002)

  • Four etchings from ‘Elephant Skull’, Henry Moore (1969–70)

  • ‘Red Celia’, David Hockney (1984)

  • ‘Big Celia’, David Hockney (1981)

  • ‘Moonlight’, Howard Hodgkin (1980)

  • ‘Slabs of Snow, Japan’, Andy Goldsworthy (2000)

  • ‘Water Beyond, Number 8’, Ivon Hitchens (1963)

Alongside these world-renowned pieces were featured works of art created specifically for the event by Ark students.

“Bank of America Merrill Lynch is pleased to work with Ark to enable the rollout of their Mathematics Mastery programme across the UK to schools most in need,” said Alex Wilmot-Sitwell, president, EMEA at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “This partnership reflects our company’s long term focus on both education and the arts for young people – two areas that are critical for healthy economies and the development of society.”

Helen Drury, director of Mathematics Mastery, added, “Our goal is to transform the long term mathematical achievement of pupils. This support will help us to build a partnership of over 500 schools, who work closely together to innovate and improve maths teaching across the country. By doing this we hope to transform achievement for over 300,000 pupils over the next five years.”

 

About Bank of America Merrill Lynch Corporate Social Responsibility

Developing solutions for social and economic challenges is at the core of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s responsibility platform. In more than 90 countries around the world, we partner with employees, clients and stakeholders to help make financial lives better. The company focuses on responsible business practices, environmental sustainability, advancing opportunity in local communities through education and employability programmes and investing in global leadership development. We realise the power of our people and value our differences, recognising that our diversity makes us a stronger firm and allows us to better service our stakeholders. By harnessing our intellectual resources, sharing knowledge and connecting capital with need, we are providing opportunities that effect positive change.

About Ark

Ark is one of the country’s top-performing academy networks. We run 31 schools – (primaries, secondaries and all through schools) in London, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Hastings, educating around 17,500 pupils. Our GCSE results exceed the national average and our schools are more likely to be rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. Our aim is to create outstanding schools that give every pupil, regardless of their background, the opportunity to go to university or pursue the career of their choice. 

About Mathematics Mastery

Mathematics Mastery is an innovative maths teaching framework, supporting schools, students and teachers to be successful at maths. There are currently 192 Mathematics Mastery partner schools across England, reaching 34,800 pupils. Over the next five years the programme aims to expand to 500 schools, and reach 300,000 pupils. Maths Mastery was recently evaluated by the independent Education Endowment Foundation and pupils were found to be up to two months ahead of their peers in just the first year of the programme. Longer term, this could see pupils more than a year and a half ahead by age 16 – halving the gap with pupils in countries such as Japan, Singapore and China.