A new exhibition and free pop-up summer school from Create London and the William Morris Gallery celebrates the cultural and educational legacy of Walthamstow School of Art, which from 1957 to 1967 became a hotbed of artistic ideas and talent. Lydia Ashman talks to two of the people behind the ‘Be Magnificent’ project.
Now in its third year, the Antiuniversity Now festival features over 100 free events and workshops taking place across the UK. Pippa Kozserek talks to co-organisers Shiri Shalmy and Emma Winch.
Two petitions challenging the closure of two of Falmouth University’s long-standing arts courses have been handed in at the university’s Penryn Campus.
The University of Kent is closing its School of Music and Fine Art in 2019 and applications to study BA Fine Art at the university have been suspended.
Creative Foundation has announced details of the artists taking part in the fourth edition of the Folkestone Triennial, which takes ‘double edge’ as its title and theme for 2017.
This year saw Frances Morris become director of Tate Modern and in June the gallery’s £260m extension, The Switch House, opened to positive reviews. She reflects on what has personally been an “amazing year” while lamenting a period in which “respect for difference and individuality” has been vigorously attacked.
The Cornwall-based multi-media sculptor writes a scathing letter criticising the institution he studied at and has been a fellow of since 2013.
After AQA exam board announced it was to cease offering an A level in art history, Pearson has said it is to develop a new A-level in the subject to be taught from September 2017.
Highlights for the week ahead selected from our busy Events section and featuring exhibitions and events posted by a-n’s members.
Under the banner ‘Whose Art? Our Art!’, this year’s engage International Conference in Liverpool explored gallery education through the lens of art activism with two days of speeches, discussion and debate. Laura Harris reports from the city.
A weekly briefing featuring national and international art news, including: MoMA creates digital image archive of all its exhibitions, odds on next Tate director, and new UK arts minister’s first speech.
The annual arts education conference, which this year takes place in Liverpool, will explore how issues of access and activism impact on galleries and the visual arts.
The Salford-based artist Maurice Carlin hopes to use his time as the first-ever Clore Visual Artist Fellow to, among other things, “change perceptions… of what it means to be an artist”. He shares his thoughts on the fellowship, its personal and wider significance, and why artists – and the artist-led sector in particular – need to recognise the importance of good leadership.
A dispute over the number of pupils taking arts subjects at GCSE was at the heart of a House of Commons debate, with the Department for Education using figures which include students studying arts AS Levels in sixth forms. Arts Professional’s Christy Romer and Frances Richens report.
A weekly briefing featuring national and international art news, including: predicting the Brexit effect, turbulence for art education in California and Sweden, a restored house boat eco-experiment in Long Island, new acquisition fund for UK regional museums.
The decline in the take-up of arts subjects at GCSE has increased five-fold over the past year, coinciding with a dramatic rise in young people studying EBacc subjects. Arts Professional’s Liz Hill reports.
Inspired by ’60s radicalism yet rooted in the contemporary climate of austerity and the commercialisation of art school education, the second Antiuniversity Now! festival offers an alternative to mainstream models of learning through four days of free events, activities and lectures across the UK. Lydia Ashman reports.
At 58 pages, this year’s a-n Degree Shows Guide is the biggest yet and features interviews with artist Bedwyr Williams and mima director Alistair Hudson, contributions from artists including Ruth Ewan, George Barber and Marianna Simnett, plus listings featuring over 75 shows across the UK.
Reaching the milestone of 100,000 signatures means a petition calling for arts subjects to be included in the EBacc will now be considered for a Commons debate.
Artist and former teacher Henry Ward is head of education at the Freelands Foundation, founded last year by Elisabeth Murdoch. a-n Writer Development Programme participant Lydia Ashman finds out more about the foundation and its forthcoming Art Is… symposium at Tate Modern.
Central House in Aldgate – currently home to The Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design – has been sold to a property developer as part of the London Met’s relocation plans.
The Islington Mill Art Academy in Salford has been providing a free alternative to mainstream art education since 2007. Sara Jaspan speaks to its co-founder, Maurice Carlin, and gets the views of artists who’ve taken part in the Academy’s ever-evolving investigation of what art education can be.
The Syllabus is a nomadic artist development programme billed as an alternative to formal art education. At its half-way stage, Anneka French speaks to the project’s organisers, artist Andy Holden and Wysing Arts Centre, and to two of the ten participating artists.
The National Society for Education in Art and Design’s Survey Report 2015-16 states that in the last five years government policies in England have impacted not only on the value of the subject, but on the time and resources needed for children and young people to participate and excel in art, craft and design.
