City Lit’s Centre for Advanced Practice is where you can find advanced courses from across all subject areas in Visual Arts. In many cases, this means well established courses of a year or longer, with outstanding reputations for preparing students for study at Bachelors or Masters level. Equally, their quality and depth makes them a viable alternative, for many learners, to the conventional Higher Education route into careers as creative practitioners.
To continue to support learners from a range of backgrounds, with diverse requirements, we have several newly developed courses – with more appearing soon – that build on our long-standing fine art and contemporary craft provision, and bring traditional practices up to date, to ensure learners have the relevant skills for the contemporary creative industries. This is supported through increasing connections with external organisations and practitioners in many courses, for example through real-world project briefs, public exhibitions, and visits from industry professionals.
In the last couple of years, we have introduced new titles in contemporary media and communications-based creative practices, and new courses running across a range of patterns and modes (weekly, monthly, studio-based, online or blended), to ensure that our advanced provision remains accessible and manageable alongside learners’ existing commitments. Alongside these developments, we are progressively refreshing many of our well-established courses, with an increased emphasis on critical discourse, and contemporary cultural debate, in keeping with the advanced level of study and focus on increased confidence, independence and professionalism that are the common characteristics of all our advanced courses.
In addition to our expanding range of advanced long courses, a growing range of advanced one-day workshops is available, aimed at providing knowledge and insight required to support specific aspects of professional practice. These can be taken individually, according to need or interest, or as complementary components of your own pick-and-mix modular course. In common with our long courses, these will provide you with the skills, knowledge and confidence you need to take your advanced creative practice forward.
We host exhibitions throughout the year at City Lit Gallery where our students showcase their amazing work.
- Foundation Open DayCourse start date: Tue 25 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Join us for our art and design Foundation open day. You will have the opportunity to meet tutors and students on our Foundation Diploma and Pre-Foundation courses, and view our workshops, facilities and gallery. We're also offering portfolio surgery sessions, application advice and interviews.
Full fee £0.00 - Art and Ideas: Identity and the selfCourse start date: Thu 8 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Ian TucknottThis course is for students and creative practitioners interested in identity as a creative and conceptual theme. Explore and discuss ideas, theories and work by significant artists and writers to enhance and inspire the development of creative work.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00 - City Lit pre-foundation courseCourse start date: Fri 9 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ute Kreyman, Marcus RichardsThis exciting and intensive course supports you to develop the key creative skills, methods and thinking in art and design, across 2D, 3D and critical studies required for entry to our UAL-validated Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design.Full fee £949.00 Senior fee £759.00 Concession £664.00 - Art and design portfolio projectsCourse start date: Mon 12 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rod JudkinsDevelop and realise your creative language in art and design through the development of a personal project. Through workshops and small projects you will be able to build a portfolio of work in 2D and 3D related to your own personal theme or interest.
Full fee £449.00 Senior fee £359.00 Concession £292.00 - Art and Ideas: What is visual language?Course start date: Thu 19 Feb 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Ian TucknottThis course is for students and creative practitioners interested in visual language as a creative and conceptual theme. Explore and discuss ideas, theories and work by significant artists and writers to enhance and inspire the development of creative work and build an understanding of your own visual language.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00 - Children's book illustration: advanced projectsCourse start date: Wed 29 Apr 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tim EllisAn intensive highly focused follow up course to develop design, drawing, imagination, characterisation and narrative skills. Ideal if you’re planning to prepare a portfolio for presentation to publishers or wishing to further develop your skills and imagination.Full fee £499.00 Senior fee £399.00 Concession £349.00 - Pre-Foundation: summer intensiveCourse start date: Tue 14 Jul 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Marcus RichardsThis exciting and intensive course supports you to develop the key creative skills, methods and thinking in art and design, across 2D, 3D and critical studies required for entry to our UAL-validated Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design.Full fee £599.00 Senior fee £479.00 Concession £419.00 - Foundation diploma in art and designCourse start date: Tue 16 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: MultipleThe UAL Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at City Lit is an exciting and challenging multi-disciplinary art, design, craft and media programme. It is designed to give you the best possible introduction to a wide range of materials, techniques and processes, and to support you in identifying and developing your creative interests and thinking. Validated by the University of the Arts London Awarding Body, it is an internationally recognised qualification with a UCAS tariff that enables you to apply directly to University.
The course fee is £5421.00. If you are unable to pay the course fee upfront, you can choose to apply for an Advanced Learning Loan from the Student Loans Company (SLC) to help cover the cost. The Advanced Learner loan available for this course is £5421.00. The Loan is repayable after the course ends. For more information, please call Advanced Practice on 0203 880 2415. You can find more information about the Advanced Learner Loan here www.citylit.ac.uk/advanced-learner-loansFull fee £5,421.00 Senior fee £5,421.00 Concession £5,421.00 - Ceramics mentoring programmeCourse start date: Fri 3 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Blended (learn both online and in-person)
Tutors: Carina Ciscato, Amy Hughes, Mella Shaw, Alex SimpsonA new and dynamic mentoring platform for Ceramic practitioners at all stages, designed to aid learners with technical advice, guidance, support and encouragement to help develop and push their practices forward.
Full fee £699.00 Senior fee £559.00 Concession £454.00 - Developing art practiceCourse start date: Sat 4 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rolina Elsje Blok, Ute Kreyman, Joe Richardson, Heidi WigmoreThis advanced course for developing and practicing artists consists of work-based seminars facilitated by peers and artist-tutors, giving you the opportunity to develop and present your work for critical discourse. The course includes individual tutorials and mentoring, critical investigation via group crits, visits to galleries and artist-run organisations, collaborative work and discussion and debate. This course is one of the eligible programmes for application to Bloomberg New Contemporaries.
The course will be delivered onsite.
This course requires an application prior to enrolment. Please click 'start assessment' to begin your application.Full fee £1,249.00 Senior fee £999.00 Concession £874.00
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