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.
- City Lit fine art: year 3
Course start date: Sat 11 Oct 2025Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Steven ScottCity Lit Fine Art (CLFA) is a part-time, multidisciplinary, ideas-led contemporary art course in Central London, offered as an alternative to the conventional undergraduate degree at a fraction of the cost.
CLFA is 3 years in duration, although all three years can be taken individually. Year 1 of the course consists of workshops focused on developing existing creative skills and interests, and understanding relationships between studio production and contextual/theoretical ideas. Year 2 offers opportunities to engage more deeply with specialist practices in developing a self-motivated creative project and group exhibition, while year 3 focuses on self-directed study, professionalism and developing an independent artistic practice.
The course curriculum is responsive to the interests and ambitions of learners, with years 2 and 3 supporting specialist skills development through optional modules, and the flexibility to choose, or blend, practice- and research-based approaches.
CLFA provides the opportunity to engage with internationally established visiting artists (previous visitors have included Andrew Bick and Haffendi Anuar), there are opportunities to exhibit throughout the course, and completing students receive City Lit certification.
Previous CLFA students have progressed to Master’s degrees and established themselves as independent practitioners, whilst others who first collaborated on the course continue to work together in artists collectives.
CLFA runs one day per week over a year, in specialist studios in the City Lit Art School. You will be part of a small cohort of dedicated students taught by professional artist-tutors. Basic materials are provided, but it is likely that you will need to provide some materials as your work develops and becomes specialised.
Full fee £1,749.00 Senior fee £1,399.00 Concession £1,224.00
Can't see a course you want?
Add this category to your waiting list to set up alerts and we will update you when new courses are released online.
Add me to waiting list