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.
- Developing art practiceCourse start date: Sat 4 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Eleanor Bedlow, 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 - Advanced painting: practice and discourseCourse start date: Mon 6 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Blended (learn both online and in-person)
Tutors: Clare Barton-Harvey, Michael Harding, Stuart Jones, Mario Lautier Vella, Joe Richardson, Benjamin Senior, Ian TucknottDevelop your painting in greater depth on this advanced course, working with a team of artist-tutors and a committed network of peer-practitioners, across a set of projects focusing on a range of contemporary themes, processes, and debates. The course is intended for experienced painters with a positive and enquiring attitude to the practices and discourses of painting in its various forms, and a commitment to peer-dialogue and critical discussion. Focused and intensive studio-based weekend projects (once per month), are interspersed with weekly online tutorials, feedback, discussion and seminars.Full fee £2,649.00 Senior fee £2,119.00 Concession £1,854.00 - Advanced graphic designCourse start date: Mon 6 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Andrew McCartenThis course will help you improve your skills in graphic design and visual communications in their broadest sense, for delivery or publication in print and online, working with text, image, layout, medium and message across a range of physical and digital media and formats.
It is ideal for anyone who has already completed our City Lit graphics course, and for anyone wishing to build a more extensive and professional portfolio of graphics work, whilst developing a deeper understanding of the connection between text, image, message and media.
Confirmed industry specialist guests: Lydia Thornley, Designer, Creative Director and Reportage Illustrator and award winning film producer/director Mark Craig, maker of the film “The Last Man On The Moon”.Full fee £2,549.00 Senior fee £2,039.00 Concession £1,784.00 - Contemporary practice: personal projectCourse start date: Tue 7 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Blended (learn both online and in-person)
Tutors: Ian TucknottOn this course you will develop your creativity, your personal artistic understanding, and a body of contemporary art work at an advanced level through the experimental exploration of a personal project. The course is facilitated by practicing artists and theorists, who will support you through guided critical and creative research, experimental workshops, critical studies, studio practice and tutorials. - Advanced children's book illustration: professional practiceCourse start date: Tue 7 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tim Ellis, Zehra Hicks, Dee ShulmanInterested in a career in Children’s Book Illustration, or advancing your practice to the next level? With the guidance and support of your tutors, you will have the opportunity to engage with experienced industry professionals, and develop your practice and personal visual vocabulary to a professional standard.
Visitors on previous years have included:
- Davinia Andrew-Lynch, Curtis Browne Agency
- Helen Chapman, Art director Penguin Random House, Bloomsbury, Little Tiger Press, DK & Penguin
- Rebecca Garrill Art Director Andersen Press
- Margaret Hope, art director MacMillan Books
- Anne McNeill, Editorial director Random House and Penguin books
- Rachel Petty, former editorial director Macmillan Children's Books, currently author/illustrator agent at the Blair Partnership
- Arabella Stein, Managing Director, Bright Agency
- Millie Van Grutten RCW Literary Agency. - Extended drawing for artists and makersCourse start date: Wed 8 Oct 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Annie Attridge, Clare Barton-Harvey, Ruth Brison, Tony Hull, Claire Hynds, Monika Kita, Ute Kreyman, Mario Lautier Vella, Faith VincentA multi-disciplinary course that will help broaden your skills and experience. Record, imagine, visualise, transform,
narrate and develop through a series of practical projects. This exciting course is designed to help you place drawing at the centre of your chosen artistic discipline.
This course requires a pre-enrolment application. Please click 'Start Assessment' on the right-hand side of this page to start your application.Full fee £1,649.00 Senior fee £1,319.00 Concession £1,154.00 - Advanced printmaking: practice and discourseCourse start date: Wed 8 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Blended (learn both online and in-person)
Tutors: Claire HyndsThis year-long advanced course is aimed at artist-printmakers who wish to develop a sustainable personal practice through the medium of print. With the support of expert tutors, you will be guided through experimental, practice-based research and developmental tasks that challenge your preconceptions of print media including etching, screen-printing, lithography and relief. You will eventually focus on a longer project that encourage both a personal enquiry and the development of an individual methodology. The course involves theoretical, contextual and practical components.Full fee £2,099.00 Senior fee £1,679.00 Concession £1,469.00 - Advanced printmaking: personal project developmentCourse start date: Thu 9 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rolina Elsje BlokUnlock your creative potential in the Advanced Printmaking Personal Project Development course! This engaging programme invites you to extend your printmaking practice while developing a substantial personal project. Over the length of the course you will explore advanced printmaking techniques, refine your artistic voice, and produce a body of finished work.Full fee £2,099.00 Senior fee £1,679.00 Concession £1,469.00 - Advanced figure and portraitCourse start date: Fri 10 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Paul Dixon, Desmond Haughton, Amy-Rose Holland, Brian Sayers, Benjamin Senior, Andrea VoiseyRepresentation of the human form offers inexhaustible potential for expression and for the communication of ideas. This is an exciting advanced course for those with experience of working with the figure and/or portrait who would like the challenge of exploring new perspectives on the figurative tradition through drawing, painting and and a range of contemporary and mixed media.Full fee £2,899.00 Senior fee £2,319.00 Concession £2,029.00 - City Lit fine art: year 3Course start date: Sat 11 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Steven ScottYear 3 (VM553) is the culmination of the CLFA course and combines practical studio sessions with a professional and externally focussed remit designed to enable you to further refine your creative work and enhance your professional capabilities in the development of an independent artistic practice. The course encourages students to find and pursue external opportunities relevant to their practice such as organising an exhibition or collaborating with external organisations.
Building upon and consolidating the learnings gained in year 1 and 2 of CLFA, or on your experience of practicing and studying to an equivalent level, you will pursue an individual, self-motivated route through year 3. This will be based upon an existing portfolio, defined intentions, and ongoing creative projects. The Year 3 course is designed to support individual development of new artwork that extends an existing creative practice. It will also allow you to enhance this with an understanding of professional activities that might include the process of making funding applications, finding exhibition opportunities, or developing external relationships. You will be able to engage with practicing artist/tutors in group critiques, one-to-one tutorials, seminars, and self-motivated studio production sessions in which you can explore and refine your skills and creative ideas. There will be engagement with ideas and contexts, and professional practice-based sessions that support the development of your creative work so that it can be sustained beyond the duration of the course.
Note: this course runs on Saturday daytimes fortnightly, and occasional Sundays.Full fee £1,749.00 Senior fee £1,399.00 Concession £1,224.00 - Art in theory: What is creativity?Course start date: Thu 30 Oct 2025
Location on this date: Online
This critical studies course for developing artists and makers explores the concept of creativity and what it means to be an artist, drawing on a range of cultural theories and work by creative practitioners to help inspire and enhance creative and critical thinking.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £139.00 - Art and Ideas: What is visual language?Course start date: Thu 19 Feb 2026
Location on this date: Online
This 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
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