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School of Visual Arts

Centre for Advanced Practice

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.

Courses available both in-person and online

We offer a range of long and short courses allowing you to choose between in-person and online learning.

Learn in the centre of London with our in-person courses. Our purpose-built facilities in Covent Garden mean we are ideally located and easy to get to. 

See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.

All our courses are live, interactive, and taught by expert tutors. No matter how you prefer to learn, we've got the class for you.

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  1. City Lit fine art: year 1
    Course start date:  Tue 17 Oct 2023 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Blended (learn both online and in-person)

    Year 1 of the City Lit Fine Art course will enable you to refine and build upon your previous experience in Fine Art by exploring approaches to drawing, painting, sculpture, print, digital media and contextual studies, across a series of structured projects in studio and online sessions. As part of a small cohort of like-minded students you will be taught by experienced tutors who are also practicing artists in a range different media.



    The course will enable you to develop an overview of media processes relevant to current art practice, introduce ideas and debate relevant to contemporary art, and help you identify your own personal creative responses. Group discussions and tutorials will support the development of your thinking and help you adopt an independent and open-minded approach to your own work. This course can be taken for personal creative development, to prepare you for application to undergraduate or postgraduate Fine Art courses, or to serve as an alternative to the conventional degree route.



    Some basic materials will be provided, and you will need to supplement these with specific items; a list is provided in the CLFA course handbook. 10am – 12pm online Zoom sessions on alternate Mondays (15 in total)



    10am – 5pm in City Lit studios. On alternate Tuesdays (16 in total)



    6pm – 9pm in City Lit digital media suite. On 4 or 5 alternate Tuesday evenings per term (12 in total).



    This course will be delivered online and in person. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £2,179.00 Senior fee £1,743.00 Concession £1,525.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  2. Advanced graphic design
    Course start date:  Mon 7 Oct 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    This 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 £2,399.00 Senior fee £1,919.00 Concession £1,679.00
  3. Contemporary practice: personal project
    Course start date:  Tue 10 Oct 2023 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Blended (learn both online and in-person)

    This advanced course in contemporary creative practice will support you in developing a personal project through research, experimentation, development and exhibition in a supportive studio environment. The course is facilitated by practising artists, theorists and curators.







    This course requires an application prior to enrolment. Please contact Visual Arts for more information.



    This course will be delivered online and in person. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £2,179.00 Senior fee £1,743.00 Concession £1,525.00
    Rating:
    93% of 100
  4. Advanced children's book illustration: professional practice
    Course start date:  Tue 10 Oct 2023 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Tim Ellis, Zehra Hicks, Dee Shulman
    Interested 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.







    Confirmed visitors/speakers include:



    - Rachel Petty, author/illustrator agent at the Blair Partnership, former editorial director Macmillan Children's Books,



    - Margaret Hope, art director, Welbeck Publishing Group



    - Arabella Stein, Managing Director, Bright Agency.
    Full fee £2,449.00 Senior fee £1,959.00 Concession £1,714.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  5. Extended drawing for artists and makers
    Course start date:  Wed 11 Oct 2023 (and 3 other dates)

    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 Vincent, susan kenton
    A 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. EDAM Handbook







    EDAM Archive.
    Full fee £2,169.00 Senior fee £1,735.00 Concession £1,518.00
    Rating:
    93% of 100
  6. Advanced figure and portrait
    Course start date:  Fri 13 Oct 2023 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Paul Dixon, Desmond Haughton, Brian Sayers, Kim Scouller, Benjamin Senior, Andrea Voisey
    The human form offers inexhaustible potential for communication and expression 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 in drawing, painting and mixed media.
    Full fee £2,499.00 Senior fee £1,999.00 Concession £1,749.00
  7. City Lit fine art: year 3
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 12 Oct 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Rolina Elsje Blok, Anne-Marie Foster, Alexandra Harley, Monika Kita, Amanda Knight, Steven Scott
    Year 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 £1,649.00 Senior fee £1,319.00 Concession £1,154.00
  8. City Lit fine art: year 2
    Course start date:  Mon 9 Oct 2023 (and 1 other date)

    Location on this date:  Blended (learn both online and in-person)

    Tutors:  Kath Castillo, Amanda Knight, Steven Scott
    Year 2 of the City Lit Fine Art course enables you to consolidate and focus the various experiences and ideas you will have gained in year 1. (Direct entry to year 2 is also possible, via interview, if you have an appropriate level of prior experience.) You will adopt simple research methods to reflect upon, identify and develop a personal creative project on a more individual, self-motivated route. This will result in the development of a cohesive body of new work that reflects your own interests. You will have group critiques, one-to-one tutorials and all day studio production sessions that allow you to explore and refine your creative skills, and seminars and presentations in which you will engage with new ideas and contexts; all delivered by experienced, practicing artists. Some basic materials are included.



    You will have the opportunity to help organise and present some of your recent work in a group exhibition, via negotiation and with the support of your tutors. 2 – 4pm online Zoom sessions on alternate Mondays (15 in total)



    10am – 5pm in City Lit studios. On alternate Tuesdays (16 in total)



    6pm – 9pm in City Lit digital media suite. On 4 or 5 alternate Tuesday evenings per term (12 in total.



    This course will be delivered online and in person. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £2,179.00 Senior fee £1,743.00 Concession £1,525.00
  9. The design brief
    Course start date:  Tue 4 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Andrew McCarten
    This workshop provides a forum for exploring and discussing the process (and sometimes challenges) of working with clients over a commercial design brief or commission. While some design briefs are relatively straightforward, and perhaps require a simple rendering of the client's vision, at other times the client can be unsure of what they actually want, and it can be a frustrating, uncertain and time-consuming process for the designer to identify and produce a solution to what is, sometimes, a poorly-defined question. Referring to real-life examples and case-studies, this workshop will take learners through the process of making a pitch, deconstructing a brief to be certain of what the client wants and needs (and whether these are same thing), presenting proposals, and working within time, resource and financial constraints. These are invaluable skills for the design professional that are equally applicable, for the student, to project briefs and coursework.



    For this workshop, you will need to have access to A3 or A4 plain paper, and a range of coloured marker pens, as well as a notebook. Basic materials will be provided, but you are welcome to bring and use your own as well.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00
  10. Is meaning inevitable? Intention, action and interpretation
    Course start date:  Fri 7 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Lily Markiewicz
    Does every creative act have meaning? Is there a statement – conscious or unconscious – inherent in everything we do as artists? Should we interpret or analyse what we see, what we do, what we’ve done? In this one-day workshop, we will examine a range of specific works, considering the question of whether and how meaning has been embedded (intentionally or otherwise) and can be identified and interpreted. This will, to some degree, touch on how individuals and societies make and ascribe meaning, perhaps as an attempt to process and come to terms with, for example, otherwise seemingly arbitrary events like a natural catastrophe or suffering. We will discuss and workshop these themes in the larger group, draw on examples presented, and the experiences of the members in the group. Other questions that may be considered include: discerning meaning as an attempt to find order in chaos, and whether or what we might lose by attempting to impose meaning, by attempting to explain within the confines of critical analysis, that which may, in fact, be critical to the character or intention of a work of art.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00
  11. Digital fundamentals: imaging for print and 2D
    Course start date:  Fri 14 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Rolina Elsje Blok
    As artists and designers, we generally tend to observe a number of fundamental 'rules' when working with digital media for print-based or other forms of 2D output. These relate to steps or settings for proceses such as scanning, saving, resolution, image or data format, colour modes, compression... To a certain extent, much of this is received knowledge, and we don't necessarily know why we follow these rules. Knowing what they are based on, and why, is, however, fundamental to technical proficiency, and expertise, and knowing what these principles are based on allows us not only to produce work to professional standard, but also to exploit them to their full creative potential. This workshop will be of value to any visual artist who uses digital technology in their creative practice, from painters and printmakers to photographers and graphic designers. Coverage includes: principles and concepts underpinning digital imaging for print/static delivery: pixel/vector; resolution, scalability, application; acquisition, modes, formats and real-world constraints; file sizes/compression/data integrity; relation to physical output (size, resolution, process).
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00
  12. Developing communities of practice
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sat 29 Mar 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Adam Piper
    What is a creative community? What does it mean to be part of a group of artists, designers or creative people? Communities maintain viability and relevance in ways that individuals can often struggle to achieve. Remaining a relevant part of the art world and engaging with issues with wider social significance is often easier as a collective, and arts organisations of all sizes increasingly emphasise the importance of groups, and their social relevance. This workshop, led by City Lit’s print area coordinator, examines experience gained working within the printmaking world, and establishing communities that have a life extending beyond the end of studies, exhibitions or projects. The workshop is relevant, however, to artists and designers of all kinds. In it, we examine what a community of practice is, how it might work, and what it means to be part of such a group. We consider and share insights of how artistic practice can have greater impact through group activity, how group activity can be relevant to your own personal practice, and, through it, how you engage with society. We also look at case studies, and consider the social and potential economic impact of each as an ‘artistic community’.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00
  13. Design thinking: creative problem solving
    Course start date:  Tue 8 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Andrew McCarten
    The term ‘design thinking’ describes an adaptive and reflective approach to problem-solving that is, in many ways, the same as the kinds of processes that underpin creative practice generally, and is fundamental to the development of many of the systems on which the world’s current production, logistics, communications and supply depend. Although generally considered largely in relation to system design, information and interaction design, and product design, it is a way of thinking through and deconstructing creative and/or technical challenges that is equally valuable as a lens through which to examine creative processes and problems in any discipline. In this professional practice workshop, we examine the 5 classic stages of Design Thinking, and look at how we can use them to refine our thinking processes, apply our insight and focus our imagination, to solve both creative and practical problems.



    For this workshop, you will need to have access to A3 or A4 plain paper, and a range of coloured marker pens, as well as a notebook. Basic materials will be provided, but you're welcome to bring your own as well.
    Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £79.00
  14. Advanced visual communications: where is the truth?
    Course start date:  Tue 29 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Andrew McCarten
    This advanced course examines the representation of truth and the manipulation of meaning through text and image, an issue with critical importance for the current times, from a number of perspectives. Working across a range of media and techniques employed in creative design and visual communications, we will examine examples in print, broadcast and on-line media.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £349.00 Senior fee £279.00 Concession £244.00
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