- Music history bookclub: The Great PassionCourse start date: Fri 12 Dec 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Edward BreenThe music history book club meets towards the end of each term to discuss novels and biographies with musical themes and references relevant to the music history programme.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £19.00 - History of ideas: the invention of Christmas
Course start date: Sat 13 Dec 2025Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Angela PlattBeginning around the middle of the 19th century, a ‘new Christmas’ came into the fore; a reinvented Christmas, if you will. Why did this Christmas shift as it did – to produce the modern celebration many people still enjoy today? In this course, the stories of those groups and individuals who impacted this ‘reinvention of Christmas’ will be shared.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £23.00 Concession £19.00 - Studying Film: A TasterCourse start date: Sat 3 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Paul SuttonThis taster of forthcoming film courses at City Lit in 2026 offers you the chance to think about which ones to take while also providing an opportunity to explore some of the key areas in film studies more generally.
Learn how to evaluate and discuss films while enjoying a working example of a City Lit film studies class.
We will view clips from a wide variety of films, exploring themes and technique in British, European and modern American cinema. There will be a chance to review term two film courses at City Lit (January - July 2026).Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - South Bank and the Festival of BritainCourse start date: Mon 5 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Diane BursteinOn this virtual tour we go back to 1951 when the Festival of Britain took Londoners out of post war austerity to marvel at the latest innovations in art, design, industry and technology at a festival to celebrate the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Find out how this event was a catalyst for the regeneration of the entire South Bank which is today famous for its arts centre. We trace the surviving remnants of the festival including a mural by artist Topolski, two sculptures and the recently restored Royal Festival Hall. We view the post festival arts centres such as the National Theatre and finish with a great riverside panoramic view from the Oxo Tower.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Philosophy and memoryCourse start date: Mon 5 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Anita KasabovaWhat is memory? How does memory impact our sense of self and time? Why does memory often go wrong? If our memory is unreliable, can it provide knowledge of our personal past? How is memory registered in the body? What is collective memory? This course explores memory through philosophical and psychological lenses.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00 - Spanish beginners: revision Course start date: Mon 5 Jan 2026 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Analía ToloneRevise and consolidate your speaking and listening skills, as well as your grammar. Suitable if you have completed 'Spanish 1: module 3' or have an equivalent knowledge of the language (one year's study).
Please see the How will I be taught? section below for details on your chosen course's format and mode of delivery.
Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00 - Art history taster Course start date: Mon 5 Jan 2026 (and 7 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayCurious about art history? Join us for this taster session where we explore different ways into visual art and its histories, from the ancient to the contemporary.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - The Asante EmpireCourse start date: Tue 6 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Apeike UmoluChart the rise and fall of the Asante Empire, how it became synonymous with wealth, culture, and military prowess in the 19th century, and how it used religious and political innovations to become a global economic superpower. Tutor: Apeike Umolu.
Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £77.00 - Irish beginners taster Course start date: Tue 6 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Come and discover Irish in this lively online taster.
Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £19.00 - Spanish beginners: taster Course start date: Tue 6 Jan 2026 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Analía ToloneGet a flavour of a new language and its basic sentence structure in this lively taster course. Learn some useful phrases and some pronunciation guidelines. A fascinating introduction for complete beginners.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £19.00 - Teatime talks: The varied styles of the Italian Renaissance: through the lens of Pontormo and Masaccio Course start date: Tue 6 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberAn in-depth online discussion about two artists that represent to different styles of the Italian Renaissance, but who may have more in common than we think.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - An Introduction to Film Course start date: Tue 6 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Chris DarkeDevelop your critical understanding of cinema through a range of concepts and critical approaches in film studies, including narrative, genre, spectatorship, authorship and directors, popular cinema, art cinema, national cinema and early film, along with technological developments including the transition to sound, while we view and discuss a range of key films from cinema's history as examples.
Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £84.00 - Swedish beginners tasterCourse start date: Wed 7 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Jack Pulman-SlaterCome and discover Swedish on this lively online taster.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £19.00 - Italian Renaissance drawing: design, form and function Course start date: Wed 7 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Leslie PrimoBehind every great Renaissance painting is an equally astounding, some would say greater, Renaissance drawing. Indeed artists were judged firstly not by the quality of their paintings but by their grasp of, and skill in, drawing. Discover more about why and how great Renaissance works were created.
Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Lunchtime lecture: Art histories - the art of Kerry James Marshall Course start date: Wed 7 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayAn introduction to recent American and art histories through the work of the influential painter Kerry James Marshall. This lecture coincides with the last days of his major retrospective at the Royal Academy (20 September, 2025-18 January, 2026).
Full fee £14.00 Senior fee £11.00 Concession £9.00
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