1st Birthday For Creative Industries Foundation Degrees

Lichfield School of Art is celebrating a highly successful first year for its prestigious new Foundation Degrees in creative and cultural industries, and is planning to extend their scope still further for next year’s entrants.

The School of Art, which is part of Tamworth & Lichfield College, wants to build on the strong reputation that the degrees have already built up within the local art community by arranging more student placements in local heritage and creative businesses.

Head of School Alison Churchill said, “These are excellent courses attracting a lot of interest from high calibre students, who as part of their studies, take on a placement in a local business linked to their own area of interest. These placements are crucial to the individual students and are also very productive to the companies taking part, as they are able to take extremely creative and hard working people into their operations and benefit from all that it entails.

“We are already working with a number of employers including Lichfield District Council, through the Lichfield Garrick, the New Art Gallery, Walsall, and Birmingham Museums and Art Galleries, and this year we are looking to accommodate more students by offering more placements and widening the scope of the areas in which they might operate - everything from tourist attractions to creative manufacturing environments.”

Offered in partnership with Staffordshire University, the Foundation Degrees are based in the School of Art’s brand new premises at the Friary in Lichfield and are available via two pathways of study.

The first, a Heritage and Culture Foundation Degree, is aimed at students already working in, or hoping to work in galleries, theatres, museums, tourist heritage sites, documents, archives, antiques or other areas of cultural heritage.

The second, a Creative Arts for Employment Foundation Degree is suitable for students already working in a crafts-related position who wish to develop new business skills, or combine a career in creative arts with entrepreneurship. It can encompass diverse elements offering the opportunity to explore specialist skills whilst learning about business.

Alison Churchill added, “The Foundation Degree is a real trail blazer for us - something we have been working on for a long time and something we are very proud of. It follows on from our excellent Grade One ranking in the most recent Ofsted inspection report of the college, and demonstrates that students can access the very best in education right here in the heart of Lichfield.

“We are also very pleased indeed to welcome our new course leader Richard Pickup, who joins the team from University of Central England and Warwickshire College.”

Richard Pickup commented, “I am delighted to be joining Lichfield School of Art and to be working in this engaging and extremely interesting area of study. Students on these degrees are taught visual skills and for those looking to be employed in the creative industries, this is supported by the exploration of practical techniques in their chosen area and a background of the history of design. Visual skills for students of the heritage and culture pathway are supported by the study of how other people have responded to the environment and shaped the culture that we share today, along with a background of the history of heritage and culture.”

The Foundation Degree is a full qualification in its own right, but graduates may progress into the third year of a BA(Hons) at any university, in an appropriate discipline.

Full details on the course and entry requirements are available by contacting the School of Art on 01543 301100, or by visiting the campus.