Learning Programme - Camden Art Centre

Our Learning programme connects artists with audiences to explore creative processes together.

Focused on inclusive and accessible approaches to creating we aim to challenge traditional expectations of what art can be and who can be an artist.

Working closely with local schools, teachers and community groups to collaborate both off-site and within the gallery we aim to nurture environments for critical and creative exchange with projects for all ages.

All of our programmes are led by artists and long-term, allowing participants and artists to connect and learn from each other over time. Our work with audiences is shaped by the interests and experiences of those we work with and regularly culminate in exhibitions and events amplifying the voices and sharing the work of participants.

We have a longstanding commitment to supporting artists to develop their practice and our programmes are designed to support the next generation of artists through youth projects that provide progression pathways into exhibitions, residencies as well as paid assistant and artist lead opportunities.

Embedded in the heart of Camden Art Centre our Learning programme aims to make creating art accessible and rewarding for all.

Primary Schools Project: Do not step on the Flwowos (Flowers) SEN Schools Programme Exhibition: Machine? Machine! Youth Collective: Transformative Futures Primary Schools Project: Dreamscape

I really enjoyed how unique and varied the sessions were and that there were opportunities to engage with materials, equipment and mediums that many of us had probably never used before. Participant Feedback - Transformative Futures

Explore our Learning Programmes

Find out more about the Learning Programmes that Camden Art Centre has facilitated, both on and off site, in collaboration with artists from various practices.

Primary Schools Project: Do not step on the Flwowos (Flowers)

1 September 2022/30 June 2023
In collaboration with Camden Art Centre and a local primary school, painter and interdisciplinary artist Johanna Tagada Hoffbec k ideated and developed a year long programme based around the themes of Joy and Togetherness. Throughout the year every pupil at the school from year one through to six participated in the project based around interacting with and understanding the natural world.

The project culminated in a showcase of works in our Drawing Studio in July 2023.

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SEN Schools Programme Exhibition: Machine? Machine!

20 July/13 August 2023
Machine? Machine! told the story of a speculative machine of unknown origin and function in a display of peculiar hybrid artefacts that bear the mark of outmoded machinery and human touch. The exhibition was produced by pupils from Swiss Cottage School and The Village School in close collaboration with artists Declan Leslie, Lucie Macgregor and Tom James. The programme combined the artists’ shared desire to reuse materials, subvert technology and experiment alongside the pupils’ interests in locomotion, science fiction and deconstruction.

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Installation views of SEN Schools Programme Exhibition 'Machine? Machine!', at Camden Art Centre, 2023. Photo: Hydar Dewachi

Installation views of SEN Schools Programme Exhibition 'DEN!' at Camden Art Centre in 2024. Photo: Hydar Dewachi

SEN Schools Programme 2024. Photo: Hydar Dewachi

Installation views of 'Machine? Machine!', at Camden Art Centre, 2023. Photo: Hydar Dewachi

Youth Collective: Transformative Futures

Transformative Futures is a free weekly collective for young people to discuss, explore and create art together. Our Youth Collective offers people aged 15-25 an opportunity to learn new skills and explore different approaches to art-making.

Each session is led by a contemporary artist offering participants the opportunity to try processes and techniques being explored by artists today. Artists who have exhibited at Camden Art Centre, including Jack O’Brien, Lonnie Holley and Gregg Bordowitz have led sessions for the Youth Collective.

Each year, the programme culminates in a showcase of works produced by the participants, usually in July.

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Transformative Futures session led by artist Jack O'Brien at Camden Art Centre, 2024

Transformative Futures session, 2023. Photo: Hydar Dewachi

Transformative Futures Takeover, 2024. Photo: Hydar Dewachi

Transformative Futures session led by artist Lonnie Holley at Camden Art Centre, 2024

Transformative Futures Takeover, 2023. Photo: Hydar Dewachi

Primary Schools Project: Dreamscape

1 October 2023/ 31 July 2024
Artist Amy Leung worked on a series of workshops with every pupil at Anson Primary School encouraging them to use memories of their favourite places and experience of play to co-design a new space at the school.

Working sequentially with each year group, the pupils have developed a visual language of shapes, colours and motifs that has added to and repurposed through the year. Sessions explored the connections between memory and place, colours and emotion and allowed the pupils time and agency to reconstruct spaces at their scale for their chosen purpose.

The project culminated with a celebration of the ideas, energy and creative spirit of the pupils with a display of work at Camden Art Centre in July 2024 and the installation of the new artworks in the playground at the school.

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We have had 100 % engagement of all the students who now feel part of a community at Camden Art Centre ... All our students now have a growing love for art and craft and always look forward to the sessions. Teacher Feedback – The Village School (SEN Schools Programme)