Logo for Hastings Art School

New art school in Hastings opens doors for September

A new fully accessible art school comes to Hastings and St Leonards. Julia Kotziamani writes. 

After an amazing start since our launch in April, we are now re-opening our doors for four new cohorts starting in September. Hastings Art School is an accessible, local solution to the art school model for those who cannot or do not want to go to a traditional institution.

We have taken all the best bits of the art school experience; the critiques, tutorials, high-quality curriculum, networking and exhibition opportunities and have brought them into Hastings for a fraction of the cost.

Our curriculum and schedule are designed to be flexible and to work around you with daytime, evening, and weekend cohorts available. We don’t require any formal qualifications, though these are welcome, and offer a post-graduate experience regardless of your history with academia.

This is the perfect fit for those who want to reinvigorate a fading practice, challenge their artwork in a critical, collaborative environment, or learn the foundations of a sustainable creative career. We welcome artists of all genres and at any stage in their creative lives. Come and play at

Our aim is really simple; to offer a fantastic art school experience whilst removing some of the barriers to learning faced by many artists in the local area.

We have just been given a residency in a prime location in Priory Meadow, so we could not be more central, and offer a range of times which will suit most. Best of all we are a fraction of the cost of a traditional art school model, whilst retaining all the bits you would need to challenge and progress your practice.

The course is structured around 10-week terms comprising seminars, practical experiments, tutorials (1-1 and group), and critical discussions in a collaborative environment. The course takes you through a development arch driving your practice and supporting you to refine and communicate your work in the broader context of the art world. It includes development, experimentation, theory, art writing, the business of art, contextualization and community, and aims to offer a high-quality, yet accessible, experience for artists at any stage of their career.

Poster for september term

We welcome artists working in any medium and don’t require any formal qualifications – though those are also welcome. The course is suitable for anyone who considers themselves an artist with their own creative practice, including emerging, post-grad, very post-grad, and serious amateur levels.

Our ethos is student-led and we are proudly inclusive. As such we have made the course flexible and we run sessions which will work for most (pre-school-run afternoon, weekend, and evening options).

If you are looking to re-commit to your creative output, are finding it hard or lonely working in that garret, are keen to develop in a critical environment, interested in the business of a career in the arts, or simply want to broaden your local creative network, this course is for you!

Each 10-week term is £230 with some scholarships available for those experiencing financial hardship.

We also have a dedicated arts library (thanks to many donations from Hastings Creatives – so grateful!), and with the brand new premises to make and show work, run a more holistic programme complete with practical and theoretical workshops and artist talks, lectures and other special events, it really is a fantastic time to join us!

Poster for end of term show

Also in: Arts News