Art, learning and the creative curriculum
Primary teachers' conference
Saturday 8 February 2020 10am - 6pm
Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington Gardens, Piccadilly
£75, £55 reductions. Includes morning tea/coffee, light lunch and a drinks reception at the end of the day
Join us for a full-day of inspiring talks, discussions and practical art making workshops exploring how creativity can support learning across the curriculum.
Due to unforeseen circumstances this event has been postponed – more information coming soon.
This conference invites primary school teachers to discuss the importance of creativity in learning and to consider approaches to embedding creative engagement in the classroom.
Speakers will include artist, arts advocate and Royal Academician Bob and Roberta Smith; independent arts educator, consultant and writer Ghislaine Kenyon, and Director of Learning and Collections at the Royal Academy, Rebecca Lyons.
Who should attend this conference?
This conference is designed for teachers, educators, artists and museum professionals who are interested in learning more about how we use art to enrich learning and deepen skills such as: creative thinking, problem-solving, resilience, building confidence, spatial awareness and risk taking. We will discuss ways we engage primary school learners through the RA Collection and our temporary exhibitions, and how you can too. Attendees will explore their own creativity and share ideas and experiences while taking part and contributing to talks, discussions and practical workshops.
What's included in my ticket?
• Access to a range of talks from artists and education professionals
• Artist-led practical workshops on the day
• All art materials
• Light refreshments
• Wine reception and networking opportunities
Coming with a colleague? We encourage friends and colleagues to learn together, so when you buy a ticket you can buy a second at our reduced ticket price.
Please sign up to our Teachers mailing list to hear more about our programmes.
About the speakers
Bob and Roberta Smith is the pseudonym of the artist Patrick Brill.
His best known works are Make Art Not War (1997) and Letter to Michael Gove (2011), a letter to the UK Secretary of State for Education reprimanding him for the “destruction of Britain’s ability to draw, design and sing”.
His curatorial projects include Art U Need: An Outdoor Revolution, which transformed public spaces in the Thames Gateway (2005-2006), and Peace Camp at The Brick Lane Gallery (2006), an exploration of artists’ perceptions of peace. A regular speaker at conferences and symposia, he initiated the Arts’ Party Conference 2013, a forum for artists and organisations to debate the role of art and design in schools.
Ghislaine Kenyon is a freelance arts education consultant and evaluator, curator and author.
After a teaching career she ran Education Programmes at The National Gallery and was then Head of Learning at Somerset House.
She is a governor at Barrow Hill Junior School and has served as Education Trustee on several arts boards including Artichoke Productions and The House of Illustration, the Britten-Pears Foundation, Aldeburgh, Handel & Hendrix in London, The Friends of The Institut Français and The Museum Prize Trust.
She is the author of The Arts in Primary Education: breathing life, colour and light into the primary curriculum, Bloomsbury Education 2019.
Rebecca Lyons is the Director of Learning and Collections at the Royal Academy overseeing the permanent collection and display spaces, library, archive, learning and academic programmes. Her career has been focused on object-based learning, from her first job at the National Gallery in the Education Department, to her most recent role as a Curator for the National Trust. Rebecca has also been the Director for the Attingham Trust's intensive study Royal Collection Studies programme for museum directors and curators, focused on the collecting of the royal family.
Rebecca has been a primary school governor at an east London primary for four years and Chair for two. She is passionate about access to arts and creativity as part of the curriculum for all children.