With a wealth of study options in design, fashion and textiles, fine art, performance, media, English and culture, the School of The Arts prides itself on creating a vibrant and stimulating environment for all its students. The Arts' teaching staff are industry practitioners and academics that produce nationally and internationally recognised research, putting them at the cutting edge of their subject specialisms. They encourage students to be experimental and original, whilst providing them with the platforms to develop and enhance their creative skills.
The school has a distinctive commitment to an exceptional student experience with the highest quality of teaching – leading to higher student satisfaction and increased graduate employability. The school's commitment is supported by access to well equipped, high quality facilities including a gallery, dance studio, performance spaces, a digital imaging laboratory, photographic darkrooms, a music recording studio and practice rooms, printed textiles and printmaking workshops, sculpture workshops, painting studios, 3D fashion and footwear workshops, broadcast radio studio, radio station and a television studio.
Such learning spaces support the principle of 'learning through doing' and prepare students for employment within the creative and cultural industries. Annual highlights for the school include professional acting performances at Royal and Derngate, Graduate Fashion Week, Althorp Literary Festival and the end of year Graduate Summer Show, where students exhibit their work in a professional setting throughout the campus.
The school programmes enable students to acquire a range of design practice skills and technical knowledge to support career progression within the fashion industry.
Fashion courses have strong links with industry, invited guest speakers, live projects, and work experience. Internship opportunities are embedded within the curriculum. Students develop a major collection to a professional cat walk standard in their final year study.
The fashion area has dedicated studios and a range of high-quality workshops for the production of two and three dimensional work. The programmes will also develop professional and entrepreneurial skills for application within the creative industries.
The School of The Arts’ celebrated courses of Fashion and Textiles have links with some of the most famous names in fashion design including the technical expertise of internationally renowned Church’s Footwear, which originated in the shoe town of Northampton. Lecturer Leigh Cooke has worked for the prestigious brand Hermes, as a textile designer.
