As art schools become increasingly elitist, leaving working-class creatives behind, IzzyCopestake thinks we risk losing the next generation of talent.
Britain has always owed its art schools a big thank you. Our world-renowned institutions have trained the likes of David Hockney, Alexander McQueen, David Bowie, Vivienne Westwood and countless other legendary artists. Yet despite our history of producing some of the most important designers, musicians and artists of the past century, are Britain’s art schools what they once were, especially in the midst of ongoing Tory cuts to the arts?
In the late 80s, Britain’s art schools, particularly Goldsmiths College of Art, began to be recognised as the home of the Young British Artists (YBAs). They fostered new forms of innovation using shocking imagery and found objects, with members including the likes of Damien Hirst, Angus Fairhunt and Sarah Lucas. Today, while Britain’s art schools are still world-famous, the classes of 2023 are reckoning with growing government contempt for the arts. Remember Fatima the ballerina? Whose next job could be in cyber (she just doesn’t know it yet)? Yeah, we wish we could forget that one too...Keep reading on Dazed.
Britain has always owed its art schools a big thank you. Our world-renowned institutions have trained the likes of David Hockney, Alexander McQueen, David Bowie, Vivienne Westwood and countless other legendary artists. Yet despite our history of producing some of the most important designers, musicians and artists of the past century, are Britain’s art schools what they once were, especially in the midst of ongoing Tory cuts to the arts?
In the late 80s, Britain’s art schools, particularly Goldsmiths College of Art, began to be recognised as the home of the Young British Artists (YBAs). They fostered new forms of innovation using shocking imagery and found objects, with members including the likes of Damien Hirst, Angus Fairhunt and Sarah Lucas. Today, while Britain’s art schools are still world-famous, the classes of 2023 are reckoning with growing government contempt for the arts. Remember Fatima the ballerina? Whose next job could be in cyber (she just doesn’t know it yet)? Yeah, we wish we could forget that one too...Keep reading on Dazed.