Art Schools, Place and Policy

Since the 1960s, fine art higher education in the UK has undergone dramatic changes to the way it is delivered. Initially, it was a vocational practice rooted in making. However, since its amalgamation into the university system in the early 1990s, it has become increasingly theoretical.

“Art Schools, Place and Policy” draws from a historical and socio-geographical exploration of how policy and societal contexts have shaped art education. It investigates how an examination of the relationship between art schools and place can advance our understanding of the value of fine art education today.

In their cross-disciplinary doctoral research, artist and geographer Dr Silvie Jacobi and artist and lecturer Dr Matthew Macaulay explore how these changes have shaped the current fine art curriculum.

Matthew's work is concerned with how the shifting UK higher education policy environment has impacted painting education since the 1970s. Silvie explores the relationship between art schools and place and the emergence of art scenes by juxtaposing British and German art school systems. The conversation is chaired by Paul Haywood.

Dr Silvie Jacobi is a consultant and researcher with an academic background in fine art and geography. Her work explores the intersections of arts, education, and urban space. She holds a joint PhD from King’s College London and Humboldt University Berlin, where she investigated the role of art schools in shaping spatialised art scenes and artists' relationships to place.

Her book, Art Schools and Place: Geographies of Emerging Artists and Art Scenes, was published in 2020. Silvie now works across regeneration, culture, and research—supporting businesses, cultural organisations, and communities to deliver place-based, socially engaged, and research-driven projects.

Dr Matthew Macaulay is a curator, researcher and painter. He is a Lecturer on the BA Fine Art and MA Painting programmes at Wrexham University.

He was awarded the Garfield Weston Artist in Residency award at Aberystwyth Art Centre, and the Drawing Artist in Residence at Rugby Independent School.

In 2011, he founded CLASS ROOM, which was a contemporary arts gallery and venue in Coventry, which provided an important platform for practitioners from the region to develop and share new bodies of work. He is the founder of Facture an online journal for painting.

He completed his PhD that combined his interests in British abstract painting and arts education, titled 'Shifting teaching practices of non-representational painters in British higher education 1975 – 2005', in 2021. His current research interests include painting, historical and contemporary arts education, abstraction, British art and artists' magazine studies.

"Art Schools, Place and Policy" took place on as talk on 20 March 2024 at Freelands Foundation, London.

Originally chaired by Paul Haywood (Dean of Academic Programmes for Art, Performance, Jewellery, Textiles and Materials, Product, Ceramics and Industrial Design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London). 

Audio editing: Riham Moussa.