Spotlight: Chisenhale Gallery

Chisenhale Gallery partnered with London East Alternative Provision (LEAP) and artists Edwin Minguard, Femi Tiwo and Ashley Lloyd to explore art teaching provision in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU). Working across an academic year, the artists and LEAP Arts Lead Lennox Barton tested how the classroom can be a place for experimentation and practice-based learning within the structures of the PRU as an institution.

With increasing referrals to PRUs from mainstream education, and the complex backgrounds and needs of students, Chisenhale Gallery sought to understand the potential impact of practising artists in these classrooms, working with both teachers and students. PRUs have remained an under-explored area for socially engaged artistic practice, with few artistic projects from which to draw learnings.

Through connecting artists, teachers and students to new experiences and opportunities in this context, Chisenhale Gallery explored and documented a process of multidirectional learning in the PRU art classroom.

A PRU class provides a rich but challenging space for exploration on what process-driven art teaching can be. Instead of a primary focus on qualifications, LEAP collaboratively co-produces the curriculum with students, supporting social inclusion and psychological wellbeing. Working closely with the LEAP Art Lead Lennox, teaching assistants and LEAP Head Teacher Astrid Schon, Chisenhale Curator of Social Practice Seth Pimlott supported the artists to navigate an environment of instability to create space embracing artistic practice.

Through working collaboratively with established artists, using professional equipment and transforming the classroom to exist as a form of studio space, the self-perceptions of students in the PRU shifted across the project. Creating embodied experiences of artistic practice through experimentation with equipment, media and techniques, the direction of classes were deeply informed by the lives of students. Localism provided a key connection between students, staff and the artistic team. Showcasing works of the students, Never Sleep was held at a project space beyond the gallery and school, which grounded the work and process of LEAP students in and with their community. 

Working within the structures of a school is always challenging for artists and arts organisations, especially so within a school that supports students with complex backgrounds and fitting mistrust of institutions.

Building trust with students was central to beginning any creative exploration when working with young people who have been excluded from mainstream education. Working with the mixed abilities and needs meant that working in longer, more sustained sessions allowed for deeper connections with students and practices. Confident and empathetic leadership paired with a generous approach to adaptability and resilience were essential to navigating issues such as absenteeism and sudden shifts in class focus. These challenges, however, prompted deeper thinking around how creativity can exist with school institutions and the privileges of curiosity.

Freelands Foundation supported art teaching in unstable contexts across 2024. This collaboration was funded as part of the Spring 2023 Fund, an open-call grant round supporting organisations delivering bold and innovative projects that build collaborative relationships between schools and visual art organisations that centre teachers in creative approaches to art education and inspire and engage young people. This grant round offered funding of up to £25,000 per year, for one or two years.