Which Long Course?
Our Long Courses run in the daytime at our Bankside campus. They range from our two year Contemporary Fine Art Diploma and Contemporary Portraiture Diploma through to a one day a week, 10 week skills class.
These courses are at the heart of the Academy’s art education offer.
For more information message academiccourses@artacademy.ac.uk
Contemporary Fine Art Diploma
Our Contemporary Fine Art Diploma is for people serious about studying Fine Art who are able to commit time to it. It’s ideal for people wanting to become professional artists or those who really want to develop their own art practice.
The programme supports you to find your artistic voice, whilst teaching you skills in any discipline through the Academy’s extensive Elective Skills Workshop offer, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, digital media and installation. You’ll also learn about how art history and theory is relevant to your work and you’ll start to think about how to present yourself as an artist.
It’s a two year programme with an optional third year. You can study it full time or you can opt for the ‘modular’ version, allowing you to study one module at a time, building these until you complete your Diploma and studying at your own pace.
You’ll study three to four days a week if you’re full time or one to three days a week if you opt for the part time, modular programme. (You’ll decide on the number of days for the modular programme). You’ll be expected to do your own work outside the taught classes in both options.
For full time study, you’ll join the Diploma in September. For modular study, you can join in any term, but will start your Studio Practice modules in the September after you join.
Optional Creative and Professional Practice Year
The optional Creative and Professional Practice year of this programme is recommended for students wanting to become professional artists*, but we encourage all Diploma students to take this year after they have completed the Diploma programme. Here you’ll really develop your art practice, guided by your tutor week by week and leading to your graduate show in the Academy’s Artists’ Gallery. You’ll learn too how to engage with the art world, preparing you for life as a professional artist.
This can be studied full time over a year or part time over two years.
*From 2027, we will also be opening this year to applicants from outside the Academy who haven’t taken the Contemporary Fine Art Diploma or Contemporary Portraiture Diploma.
Contemporary Portraiture Diploma
The Contemporary Portraiture Diploma is for people serious about studying Fine Art, who want to specialise in portraiture and figurative painting and who are able to commit time to it. It’s ideal for people wanting to become professional portrait or figurative artists or those who really want to develop their own art practice.
The programme supports you to develop your own artistic voice whilst teaching you to develop and hone, to a very high standard, skills in the exacting discipline of contemporary portraiture.
You’ll also learn about how art history and theory is relevant to your work and you’ll start to think about how to present yourself as an artist.
Our Contemporary Portraiture Diploma is a two year programme with an optional third year. You can study it full time or you can opt for the ‘modular’ version, allowing you to study one module at a time, building units towards your Diploma and studying at your own pace.
You’ll study three to four days a week if you’re full time or one to three days a week if you opt for the modular programme. (You’ll decide on the number of days for the modular programme). You’ll be expected to do your own work outside the taught classes in both options.
For full time study, you’ll join the Diploma in September. For modular study, you can join in any term, but will start your Studio Practice modules in the September after you join.
Optional Creative and Professional Practice Year
The optional Creative and Professional Practice year of this programme is recommended for students wanting to become professional artists*, but we encourage all Diploma students to take this year after they have completed the Diploma programme. Here you’ll really develop your art practice, guided by your tutor week by week and leading to your graduate show in the Academy’s Artists’ Gallery. You’ll learn too how to engage with the art world, preparing you for life as a professional artist.
This can be studied full time over a year or part time over two years.
*From 2027, we will also be opening this year to applicants from outside the Academy who haven’t taken the Contemporary Fine Art Diploma.
Foundation Year
Our Foundation Year is suitable for students preparing for undergraduate study, or those wanting to join one of our Diplomas who have had limited previous art training. You’ll be supported to develop your own ideas in Studio Practice sessions with our Foundation year tutors, learn skills in any discipline through our extensive skills workshop course offer whilst also studying an introduction to art history and theory.
You can study full time on the Foundation Year (three days a week for a year) or part time (two days a week for two years). You’ll be expected to do your own work outside the taught classes in both options.
Certificate Programmes
The Certificate Programmes offer skills only training – ideal if you’re serious about developing your technical skills but have limited time. These programmes are suitable both for people near the beginning of their artistic journeys and for people with more experience who are looking for high quality, skills based fine art training.
You’ll choose from our extensive Elective Skills Workshop course (ESW) offer, which provides training in all disciplines including painting, drawing, print making, sculpture and digital media, taught by professional artists who are experts in their fields. The programme changes every year. Each course takes place one day a week over a term.
You can choose a Certificate in Fine Art or a Certificate in Contemporary Portraiture.
As a Certificate student, you’ll study one day a week over two years, or two days a week over one year. You can join the Certificate Programme at the beginning of any term – in September, January or April.
(Certificate students going on to join our Contemporary Fine Art Diploma or Contemporary Portraiture Diploma can be credited for some of the Elective Skills Workshop courses they have completed on the Certificate Programme).
Elective Skills Workshop courses
If you can’t commit to study for very long, or have limited time, you can opt to take just one or more of our Elective Skills Workshop (ESW) courses without joining another programme. We have courses in all disciplines, including painting, drawing, print making, sculpture and digital media, taught by professional artists who are experts in their fields. The programme changes every year. Each ESW course runs for one day a week over a term, either for 10 weeks (autumn/spring) or 8 weeks (summer). You can choose any ESW (subject to available spaces).