Open School East is a free, independent art school which is committed to making the arts a more open, diverse and accessible sector.

We support cultural practitioners to develop and sustain their practice; we enable adults and young people to learn new and transferable skills, and to shape their creative voice by becoming active learners and co-producers of OSE’s programmes. We respond to our locality by providing a free, informal and welcoming learning environment for people from all walks of life.

Our learning and development programmes are:

• Associates Programme: a development programme for emerging artists and cultural practitioners from diverse backgrounds delivered onsite at our home in Margate.

• Civic Programme: long-term projects with leading artists, researchers and practitioners, devised in partnership with our local communities

• Springboard Programme: supporting the artists and cultural practitioners who have graduated from our Associates Programme through professional development talks and mentoring

• Public Programme: a multifaceted programme of events, activities and short courses open to everyone

• Despacito Art School: projects with leading artists for local 5 to 12 year olds who lack opportunities to develop creatively

Short History

Open School East (OSE) is a free art school that provides higher education training for emerging visual artists from diverse, lower socio-economic backgrounds.

OSE emerged in 2013 in response to the crisis faced by art education: in particular increased fees for higher education; inaccessibility of art education for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds; and other educational provisions with low quality and ambition.

Our Associates Programme was formed to create an alternative space for artistic development and learning, providing a free, flexible, critical and supportive education.

Our Associates graduate with their practice developed to the highest level and in contention for UK and international top arts awards and opportunities, whilst also equipped with practical experience of delivering social impact projects. OSE achieves this through deep-touch local, national and international partnerships.

Location

Open School East was founded in 2013 in East London, where it operated from the first floor of the Rose Lipman Community Centre and former library in De Beauvoir Town for three years. In 2017 we relocated to Margate, Kent, and set base on the ground floor of the Pettmans building, under Resort Studios in the Cliftonville area of Margate. From 2019 to mid-2020 OSE operated from two locations in Margate: the first floor of the Adult Education Centre, formerly the Thanet School of Art and Crafts (1931-74), and the ground floor of CRATE Studio and Project Space.

In July 2020 we moved to a 5-storey Georgian building, at 39 Hawley Square. The building is currently accessible by stairs only, but we are working hard to turn the building into a fully accessible space. In the meantime, we are committed to providing alternative spatial solutions to enable full participation.