Arts University Plymouth is a specialist independent art school run by artists, for artists. Founded in 1856, it combines over a century's worth of history with up-to-the-minute thinking and cutting-edge facilities including a brand new £8M Craft, Design, and Fabrication Workshops and FabLab Plymouth. We offer a range of creative studies across Art, Design, and Digital Media including Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Pre-Degree studies.
We are also an arts venue; our gallery, MIRROR, runs a high-quality annual program of exhibitions and events, showcasing work by the most exciting contemporary, emerging, and established artists working in a range of different discipline areas. We program solo and group shows, group shows, residencies, commissions, festivals, symposiums, and conferences.
Over 60% of our students are part of our specialist three-year undergraduate programs - BA (Hons) degrees - including Animation & Games, Craft & Material Practices, Costume Production, Fashion, Fashion Communication, Film, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Decoration & Styling, Painting, Photography, and Textile Design.
Postgraduate MAs and MFAs, pre-degree for students aged 16-18, masterclasses, and short course programs are available in a wide range of subjects.
Arts University Plymouth has its own campus spanning two buildings in the cultural heart of the city center.
The university continues to invest heavily in specialist resources and facilities for digital media and technology as well as fine art and handcrafted traditions.
Phase 1 of the Craft, Design and Fabrication Workshops opened in September 2013 and Phase 2 opened in 2014. Students across a range of disciplines from Glass and Jewellery to Printing and Ceramics can take advantage of the new workshops, studios and a range of industry level equipment in a purpose-built building.
Arts University Plymouth was established in 1856 as the first institution specializing in art and design education in the city. Its independence, identity, and ability to nimbly respond to changes and trends in the art world have remained unchanged since then. It has occupied several locations throughout the city under different names, but its core values have always stayed the same. The university offers a high-quality education that is the creative catalyst for personal, professional, and cultural transformation. Also, it offers the richest, most diverse ecosystem of materials, technologies, processes, practices, and exchange of ideas at any art school in the UK. This synergy gives us a certain kind of energy.
