New Slade residency to support art teachers and educators

Launching this July, the Slade Director’s Studio Summer Residency is a four-week programme open to art teachers working in secondary education, hosted in parallel with the Slade Widening Participation Summer School for students. 

The residency comes at a pivotal moment for arts education in England. Between 2010 and 2021, secondary schools saw an 8% decrease in art teachers, a 14% fall in teaching hours, and a 38% decline in arts GCSE entries, according to the Cultural Learning Alliance.  

Subsequently, the 2023 APPG Art Now Inquiry found that two thirds of art and design teachers are considering leaving the profession, citing diminishing resources and a lack of professional recognition. 

The residency is designed to champion the value and visibility of arts education by giving teachers the resources and space to develop their own practice, alongside new approaches they can bring back to their classrooms and communities.  

Selected Artist Teachers-in-Residence will join the creative community at the Slade, and there will be opportunities to engage with Hauser & Wirth’s own learning initiatives and commercial gallery programme, strengthening connections between education, contemporary art practice, and the cultural sector. 

“The Slade is incredibly proud to launch this residency at such a critical moment for arts education. This would not be possible without the generous support of Hauser & Wirth,” said Professor Mary Evans, Director of the Slade School of Fine Art. 

“Teaching artists are essential to the future of creative culture. Through this partnership, Hauser & Wirth is proud to recognise their contribution to the wider art ecosystem,” said Debbie Hillyerd, Senior Director Learning and Partner, Hauser & Wirth. 

“The Slade Director’s Studio Summer Residency is symbolic of our firm belief at UCL: that the arts belong at the very heart of a great university, and of society as a whole,” said Angharad Milenkovic, Vice-President (Advancement) at UCL. “At a time when arts education faces real pressures, this programme offers something meaningful: dedicated time and space for teachers to grow and to return to their classrooms and communities with renewed vision.  

“This is precisely the kind of partnership that makes the Here, it will happen so impactful, and we are grateful to Hauser & Wirth for their generous support.” 

Our aims: 

Founded in 1871, the Slade School of Fine Art has been part of how UCL fosters a culture of interdisciplinary exploration, enriching artistic practice and sparking unexpected collaborations across the university’s diverse faculties.  

Here, we have always placed the arts and humanities at the centre of what we do and used them as a prism to examine what makes us who we are. 

This ethos continues to shape the Slade today. This new partnership with Hauser & Wirth will strengthen this legacy, supporting courageous and visionary artists who will shape the future and our ability to think critically, create, and communicate. 

If you are interested in applying to the residency or in finding out more about philanthropic partnerships at the Slade, contact Kate Birch, Head of Development (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences), at (kate.birch@ucl.ac.uk).

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Slade Access Summer School, 2023