The School Of Communication Arts
I recently received an email from a guy called Marc Lewis.
He’s reopening the School Of Communication Arts this September.
It’s going to be run like an agency, with students being taught by visiting mentors.
These mentors can be online, in person or contribute to a Wiki, and he’d like to involve as many brilliant people as possible.
Actually, I could witter on pretending I’m some expert but instead it might be better to get the info from the horse’s mouth. Here’s how Marc introduced it to me.
I am reopening School of Communication Arts this September. The school closed in 1995 when John Gillard was no longer able to run it.
I was one of John’s last scholarship students, and after a rewarding career I wanted to focus on doing something in my community. This piece in The Guardian explains my motivations.
The videos hosted on Knowledge Peers provide a decent overview of the school’s vision.
Our school is unique for several reasons, which has helped us win the support of the IPA and D&AD as well as nearly a dozen agencies and scores of mentors.
– 50 students and 300+ teachers (mentors)
– 15 scholarships in 2010, rising to 25 scholarships by 2015
– Curriculum written by the advertising industry, not by academics. (see attached, The Wiki Initiative)
– Delivered as a ‘creative apprenticeship’. 12-months in the school followed by 6-months work placements
– Nationally accredited qualification, developed with University of the Arts London Awarding Body
– 3 pathways; Copywriter, Art Director and Ideapreneur
– Ideapreneurs receiving funding to start a business whilst at the school, in return for equity that is shared with partner agencies
We deliver an androgogic style of learning and to make this as rewarding as possible for our cohort, we aspire to bring six mentors a day into the school.
We want those mentors to come from all across the marketing services industry. There is a short presentation about mentoring at the school here.
So sign up at the link above and, y’know, give something back.
And if you want to be a student, all the information is also on the site.