The October Gallery’s Education Department aims to communicate some of the rich stylistic diversity of contemporary art from around the world through workshops and outreach projects. We have participants of all ages, from children at Early Years Centres to elders’ groups. Both gallery workshops and artist-led, longer-term projects engage school pupils and community groups with art from diverse cultures, emphasising cultural plurality and focussing on high quality artistic processes and outcomes.
October Education runs a two-tier programme for participants: the schools’ programme, which includes a longstanding programme of excellent early years and nursery arts provision, and the outreach programme.
The schools programme provides 1 ½ to 2 hour, artist-led workshops with accompanying resource packs. Workshop content is related to the work of the exhibiting artists, using observation, discussion and a variety of practical and artistic techniques taught in the context of the art on display. October Education workshops are tailored to suit children of all ages, from Early Years, through Key Stages 1 to 4. We also welcome special schools and EAL groups.
We are also in the process of developing our provision for families. Please contact us for more details. We also run a biennial Exhibitions Programme.
October Gallery Education TeamSchools programme funded by JPMorganfoundations
For 29 years the October Gallery has sought out artists from around the world who are alive to the shifting currents and creative intersections of cultures. To mark the beginning of a new season, the gallery will showcase the work of a number of internationally acclaimed artists.
Amongst others, the exhibition will include works by West African artist Julien Sinzogan, paintings from the late Guyanese artist Aubrey Williams, and the British artist Gerald Wilde, whose show of paintings opened the October Gallery in 1979.
The workshops will be a unique opportunity for pupils to explore the work of Sinzogan, investigating themes of migration, redemption and humanity. Each workshop will look closely at the mythical journeys of Sinzogan’s ships, adorned with the vivid colours of Egungun masquerade costumes and flags. Pupils will be encouraged to discuss and develop their own responses, and create artworks inspired by the contrasting colours, shapes and movements of Sinzogan’s work.
Workshops take place at the gallery from 10.00am—12.00pm at a cost of £70 per group, or £180 for schools booking three classes.
Please contact Helen Turner, Education Officer Coordinator or Elizabeth Fraser-Betts, Assistant Education Officer, for more details of workshops, to make a booking, or to discuss how the sessions can support and enrich learning through the National Curriculum.
Tel: 020 7242 7367 (Mondays - Thursdays)For further information on the exhibition click here
We also offer accessible, skills-based INSET sessions for teachers, both in schools and at the gallery. They are rooted in our exhibitions, and are designed to support teachers’ work in art from other cultures. Contact the department for details.
All outreach projects are funded by external grants. For help and information, please contact the Outreach Coordinator, Helen Turner, at or on 020 7242 7367.
The artist-led outreach programme emphasises collaborative work rooted in the exhibited art at the gallery, but takes place both at the gallery and at our partner venue.
In the last two years, we have worked with a variety of schools and community groups. Some examples of our projects are shown below:
Adults from the Single Homeless Project, based in Kings Cross, took part in a six month project to create mixed media works investigating Holborn, Kings Cross and their environs through photography, print, museum visits and guided tours. This project was led by led by print-based artist Edori Fertig and culminated in exhibition of the works at the Foundling Museum. The work reflects their different perspectives on the psycho-geography of the city, and is influenced by the stories of Thomas Coram’s Foundling Hospital and William Hogarth’s work on display at the Foundling Museum.
For this project, artist Carlos Cortes worked with children from local Holborn nursery, the Thomas Coram Centre. The children designed and made translucent panels of coloured drawings for the roof of an outside area.
For this pilot project in collaboration with Camden-based Pan Centre for Intercultural Arts, artist Susan Swartzberg worked with young people referred from the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture to design and make a special lamp. This was painted and embossed with symbols invented by them based on the calligraphic work of exhibiting artist Rachid Koraïchi.
Adults from the Single Homeless Project, based in Kings Cross, took part in a project to design and make metal ‘memory boxes’, engraved with images derived from the complex Sufi symbology of Rachid Koraïchi’s work. This project was led by Susan Swartzberg.
Fitzrovia Youth in Action, Euston, needed to create a dramatic entrance to their basement offices in a narrow stairwell. Vanessa Benson, a mosaicist who has worked with many Camden schools, led workshops where young people from 11 to 19 took part in designing and then painstakingly creating a mosaic that represented what the youth project does.
Elderly participants from the African and Caribbean Elders Luncheon Club in Maida Vale took part in story telling workshops both in their Centre and in the October Gallery, led by Tuup. Participants listened to stories from Africa and the Caribbean, and were then encouraged to tell their own.
The October Gallery’s Education Department continues to run smoothly by means of support from J P Morgan Foundations and the St Andrew Holborn Charities. The October Gallery Education Department is an active member of engage.
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