Tate boss opens creative Free School

Plymouth School of Creative Arts (PSCA) has been officially opened by Sir Nicholas Serota, Director of Tate, in a ceremony that marks the growing acknowledgement of a new model for creative education. PSCA is a mainstream city centre Free School that starts at primary level and feeds through into Higher Education. It is described as establishing “a progressive continuum of creative learning and practice from age four to Masters level study and beyond, into professional employment within the creative and cultural industries”.

Founded by Plymouth College of Art in 2013 and based at The Red House, the school is also acting as a catalyst for community regeneration in Plymouth’s Millbay docklands, “supporting the transformation of individual life chances and community aspiration in the long term, with immediate local impact for families in the area”. The school’s philosophy is that “the creative purpose of learning should be inseparable from the creative purpose of living your life”. At the opening, Serota described it as “an incredibly brave venture”. “I hope Plymouth gets the credit when it’s copied all over the United Kingdom,” he said.

Interest in the school’s work is developing nationally and internationally. As a new model of creative education, the Plymouth School of Creative Arts / Plymouth College of Art ‘creative learning continuum’ has been presented at the Confindustria Veneto in Italy, Shanghai University and Beijing Design Week in China, Révélations in Paris and the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea.