Our GLAD events since 2023, have increasingly highlighted that creative education is essential civic infrastructure, not peripheral to society, but central to cultural, economic and community development. Participants have challenged deficit narratives about art and design education and emphasised how creative practice can advance equity, sustainability, collaboration and future-ready skills. In response, GLAD are doing something a little different in 2026/27!
Instead of a one-off event, GLAD will present a UK-wide series of regional half-day gatherings at HEIs. The series will create a distributed platform for exploration and co-creation under the broad theme of PLACE. By situating these conversations across the UK, the series will recognise diverse regional strengths and local contexts, elevating collective narratives that demonstrate how art schools lead through, for, and with their communities.
We are delighted to announce the following ten events. Further details on each event, joining instructions etc coming soon.
Host: Edinburgh School of Art
Partners: Glasgow School of Art; Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design; Gray's School of Art
Title: Futures, Places & Partnerships
Host: London Metropolitan University - Art, architecture and Design
Title: This Must Be the Place - Creative Education in the City
Host: Glasgow School of Art
Title: Beyond the Studio: Place, Participation and Creative Learning Cultures
Host: University of the Arts London / UAL Online
Title: Know your place: situating online creative education
Our hosts and partners
Host: University of Lancashire, Preston
Partners: Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Library; Creative Lancashire
Title: Made Here
Host: Royal College of Art, School of Communication
Title: Open Door
The GLAD Regional Series 2026–27: PLACE is delivered in partnership with CHEAD(Council for Higher Education in Art and Design) and we would like to gratefully acknowledge their support.
Host: University of Greater Manchester, Bolton
Title: Of This Place: Universities, Communities and the Civic Role of the Art School
Host: London South Bank University
Title: Technicians of Place: Making Creative Ecologies Visible
Host: Nottingham School of Art, Nottingham Trent University
Title: Routes of Resistance, Grounds of Practice
Host: University for the Creative Arts, School of Cultural and Creative Arts
Title: Making Cultures
