A Curriculum for Artists

The book presents and comments on the findings of a study jointly conceived and designed by Bonaventura and Farthing to explore the degree to which the curriculum in art schools has responded to changes in the art world over the past twenty years. The research question was: Are we adequately preparing artists for the art world as they will find it?

An empirical study was conducted using a questionnaire instrument designed to discover the breadth and depth of the curriculum being delivered by fine art departments in the UK during 2002-4, information perhaps surprisingly not previously available.

The resulting book contains the statistical outcomes, a summary of the findings and a collection of essays commissioned from a range of workers within the art and design sector, each essay is a response to the research findings, that change in the curriculum tends to be modest when compared to change in the market place. There is an editors’ introduction by Farthing and Bonaventura.

The research project was funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Arts Council of England and the publication by the New York Academy of Art. An advisory board comprising: Ian Barr, Bahram Bekhadradina, Francis Corner and Shauna McMullan, advised on content, methodology and selection criteria.

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