FOUNDATIONAL Day One

Within art schools and beyond it is common to hear Foundation art and design courses described as a key moment in people’s lives. Foundational sets out to explore how this is so: to ask in what ways Foundation courses, and their equivalents both internationally and at other levels of education have been foundational; what experiences have stayed with people and continue to shape their personal, professional, and creative selves? What aspects of foundation teaching have been adopted and adapted by other levels of education and why does this seem to be increasingly common? How can we begin to archive these experiences and how can we explore them creatively using modes of artistic research? How can we ensure that future generations can continue to benefit from the experiences of these pedagogies?

Foundational is the third INFE (International Network of Foundation Educators) symposium organised in collaboration with The Royal College of Art, London, and The University of the Arts Helsinki. It will take place over three days each taking a different approach to exploring the legacies and impacts of Foundation art and design courses and their equivalents including ground courses, basic courses, preparation courses, and the (post-) graduate diploma.

Day one will take place online and explore different archives and begin to imagine what an archive of Foundation Art and Design Education might look like, with contributions from:

• Dr Althea Greenan (Women’s Art Library)
• Andrew Groves (Westminster Menswear Archives)
• Neil Parkinson (RCA Special Collections and Archives)
• Kay Greenlees (National Arts Education Archives)
• Dr Elisa Adami ((Anti-)Foundational Archives)
• Dr Clair Le Couteur (Queering Foundational Archives)
• Paulina Pesonen (The Archive of the Nordic School of Art)
• Malcolm Garrett (A Personal Archive)
• Keynote: Dr Ekua McMorris (RCA)

Day two and three will take place at RCA White City.