We are looking for four experienced artist-educators based in Devon and practised in working with marginalised communities in healthcare, school and/or civil society settings, to form our first Teaching Community cohort, working from our studio in Dartington, South Devon from April to August 2026.
In a time where diminishing state funding continues to erode histories and infrastructures for art education across the UK, there is an urgent need for spaces where collective imagination can thrive.
Teaching Community is a flagship project for Radical Ecology through which we will explore how our belief in art as agency for social justice and climate justice can best be translated into tangible methods and curricula for art education that we can in due course share, in the first instance, with partners in Torbay, Plymouth and Dartmoor, whilst also facilitating a UK-wide conversation around best practices and about how traditions of socially-engaged art can be safeguarded in times of adversity.
Teaching Community is guided by abolitionist practice, inviting participants to tend to the hopeful and imaginative creative work that affirms art as a necessary tool for shaping new social possibilities, and for moving beyond the structures and limitations of what often seems impossible to change.
The cohort will learn with and from one another through peer exchange, developing and testing materials during dedicated training days, and bringing these ideas to life through a series of Art Clubs at the studio. We will conclude with an evaluation workshop that will use the learning from workshops delivered to inform the creation of open-source educational resources and toolkits for future phases of the project.
Subject to securing long-term funding, we hope the cohort (you) will continue to participate in the continued evolution of this project in ways that align with your practice and that help to shape and sustain its depth and its truth.
We welcome expressions of interest from experienced artist-educators and are open to learning about the diversity of contexts in which your experience has been formed. We particularly welcome applications from those working with rural communities, in healthcare or hospital settings, in primary schools, or with communities that have experienced forced displacement. We welcome artist-educators schooled on different approaches to art education and look forward to bringing you together. This openness extends to applicants who are curious about abolitionist and ecological pedagogies and want to explore them collaboratively. We are all students and teachers alike.
Development Week
The first phase of the programme is a three-day development process taking place between 21st – 24th April 2026 at the Radical Ecology studio in Dartington, South Devon. During this week the cohort will work together to test methodologies, share practice, and co-develop materials for the Art Clubs and Teaching Community programme. The development week is designed as a collaborative learning space where participants can share their own teaching practice, experiment with new pedagogical approaches, and develop resources they can carry into their own classrooms and communities.
Art Clubs
The second phase of the programme is a series of 24 workshops delivered by the cohort of art teachers at the Radical Ecology studio in Dartington between 6th May - 6th August 2026. During this period the cohort will independently deliver 6 workshops each on either a Wednesday or Thursday between 3-7pm. The workshops will be delivered to two separate groups of participants; children and their parents or adults who have a desire or interest to engage with art activities.
Evaluation Week
The third phase of the programme is a two day evaluation workshop taking place on Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th August at the Radical Ecology studio in Dartington. Together we will reflect on what emerged from the Art Clubs delivered, revisiting the methods and intentions shaped during the development week and asking what we have learned, what surprised us, and what we want to carry forward into Phase 2 of Teaching Community.
Key Dates
The below dates are a requirement for the project and applicants should be available for the duration of the development week, Art Clubs (delivered on either a Wednesday or Thursday between 3-7pm), and the Evaluation Week.
Interviews: Wednesday 1st April
Development week: Tuesday 21st - Friday 24th April, six hour workshop each day for three days.
Art Club workshops: Wednesday 6th May - Thursday 6th August, between 3-7pm, two hours weekly for six weeks, to include one hour workshop and one hour to set up and pack down.
Evaluation week: Wednesday 5th & Thursday 6th August, four hour workshop each day for two days.
Fee
Four successful Art Educators will be offered £1,500 (£33 p/h) for participation in the three phases of the Teaching Community programme. This fee includes attendance of the Development and Evaluation week, planning and delivery of the Art Club workshops, and completion of project resources, totalling 45 hours.
Application requirements:
Applicants will be practicing art educators with a minimum of two years educational experience and be committed to socially engaged approaches to art education.
We particularly welcome applications from those working with rural communities, in healthcare or hospital settings, in primary schools, or with refugees and asylum seekers.
A DBS Check Certificate is required to complete the programme.
Submit your application via the Google Form below by 23rd March, including a CV, Portfolio of previous work, and a summary in less than 500 words of an idea you’re interested in exploring: