About Us
Manchester School of Art believes an art school is more than just a place...
Who Are We?
Based in the heart of Manchester, a vibrant and multicultural city, we are an innovator of art and design education in the UK, and celebrated our 175th anniversary in 2013. As the second oldest design school in Britain, established to provide design training to the manufacturing industry, we offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses that are still very much influenced by the specialist needs of industry to provide our students with the essential skills and knowledge for their chosen career.
We place importance on experimentation and generating creative surprise. We have a playful yet serious approach to media, materials and processes. We are intellectually and academically challenging. We have mutual respect for each other's disciplines and foster an art and design community within the school and the City. We are creative, unconventional and professional.
What do we do?
We provide a broad range of architecture, art, design, media and theatre undergraduate and postgraduate courses in a unique creative environment that encourages creative collaboration across the disciplines. We are home to around 3,700 students from all corners of the world who study a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses taking inspiration from specialist staff, Manchester and each other.
How do we do this?
Collaboration is at the heart of what we do and RIBA award-winning Lowry Building has been designed with this at its core. It provides a unique community environment for our students to not only explore their own discipline but to watch, listen and learn from those working in other disciplines. In 2013, we made a £34m investment in our buildings and facilities, and we continue to invest in improving and upgrading existing facilities and equipment. We recognise the importance of offering both contemporary and digital equipment, alongside traditional methods and techniques. Our wide range of workshops enables our students to realise their most ambitious projects during their studies.
The School of Art is centrally located on the All Saints Campus, providing easy access to the University's facilities and only a short walk away from the centre of city. We enjoy close links with the city, its creative communities and cultural institutions and are connected to a wide range of external organisations such as industrial, commercial and professional bodies as well as arts associations and galleries.
Who has been here?
During our history, we have seen many of our graduates go on to be nationally and internationally renowned architects, artists, designers, filmmakers, photographers and thinkers. They are a great source of pride to us and they continue to develop the School of Art philosophy of creativity throughout their professional lives. Graduates include Sarah Burton OBE, L.S. Lowry, Julie Walters, Steve Coogan, Liam Spencer, Thomas Heatherwick, Peter Saville, Martin Parr, Brian Cosgrove, Mark Hall, Professor Malcolm Garrett and many more.