Directory: EDUCATION, TRAINING & SKILLS

 
     _{ONE-DAY & SHORT COURSES}

::  Potteries Museum & Art Gallery - is the main public gallery in the city. Occasionally has one-day and half-day workshops.

::  Wedgwood Memorial College - in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent. A residential Workers Educational Association college providing a variety of weekend & one-day courses in the creative arts.

::  New Victoria Theatre - in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The New Vic occasionally has practical drama workshops for beginning adult performers.

::  The Media & Communications training facility at the University of Keele - runs short courses in media production, which are open to those outside the University.

::  BBC Radio Stoke's Learning Centre - a new state-of-the-art facility that puts on an eclectic variety of free friendly one-day training workshops; from basic web design, audio editing, video production, to specialist hands-on workshops in Canal-boat 'Folk' Painting.

::  Rodbaston Agricultural College - based near Stone. Offers some short courses in country crafts, such as willow-weaving.

::  Craft Addicts - based in Alsager. Offers a wide range of popular studio-based workshops in crafts.

::  On The Verge - based at Alsager, and offering a variety of one-day and short courses in contemporary crafts.

::  The Threshing Barn - short crafts courses in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

::  Marie McGowan-Griffin. Marie is an artist & senior lecturer at Staffordshire University, and also runs community arts & crafts workshops.

::  Anthony Forster's Art Classes - a private art tutor based in the Potteries.

(See also: youth theatre, camera clubs, & painting groups, & environment/rural-skills training for creatives.)

     _COLLEGES

::  Stoke Further Education College: Visual Arts & Media, Burslem, Stoke. The College's large well-equipped Media department has doubled its number of teachers over the past 18 months, in order to meet demand for media production courses. There are also courses in Drama. In 2004 the Learning & Skills Council report rated the College in its "Excellent" grade, placing it in the top 10-percent of all UK Colleges.

::  Newcastle-under-Lyme College - Faculty of Art and Creative Studies. The Arts have a dedicated campus which is separate from the rest of the College, and they have excellent Inspection reports.

::  Leek College of FE & School of Art provide an Art Foundation Course. Also a 1-year Graphic Technology course. Leek is about eight miles from Stoke. Associated with the College is the Arts & Crafts gem, the Nicholson Institute of Leek - and by 2006 this will be complemented by a newly-built Leek Arts Centre.

:: Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College - based near Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent. As well as A-levels & similar, they also offer new evening courses for adults; such as Adobe Photoshop (Advanced), Making a Video, Book Keeping for Small Business, and more.

::  South Cheshire College is based in nearby Crewe. Offers courses in photography and creative software.

::  Wedgwood Memorial College, Barlaston, Stoke. A residential Workers Educational Association college providing a variety of practical and educational creative courses. A new purpose-built Arts Studio is in the early planning stages.

     _{UNIVERSITIES: Staffordshire University}

::  Staffordshire University: School of Art & Design, Stoke-on-Trent. The 10th largest provider of art & design degrees in Britain, gaining an impressive national subject-review score of 22 out of 24. The School of Art & Design has recently spent £400,000 on a Digital Media Studio. Three new B.A. Animation degrees have been added for 2006/7, offering dedicated courses in 2D, 3D or interactive animation.

::  Staffordshire University: Dept. of Media & Cultural Studies, Stoke-on-Trent. Cultural Studies offers a range of mainly theory-driven undergraduate degrees, plus new postgraduate Masters degrees.

::  Staffordshire University: Media & Entertainment Technologies also offer lots of practical creative undergraduate degrees. These are run outside of both the Dept. of Art & Design or Media Dept., but have lots of visual/arts aspects.

::  Staffordshire University: Drama & Theatre Arts Dept.

For current part-time Art & Design courses at Staffordshire University, see the 2006 subject Listing for part-time courses.

     _{UNIVERSITIES: Other local universities}

::  The University of Keele: Media and Communications courses. Keele's The Media & Communications Centre also run short-courses in media production, which are open to those outside the University.

::  The University of Keele: Continuing & Professional Education. Offers short courses in the local community, which include: Scriptwriting for Stage, Screen and Radio; Short Story Writing; Poetry Writing; Folk Music Composition; Novel Writing; Introduction to Bookbinding; Freelance Writing for Magazines; Introduction to Proof-Reading and Copy-Editing. Also Sculpture and Stained Glass.

::  Manchester Metropolitan University: Alsager campus: courses in Creative Arts, Electronic Music & Performance, and 3D & Product Design. MMU's Alsager campus is just eight miles from Stoke-on-Trent, and also contains the Alsager Arts Centre.

     _VARIOUS

::   Longton High - City Learning Centre, Stoke-on-Trent. They have "a fully operational T.V studio", and can provide Apple Mac training, and animation training.

::  Staffordshire Learning Net: Art & Design - for Art & Design staff in local schools.

::  Wolverhampton University offers short professional-development courses for professional creatives based in the West Midlands. There are too many courses to list here, but they're free and Wolverhampton University is only a short hop from Stoke on the train. Contact: creativeindustries@wlv.ac.uk to arrange an initial meeting to discuss your needs. Animators, film-makers and scriptwriters should also consider contacting the Light House in Wolverhampton.

::  Skillset offers training bursaries and advice for media professionals in the West Midlands.

(See also: environment/rural-skills training for creatives.)