Boomsatsuma is proud to announce we have been selected by the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) as its future education provider at its historic Queens Road home in Bristol.
The partnership brings together two Bristol organisations with a shared belief in the importance of creativity, education and giving people the opportunity to develop their own artistic practice.
Over the coming months, Boomsatsuma and the RWA will begin working together to develop a new vision for education and learning at Queens Road, building on the RWA’s long history of teaching fine art while creating new opportunities for future generations of artists and creative talent.
“Our appointment brings together one of the country’s oldest and most respected art institutions with one of the region’s most progressive creative education providers. We are proud to have been selected and look forward to working closely with the RWA to co-create a new vision for art education at Queens Road.”
Mark Curtis, CEO and Founder of Boomsatsuma
Founded in the nineteenth century, the RWA has played a significant role in Bristol’s cultural life for generations.
For Boomsatsuma, the partnership marks an important next chapter in our own story.
We started with a creative project for young people in Weston-super-Mare in 2008. Since then, we have grown into an independent creative education provider working across Bristol, delivering college and undergraduate education in art and design, film and television, photography, game design, digital media and other parts of the creative industries.
Throughout that journey, Bristol has been central to how we work.
Rather than separating education from the creative world around it, we have always looked for ways to put students inside it – learning in places where creative work actually happens, working alongside people from industry and building the skills, confidence and connections to shape their own successful futures in the creative industries.
Becoming part of the RWA community creates an opportunity to take that approach somewhere very special indeed.
Mark Curtis, CEO and Founder of Boomsatsuma, said: “This is an important and exciting development for Boomsatsuma, and we are very much looking forward to becoming part of the RWA community.
“Our appointment brings together one of the country’s oldest and most respected art institutions with one of the region’s most progressive creative education providers.
“We are proud to have been selected and look forward to working closely with the RWA to co-create a new vision for art education at Queens Road.”
The partnership will form part of the RWA’s wider plans to rethink how its Queens Road building is used.
That includes an ambition to bring the historic Life Room back into public use and create a more connected experience across exhibitions, heritage, artists, visitors and education – with what the RWA describes as “one front door” into the organisation.
The RWA has recognised the contribution SGS has made during more than three decades at Queens Road, and the thousands of students, staff and alumni who have been part of that history.
For Boomsatsuma, the period between now and 2028 gives us time to work with the RWA to develop what comes next.
Our focus will be on creating an education offer that respects the RWA’s extraordinary history while looking firmly towards the future: opening up opportunities, connecting learning with Bristol’s creative community and giving more people the space and confidence to develop their own creative path.
We’re incredibly excited to get started and will share more about the partnership, the development of the education offer and opportunities to get involved as the plans take shape.
Watch this space.
