1

Introduction

The position of Head of the School of Fine Art is an important leadership role for The Glasgow School of Art. The School of Fine Art has an incredibly rich heritage, producing some of the most important practitioners of the last century and a global community of graduates that continue to lead the way across the whole spectrum of fine art practice today.

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History

Founded in 1845 as one of the UK’s first Government Schools of Design, the GSA can trace its lineage to the 1750s and the establishment, during the Scottish Enlightenment, of the Foulis Academy, the UK’s first School of Art. Nearly 270 years later, we are one of the UK’s last remaining independent Schools of Art, ranked as one of the top 20 art and design schools in the world and at a pivotal and exciting point in our history.

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Students

Socially and culturally diverse, the GSA has one of the highest numbers of international and EU students of any UK visual creative institution or faculty and one of Scotland’s highest percentages of students from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

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Alumni

The School of Fine Art has produced 6 Turner Prize winners, 30% of Turner Prize nominees since 2005, and virtually all the artists chosen to represent Scotland at the Venice Biennale since 2003. Our global community of graduates continues to lead the way across the whole spectrum of fine art practice today.

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Strategy

Our Plan for Our Future: Strategic Plan 2022 – 2027 articulates the collective ambition for the future direction of The Glasgow School of Art.  

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Research

SoFA comprises a distinctive, specialist research culture encompassing art writing, historical and critical theory, curatorial studies and research in, about or through creative practice. Teaching at the school is informed directly by academic staff’s active engagement in research, creative practice and scholarship.

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The City

It is only two miles’ walk from the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world to the UK’s first technological university.  It’s a walk that takes you through a city whose architecture was built at the height of its global success, from the parklands of Kelvingrove, through the city’s Georgian new town and into the Victorian grid of the city centre. 

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Galleries

Interrogate this year’s final year Graduate Showcases from the School of Fine Art, galleries of alumni successes, and emergent artists.