Discover your future

Now is the time to make your mark.

The creative industries aren’t an easy option - they’re a tough call, not because the jobs aren’t there, but because you need to be industry-savvy, professional and prepared.

We know this and we will get you there with a range of work experience and industry access throughout your time with us.

LIVE PROJECTS

A live project is an opportunity for you to work with an organisation to research and address a specific issue within the industry and work towards a solution. You will not only benefit by securing industry contacts and gaining valuable experience of working with practising professionals, but you will also gain skills, knowledge and experience that are valuable for future your employability, practice and your career.

EXHIBITIONS

If appropriate to your discipline, you will be encouraged to regularly exhibit your work - providing you with your own practice profile, experience in commercial management of your work and curation.

COMPETITIONS

One way of standing out from the crowd as a young professional is to win some nice shiny awards! We will support you in submitting your work to awards and competitions throughout your course.

SHOWCASE & SHOWREELS

Beautiful costumes, stunning photography, solo-show, showreels, artworks, mouth-dropping portfolio, breath-taking production sets - your final year is launch time. We take our commitment to you very seriously and your successfully transition into work in your final year. During this important time, you will focus on creating your final work to network with our industry friends, partners and contacts within the wider creative industries.

SOME OF OUR INDUSTRY LINKS

Folio provides impartial and confidential career advice and support designed to meet personal needs and complement each programme of study. It is open as a drop-in centre and a place to do research. In one-to-one mentoring sessions, the Folio team provide practical advice on getting a job, preparing your CV or developing a new business; the team also provide seminar programmes, such as ‘Art as Business’, funding, marketing and business start-up.

All of our degree courses are developed with professional creative input. Each of our degree programmes includes a panel made up of individuals with a profile in the relevant industry – these individuals work with us to help us stay up to date and also offer lectures and critiques for students. Many of them work with us on live projects and enable work experience for students.

As well as the above, we work with the creative sector on mentoring and external showcases.

So, if you choose to enrol with us, you might work on a set for a BBC TV series, make a costume for Killing Eve, design the cover of a national magazine, exhibit and sell a textiles collection in Paris, act in a Ken Loach movie, or curate and show artwork in your very own external exhibition. These are just some of the activities recent undergraduates have completed.

We collaborate with a vast range of external partners, organisations and individuals. For example, Amber Butchart, the TV fashion historian has provided personal feedback to students (2019) and Jimmy Turrell, international graphic artist and videographer, has worked with students backstage at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend (2019), to create a stunning mural for the event.

With guidance from Chris Riddell, one of our students published an illustration in The Guardian (2016) and also secured a weekly column before graduating. Another one of our graduates had the opportunity to work with games, concept art and motion graphics company Atomhawk (2019).

FOLIO SUPPORTS YOU TO:

• manage and plan your own development – setting goals for learning and experience • reflect on and evaluate your development and learning needs, identifying ways to meet them • research your chosen industry and career options.

FOLIO ASSISTS YOU WITH:

• job options or work experience • postgraduate learning • setting up and running your own business.

We run a series of open lectures, seminars and master classes, all free and open to all.

Folio, in partnership with Hartlepool Borough Council, can also provide dedicated, subsidised, fully-serviced work-place studios at ‘The BIS’ Whitby Street Studios, which are located alongside the Hartlepool Church Street campus.

At The Northern School of Art, we are very proud of the facilities we offer for students. Across our campus, you will find distinctive places for you to train, learn, explore and create in; they become your working, social and creative spaces.

Our specialist, industry-standard facilities, workshops, studios, IT & editing suites and technical rooms are housed in a range of buildings across campus - from heritage buildings, such as the listed Leadbitter building, to our new, purpose-built No 1 Church Street studios, workshops and learning hub. As a student, you have access to all facilities regardless of your chosen course.

ART & DESIGN

• individual working bays • design studios • iMac suites • Cintiq drawing tablets • kiln facilities • canvas-making • dry-point etching • letter press-printing • 2D & 3D laser cutter

PHOTOGRAPHY

• black & white, colour & digital dark rooms • photography studios • infinity cove • Phase One Capture

One tech for digital photography

FILM, TV & THEATRE

• double height film & television studio with gallery • green screen studio • networked editing suite • 129-seat theatre • audio & sound theatre systems • full lighting rig • sound gallery • rehearsal rooms • dressing rooms

FASHION, TEXTILES, SURFACE DESIGN, COSTUME

• pattern cutting & sewing rooms • dye lab • embroidery rooms • private fitting rooms

RESEARCH

• library • journals • costume collections • design history collections

FOLIO

• career & small business start-up drop-in & hub

ARTS & CRAFT SHOP

We have an arts & craft shop based at the campus for a range of specialist equipment.

EQUIPMENT FOR HIRE

Each programme has specialist, technical equipment to loan and use for the duration of your degree.

CHURCH STREET GALLERY • gallery & exhibition space

Film, TV & Photography Studios

Costume & Fashion Rooms

Theatre

Illustration Rooms

Do you want to pursue a career in film & television?

Start your degree next door to a major new film and television production studio!

The Northern School of Art is developing new production facilities next to its Hartlepool campus. There will be commercial studios hosting a range of film and television productions.

The Northern Studios will foster opportunities for students and the local area as well as establishing a new film and television hub in the North East.