Nottingham Contemporary

Schools of Tomorrow

As Nottingham Contemporary celebrates its tenth birthday, we’re thrilled to share the news that we have been awarded a £280,000 grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Schools of Tomorrow has been developed in close collaboration with eight city schools to explore how artists and teachers working together can inform and shape how we nurture and teach creativity in schools.

The programme will support core skills for learning, specifically; speaking, collaboration, critical thinking and leadership and use creativity to build joy, confidences and pride in children and their communities. The aim is to shift creativity from the classroom into the whole school and beyond, not only engaging students and teachers, but also school leaders and whole school communities.

Artists will be resident in schools, working with pupils and teachers to develop flexible year-long creative programmes; developing creative spaces, supporting pupils as Arts Ambassadors and developing unique creative projects that respond to school priorities. It will also involve pupil residencies, exhibitions and sharing events at the gallery.

Seven Primary schools and one Nursery School have been selected to participate. These are schools with long-standing partnerships with Nottingham Contemporary.

The eight schools are:

Edna G Olds Academy, Lenton

Huntingdon Academy, St Anns

Jubilee Academy, Bilborough

Melbury Primary School, Bilborough

Milford Academy, Clifton

Nottingham Nursery School, Radford

Robin Hood Primary School, Bestwood

Southwold Primary School, Leen Valley

“Schools of Tomorrow represents a new model of museums working with schools. It supports the development of creative and reflective partnerships between teachers and artists across schools. I'm really excited about what this collaborative programme will enable us to create and share with colleagues in the Arts and in education.”

Sam Thorne, Director, Nottingham Contemporary

“Schools of Tomorrow is a distinctive programme that supports eight Nottingham primary schools to develop a long term and in-depth partnership with a leading gallery. Nottingham Contemporary demonstrates a detailed understanding of schools’ needs and priorities. This programme engages children, teachers, families and artists as co-learners, bringing creativity into the classroom to build skills, confidence and aspiration. We look forward to seeing this important project unfold over the next three years.”

Catherine Sutton, Senior Grants Manager, Paul Hamlyn Foundation.