Cambridge School of Art taster days

Our taster days offer your students the best way to experience University life. We hope you can join us on campus for one of them. Email [email protected] to find out how we can support your travel.

Cambridge School of Art Taster Day

KS5: 12 February 2026

KS4: 23 April 2026

Location: ARU Cambridge

What might a creative future look like? Our Discover Cambridge School of Art Taster Day is the perfect opportunity to explore what life at art school is really like. This hands-on day is designed to inspire, inform, and ignite your students’ creativity. They’ll get the chance to try out different disciplines, meet current students and tutors, and experience the atmosphere of a vibrant, working art school.

From sketching in the studio to experimenting with materials and digital tools, they’ll take part in practical workshops that reflect the kinds of projects they’ll explore on a real course as well as thinking about what creativity means. At KS5, they’ll also get insights into building a strong portfolio, applying to creative courses, and what a career in the creative industries could look like.

Taster sessions

Online or in person at your school or college* or at ARU we have a range of sessions for you to choose from. They can be delivered as a standalone session or as part of a build-your-own-taster day.

Participants create illustrated characters of themselves (hero, villain, creature, etc.), using design elements like shape, line, and colour to express personal strengths and traits.

Graphic Design: An Introduction to Logo Design — 60 mins

A fast-paced logo challenge using predefined shapes, followed by a friendly competition to select the most creative designs.

Fashion Design: Creative Fashion Design — 60 mins

Explore fashion themes using collage and drawing techniques to develop innovative 2D fashion concepts, which are then shared within the group.

Fine Art: Colour Workshop — 60 mins

Combines photography and painted colour studies in a collage format, using found or personal images like family photos to explore visual harmony and contrast.

Photography: Social Media Workshop — 60 mins

A fun, collaborative session where students select random words and create images based on them, fostering creativity and awareness of what they post online.

This is just a small selection of the activities we can offer. For more info and to arrange your personalised sessions get in touch: [email protected]

*Not all sessions can be delivered online or at your school or college. But we will work with you to shape the best experience for your students based on the delivery format. Timings are approximate.

Meet our staff team

Jeff Crosby: animation, illustration, drawing and book art, children’s book illustration, graphic design and typography.

Duncan Ganley: interdisciplinary approaches to lens-based media, artist’s film and video, document and fiction in the lens-based image.

Emily Godden: immersive storytelling, virtual heritage, e-waste, creative technologies. Jury Prize winner, Innovate UK Immersive Tech Awards 2025.

Benjamin Mackay: interior design, narrative and placemaking, late 19th /early 20th century English art schools, female gaze and women’s roles in placemaking.

Dr Wendy Moody: fashion/textiles practice and storytelling, digital fashion design, buying and wearing experiences (digital), emerging technology and games.

Kate Winter: illustration, observational drawing, narrative non-fiction, teaching creativity. Winner, Klaus Flugge Prize 2024.