Art History Link-Up’s mission is to transform the arts sector by increasing and widening participation in art history, a field traditionally dominated by graduates of private schools and elite universities. Art History Link-Up seeks to diversify the sector through secondary education, as fewer than one percent of state schools in the United Kingdom offer A-Level art history courses. AHLU offers in-person and virtual weekend classes to both A-Level and GCSE students in collaboration with the Courtauld Institute at Somerset House in central London. This enables students to complete the two-year A-Level art history curriculum and earn an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), or a Higher Project Qualification (HPQ) at the GCSE level. AHLU is currently working to expand the HPQ programme beyond London and reach a greater number of students across the UK.  

I was able to support the work that Art History Link-Up does by working on two projects over the course of my six-week Laidlaw Leadership in Action. Firstly, I conducted a survey of the educational resources available from museums and galleries throughout the United Kingdom. I spent several weeks researching and assessing the resources that are currently available to teachers and students, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of various teaching resources, which will help Art History Link-Up develop a new curriculum that can be disseminated to various schools around the UK. 

I also helped to build an alumni database that Art History Link-Up can use to stay connected with alumni and to share opportunities within the arts sector. This will help to ensure that the work they do is sustainable and long-lasting, impacting the lives of their students beyond their time in the classroom. I reached out to hundreds of former AHLU students, and it was wonderful to hear about the ways in which art history has impacted their lives and their careers. 

My favourite part of the Leadership in Action experience was participating in AHLU’s weekend classes, conducted in collaboration with the Courtauld Institute of Art at the beautiful and historic Somerset House. AHLU runs two different classes: a two-year A-level Art History programme, as well as a Higher Project Qualification course for GCSE-level students. The classes often centre around the Courtauld Gallery collection, so students are able to connect with the work more directly by viewing it in situ. I really appreciated that the AHLU curriculum makes a conscious effort to expand the traditional British art historical canon. The students were encouraged to engage with some of the bigger questions in the field of art history at the moment, such as repatriation and feminist art criticism. These topics sparked a number of thoughtful discussions, and all the students seemed eager to share their thoughts. The classroom conversations were often livelier than university seminars, and the students all seemed so passionate about what they were studying.

In the classroom, it was inspiring to see fourteen and fifteen year old students get genuinely excited about the history of art. They brought their own ideas and experiences to the table, and contributed creatively to spirited discussions about art. Their enthusiasm gave me a lot of hope for the future of a field that is often cynically described as obsolete or impractical, and it reinforced the reasons why I fell in love with art and history in the first place. Both inside and outside the classroom, it was so inspiring to see how accessible arts education can impact the lives of young people.