14 Aug 2026Exhibition
Degree Show opens at the East Wing
120 graduating students across six disciplines, open to the public for two weeks.
Undergraduate and postgraduate study · Founded 1971
Ignite Art University has taught fine art, design, film, animation, photography and digital media in east London since 1971. Ten degrees, six disciplines, and a studio of your own from the first week.
An Education for the Next Generation of Artists and Designers
Open day 4 October 2026 — campus tours, course talks and portfolio review.
Teaching and learning
Every member of academic staff maintains a professional practice alongside their teaching. You are supervised individually, reviewed each week in studio critique, and supported by eleven technicians across four specialist workshops.
Taught One to One by Practising Artists and Designers
Studio tutorial — BA Fine Art, second year.
Graduate outcomes
94% of our graduates are working in creative fields within two years of finishing. Careers advice, industry placements and alumni mentoring run from your first year through to your first commission.
Where a Creative Career Begins
Graduation 2026 — 412 students across six disciplines.
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Courses
Ten validated degrees across six disciplines. Every course is studio-based, taught by practising artists and designers, and includes a professional placement and a public graduate exhibition.
Study area
Level
10 courses
Studio-based BA led by practising painters. Individual studio space from year one.
Your own studio bay from week one, on the floor with the north light. Weekly crits, two visiting painters a term, and a wall you're expected to fill.
View courseMaterials-first BA spanning cast, weld, wood, and installation.
Cast, weld, carve, and install. You're inducted into the metal and wood shops in the first fortnight, then left to use them.
View courseType, systems, and print, taught alongside working studios.
Type first, then systems, then print. Live briefs from working studios in year two, and a Risograph you can book any night of the week.
View courseWorkshop-based BA covering wood, metal, and rapid prototyping.
Draw it Monday, prototype it Thursday. Wood, metal, and rapid prototyping sit in the same building as your desk.
View courseShort-form narrative filmmaking with full crew rotation each term.
Everyone crews for everyone. You'll direct three shorts and hold every other role on set at least once before you graduate.
View course2D and stop-motion animation from a dedicated rig and capture stage.
Draw, rig, and shoot. A dedicated stop-motion stage and capture rig, plus a full term working to a real production schedule.
View courseLong-form documentary practice with access to wet and digital labs.
One long project a year, carried properly. Wet darkroom and digital lab, both open six days a week.
View courseScreen-based and physical computing, taught with working hardware.
Screens and hardware together — sensors, microcontrollers, and prototypes you can actually hand to someone.
View courseSelf-directed studio practice with weekly one-to-one tutorials.
Two years, part-time, entirely self-directed. Weekly one-to-one tutorials and a studio you keep for the duration.
View courseAdvanced production pipeline work across 2D, 3D, and stop-motion.
One year, full-time, pipeline-focused. 2D, 3D, and stop-motion, ending in a festival-ready short.
View courseNo courses match those filters.
Student and Graduate Showcase
More than 340 students exhibit publicly each year. The Degree Show runs for two weeks every August and is free and open to all.
Our Campus and Facilities
Six floors at 14 Foundry Lane: individual studio space, four technician-run workshops, a 40,000-volume library and archive, and a public gallery programme of eleven exhibitions a year.
Student Life and Support
Guaranteed first-year housing, a dedicated wellbeing and disability service, thirty-one student societies, and a students' union that sits on every course committee.
Studio Access
24-hour studio access
Swipe-card entry to your studio block, every day of the year, no booking needed.
Workshops
Print, ceramics, metal, digital
Four technician-run workshops, induction required, open six days a week.
This Week
- Mon — Life drawing, Studio 3
- Wed — Risograph open session
- Fri — Crit night, Fine Art
Societies
31 student-run societies, from Zine Club to the Super 8 Collective.
Neighbourhood
Five minutes from the gallery district
Studio rents from £110/week nearby, and three public galleries within a ten-minute walk.
Housing
Guaranteed first-year housing within 20 minutes of the building.
What Our Students Say
This place taught me to trust the mess before it makes sense.
Nobody here asks you to explain yourself before you’ve made the thing.
They gave me a key to the print room in the first week and never asked for it back.
Tutors will sit with you at two in the morning if the work needs it.
The technicians know your project better than your own notes do.
You get a wall, a deadline, and no excuses. That was enough.
Academic Staff and Technicians
Forty-two academic staff and eleven technicians across six disciplines, a staff-to-student ratio of 1:12 in studio hours. Every member of teaching staff maintains a professional practice.
Painter. Shows with Foundry Projects; sits in on every first-year crit.
Type designer. Ran a two-person studio for nine years before teaching.
Documentary director. Two features, both shot with student crews.
Stop-motion director. Runs the capture stage and the Friday screening.
Documentary photographer. Twenty years on long-form projects, still printing wet.
Runs both shops. Knows your project better than your own notes do.
42 teaching staff and 11 technicians across six disciplines — a 1:12 staff-to-student ratio in studio hours.
Study Abroad and Exchange
Study for a term or a full academic year at one of thirty-eight partner institutions across sixteen countries. Credits transfer in full, tuition is paid to Ignite only, and your studio space is held until you return.
Semester abroad — Anya R., Documentary Photography, Lisbon
38Partner schools in 16 countries
1 in 4Students who study abroad
Where you can go
- Berlin Weißensee Kunsthochschule
- Amsterdam Gerrit Rietveld Academie
- Lisbon Faculdade de Belas-Artes
- Copenhagen Det Kongelige Akademi
- Vienna Universität für angewandte Kunst
- Milan NABA
- Helsinki Aalto ARTS
- Prague UMPRUM
What it costs
Erasmus+ grants cover between €350 and €600 a month depending on destination, and you pay no tuition to the host school. Applications open in the second term of year two.
News & Exhibitions
09 Aug 2026Award
Second-year wins national ceramics prize
Femi Okafor’s stoneware series selected from 400 entrants.
02 Aug 2026Screening
Third-year shorts screen at the Regal
Six student films, one public Q&A with the directors.
28 Jul 2026Partnership
New print residency with Fenwick Press
Two funded places for graduating illustration students.
21 Jul 2026Exhibition
Alumni show travels to the Old Foundry
Work from six graduates now in independent practice.
15 Jul 2026Exchange
Four new Erasmus+ partners confirmed
Helsinki, Prague, Porto, and Ghent join the exchange list for 2027.
08 Jul 2026Workshop
Metal shop reopens after refit
New extraction, two more welding bays, inductions from September.
Graduate Outcomes and Careers
Our careers service supports every student from first year to graduation and for three years afterwards, through placements, portfolio clinics, funding advice and alumni mentoring.
94%
Graduates working in creative fields within two years
340+
Students exhibiting publicly every year
£28.4k
Median freelance day-rate, year-three alumni
“Our careers service supports every student from first year to graduation and for three years afterwards, through placements, portfolio clinics, funding advice and alumni mentoring. The tutors know every student by name.”
“We visited four institutions. This was the only one where every studio we walked into had students actually working in it.”
“The admissions team answered every question about funding in writing, before we asked twice.”
Information for Applicants and Students
Admissions, fees and funding, student services and support, gathered in one place.
Our Alumni
11,400 graduates since 1971, working across illustration, visual effects, curation, publishing, product design and independent practice. A few of them, and what they went on to do.
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Rosa Emberly Fine Art, 2016 Turner Prize nominee, 2024. Represented by Foundry Projects.
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Idris Bello Directing (Film), 2014 Feature debut at Cannes Semaine de la Critique.
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Mei Tanaka Character Animation, 2018 Animation director at Studio Halcyon, Tokyo.
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Callum Reyes Graphic Design, 2012 Founded Nine Point Type. Draws every weight himself.
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Halina Novak Documentary Photography, 2019 World Press Photo, long-term projects, 2023.
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Tobi Adeyemi Interaction Design, 2020 Builds museum installations. Three permanent commissions.
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Juno Whitfield Sculpture, 2011 Public commissions in four cities. Still casts her own bronze.
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Elias Ferrand Product & Furniture, 2017 Furniture in the permanent collection at the Design Museum.
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Sana Qureshi MA Fine Art, 2021 Curates the Old Foundry programme. Hires from here.
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Otto Lindqvist MA Animation, 2015 VFX supervisor. Two BAFTA Craft nominations.
The network
Graduates keep their library card, their print-room rate, and a standing place in the alumni studio scheme. Most of the people above still return to sit on critiques.
- Alumni network
- 11,400 graduates since 1971
- Studio scheme
- 18 subsidised bays, two-year terms
- Mentoring
- Pairs finalists with working graduates
- Return rate
- 1 in 3 come back to teach or crit
Admissions: Apply for 2027 Entry
Portfolio deadline 15 January 2027 — 8–12 pieces, any medium. Open Day on 4 October 2026: book a studio tour and a one-to-one portfolio review.
- Portfolio deadline
- 15 January 2027
- Open day
- 4 October 2026
- Portfolio size
- 8–12 pieces, any medium
- Interviews
- In person or online
- Fee waivers
- Available — ask admissions