Interested?

Sign up for the Art&Design Saturday Club at The Margate School. We will confirm places in late September, subject to funding.

October 2024 - July 2025

Art&Design Saturday Club

Join thousands of Young People across the country who are choosing to spend their Saturdays learning new skills and working on creative projects at our Art&Design Saturday Club.

This program is FREE for 13-16-year-olds, with workshops taught by local creatives with a diverse range of practices ranging from street art to fashion. Weekly sessions explore sustainable and DIY practices, with previous sessions covering natural dyes, spray painting, foraging, and zine-making.

“Being able to express myself freely in a Club where the teaching is more collaborative has helped me to develop my skills.”
- Club Member

Students of the Art&Design Saturday Club are sat around a large table drawing, painting and cutting out typeforms.

A Young Person holds up a white t-shirt with a black screen print, designed by the student. The tutor stands behind him pointing at the t-shirt and smiling.

4 protest banners lie on a large table. They are socially and environmentally engaged with slogans saying "Disability rights are human rights" "In the UK we recycle only 17% of our waste" "There's enough plastic in your blood to make a credit card" and the last one is written in Ukranian and says "Stop polluting our world with wars". The banners are colourful having been dyed with a variety of plants and the type has been made from multicoloured heatpress vinyl.

Squares of cloth are laid out on a table. They have been naturally dyed and look like tie dye prints, in various hues of orange, pink, green and purple.

Three Young People pose for a photo with their arms around each others shoulders and smiling for the camera. Two are wearing t-shirts that have been naturally dyed and screenprinted with their own designs.

A Club Member stands infront of a silver reflective screen with their screenprinted design on a t-shirt and a protest placard. The design has features the Lorax with the speech " I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees, they say support trans rights or I'll break your knees!"

A group of Young People stand in a gallery holding up the results of an exquisite corpse exercise in front of their faces.

A student handles a microscope that is connected to a large monitor outside. He is looking at bugs whilst others in the group watch and wait their turn.

Students are standing around some dyed fabric laid out on the floor. They are stood in front of a busy and colourful bench studio.

A person wearing white gloves is holding fabric that has been tied up and dipped in dyes. There is a large silver pot containing a green liquid that is used for dying.

Through group projects and exciting workshops, we encourage collaboration and experimentation, empowering Young People with the skills to be adaptable and resilient, growing their confidence to forge their pathways into further education and creative careers.

Club members also take part in national events including Masterclasses with leading industry professionals and the Summer Show, where Saturday Clubs nationwide exhibit their work in a public exhibition – all for free!

“The Club gave me a clear direction to focus on and provided opportunities that I would never have been able to have on my own”

- Club Member

A group of Young people and three tutors are on stage at a graduation ceremony.

The Art&Design 2024 cohort on stage at Somerset House for their graduation.

Support the Art&Design Saturday Club

Can you help us to deliver The Margate School's Art&Design Saturday Club?

This Club connects Young People aged 13-16 with local creatives for an alternative art and design education. Through group projects and exciting workshops, we encourage collaboration & experimentation, and the Members get real-world experience. These weekly sessions empower Young People with the skills to be adaptable and resilient, growing their confidence to forge pathways into further education and creative careers.

But we need your help…

To run these sessions we are applying for grants, funding pots, and fundraising via Crowdfunder. We have set a fundraising goal of £17,500 to pay local creatives to deliver unique workshops, cover materials & food, and help pay for trips.

As an additional heart-strings-pull, we need to talk about art provision for young people - art has been pushed down and out of the national curriculum and there is now no foundation course at a dedicated art school in Kent for Young People to join when they finish school. The Saturday Club can help fill part of this void, so please give what you can, many small donations are as important and valued as fewer large ones.

Together we can support Young People's futures and the future of the arts in Kent.

Donate

About the National Saturday Club

The National Saturday Club gives 13–16-year-olds across the country the opportunity to study subjects they love at their local university, college or cultural institution, for free.

Offering dynamic creative learning programmes in eight subject areas – Art&Design, Craft&Making, Fashion&Business, Film&Screen, Performance&Theatre, Science&Engineering, Society&Change, and Writing&Talking – the model works to develop young people’s skills, nurture their talents, and encourage their creativity.

As a powerful, countrywide network of shared knowledge and best practice, the model represents an exceptional opportunity to build young people’s creative skills and embolden them to become the next generation of innovators and imaginative thinkers. It also serves to connect educators and industry professionals so young people are better informed about the choices that exist for further education and rewarding careers.

Learn more about the National Saturday Club.

Interested? Sign up for the Art&Design Saturday Club at The Margate School. We will confirm places in late September, subject to funding.