The National Art & Design Education Conference 2026
Leading better practice for art, craft and design educators across the UK.
Our annual conference brings together art educators from across the UK, from all phases and sectors engaged in art, craft and design education. A key event in your calendar, the conference is your opportunity to keep up to date with the latest developments for our subject, connect with others and exchange ideas.
Creative Curriculums: Care, risk and courage
Creative bravery is central to art, craft and design education. As teachers of art, craft and design we navigate risky territories of practice. We encourage our learners to take creative risks, experiment, think critically, face challenging issues and be comfortable with uncertainty. How do we ensure that we are able to nurture creative courage, whilst maintaining our classrooms and studios as safe spaces for us and our learners? And we ask, how might our subject help us preserve our health and well-being in the face of societal and global challenges.
This conference invites us to consider creative, personal and professional risks that we encounter in our practice as educators, and the ways that we can navigate them with care and confidence.
The programme combines inspiring presentations with the latest research and information to help you and your learners. Workshop sessions will provide an active space for you to develop your own professional practice, with learning that you will take directly back to the classroom and studio.
Double the celebration: The conference will be followed by the NSEAD Summer Gathering & Awards 2026 ceremony on Saturday 20 June, at The National Gallery’s new Roden Centre for Creative Learning in London. Delegates have the option to join us for one, or both days.
Early bird registration (until 20 April 2026)
The conference is open to both members and non-members of NSEAD.
NSEAD Members: £10.00 - £20.00
The annual conference is a key NSEAD member benefit, included in your subscription: members are only required to pay a nominal registration fee of £10 for the conference, and receive discounted rates for the summer gathering.
Non-members: £18.00 - £143.00
Autumn Gathering 2025 X Artist + Educator Conference
NSEAD are pleased to be working in collaboration with The Northern School of Art & The Northern Festival of Illustration to bring this year’s autumn gathering to the Artist + Educator Conference at Hartlepool Art Gallery on Tuesday 21 October 2025.
This conference provides a fantastic opportunity for NSEAD members to connect with other art educators and creative practitioners from all levels of education, to explore how diverse cultural perspectives shape and enrich creative teaching practices. Through keynote talks and hands-on workshops, participants will examine innovative pedagogical approaches that transcend borders and foster intercultural understanding, exploring the theme 'diversifying the creative curriculum'.
Follow the booking link to find out more about the conference and event programme.
Venue: Hartlepool Art Gallery, Church Street, Hartlepool, TS24 7EQ
Tickets: £5 + booking fee
Book now
ATACL Conference 2026 | Making Space
The 4th Artist Teacher in Adult Community Learning Conference will take place on Saturday 21 March 2026, with the theme 'Making Space'.
Details of the conference will be announced soon. To receive updates directly to your inbox, subscribe to the #ATACL26 newsletter.
iJADE Conference 2025 | Ecologies (Day 1)
Day one of the 14th International Journal of Art and Design Education Conference, hosted online.
The International Journal of Art & Design Education Conference 2025 explores the theme 'Ecologies' and has a hybrid format, with one online day and one in-person day in Bristol with our host institution, UWE:
Thursday 6 November 2025 | Online
Saturday 8 November 2025 | Arnolfini, UWE Bristol
Ecologists seek to explain the relationship between humans and their environment. The ecologies of an art and design classroom encompass constellations of behaviours, personalities, curriculum, pedagogies, and assessment practices, while interconnected challenges to funding, resources and subject expertise threaten ecological collapse in some sectors of arts education. In the theoretical field, ecological thinking can open up the relations between art and education, schooling and the creative economy, or the dynamics that define art, craft, and design disciplines.
The iJADE conference provides the opportunity share and discuss ideas, practical developments and research findings in art and design education. The conference welcomes presentations reflecting on the ecologies of art and design education from colleagues in art and design pedagogy, gallery education, working in creative education at any level (formal or otherwise), students and researchers, and those working in related disciplines. The full call for papers and further details of the conference theme are available via the links below.
Submit an abstract (deadline for submissions: 10 October 2025)
iJADE Conference 2025 | Ecologies (Day 2)
Day two of the 14th International Journal of Art and Design Education Conference, hosted at the Arnolfini, UWE Bristol.
The International Journal of Art & Design Education Conference 2025 explores the theme 'Ecologies' and has a hybrid format, with one online day and one in-person day in Bristol with our host institution, UWE:
Thursday 6 November 2025 | Online
Saturday 8 November 2025 | Arnolfini, UWE Bristol
Ecologists seek to explain the relationship between humans and their environment. The ecologies of an art and design classroom encompass constellations of behaviours, personalities, curriculum, pedagogies, and assessment practices, while interconnected challenges to funding, resources and subject expertise threaten ecological collapse in some sectors of arts education. In the theoretical field, ecological thinking can open up the relations between art and education, schooling and the creative economy, or the dynamics that define art, craft, and design disciplines.
The iJADE conference provides the opportunity share and discuss ideas, practical developments and research findings in art and design education. The conference welcomes presentations reflecting on the ecologies of art and design education from colleagues in art and design pedagogy, gallery education, working in creative education at any level (formal or otherwise), students and researchers, and those working in related disciplines. The full call for papers and further details of the conference theme are available via the links below.
Submit an abstract (deadline for submissions: 10 October 2025)