Alternative Models of Art Education - Kibbo Kift

Alternative Models of Art Education: A series of short introductions.

Mark Rohtmaa-Jackson, Annebella Pollen and Elina Merenmies explore radical approaches to art education with reference to both historical and contemporary alternative models. This series of short audio introductions presents specific historical and contemporary approaches to art education, explored by artist-educators who have helped shape their respective models or researchers who have studied them.

Mark Rohtmaa-Jackson discusses the LungA School (Seyðisfjörður, Iceland). Annebella Pollen discusses the history of the Kibbo Kift (UK). Elina Merenmies discusses the Free Art School (Helsinki, Finland).

Each explore how alternative art education interacts with mainstream systems, behaviours and pedagogies, raising fundamental questions about what makes a school – i.e. a building, a curriculum, a community, a set of values – while reflecting on the role of students as co-authors of their learning environment. They consider the tension between autonomy and structure, the balance between freedom and being disciplined, and how resourcefulness, collective care, and site-specific tools can redefine what a school can be.

This conversation was originally chaired by Dr Susannah Haslam and recorded during ROOM, a one-day gathering that took place on 7 June 2025, marking the tenth anniversary of Freelands Foundation and the first activation of its new home on 12 Errol Street, EC1Y. The day was dedicated to gathering and sharing artist-teaching practices, while serving as a blueprint for mapping the potential of our new space and exploring a vision for the next decade of the Foundation’s work.