AN UPDATE ABOUT THE DRAW STUDIO
We'll be using this page to share updates about what is happening to the Draw studio in Brighton, beginning with an explanation of what has happened so far. On the day of publishing (9th Jan 2025), we are expecting to run all of the special courses advertised in our 2024/25 calendar. If we do have any reason to cancel any classes we would be able to give 2 months notice before the cancelation of any course and would be able to offer full refunds to anybody who had booked onto those classes.
We'll be using this page to share updates about what is happening to the Draw studio in Brighton, beginning with an explanation of what has happened so far. On the day of publishing (9th Jan 2025), we are expecting to run all of the special courses advertised in our 2024/25 calendar. If we do have any reason to cancel any classes we would be able to give 2 months notice before the cancelation of any course and would be able to offer full refunds to anybody who had booked onto those classes.
FAQ
What is New England House?
New England House is the studio block in Brighton which has housed the Draw studio since 2009, it is the centre of a diverse and supportive community of creative business and has been our physical and spiritual home for the last 16 years, with lots of Draw tutors and models based in the building.
What has happened at New England House?
Our landlords, Brighton & Hove City Council, recently commissioned a report into the fire safety of the building which found issues with its fire safety measures, caused by their own failure to adequately maintain the building. They immediately closed the building and put temporary measures in place to ensure the building is safe to use, reopening it after 3 days of closure.
Is New England House safe?
Yes; the risk-averse City Council are happy that New England House is safe to work in and to attend classes in.
What is happening to New England House next?
The expensive temporary safety measures in place will need to be replaced with longer term solutions in the next year. The city council will be meeting in March 2025 to decide the future of the building, with all of the options they are looking at involving evicting us from the building. This means that we have had to make plans at very short notice to prepare for being evicted in 2025.
How long will the Draw studio remain open for?
The Draw studio will be open until the end of August 2025. In September 2025 we will have to close the in-person studio.
Why is this affecting some classes now?
All of the in-person classes at New England House are subsidised by the Draw Patreon. In order to make sure that we have enough money set aside to move & store the contents of the studio at the end of this summer we have had to cut some of the in-person the classes in our programme that make the largest loss. These are the only cuts we plan to make and the current programme reflects sessions that will all be going ahead as planned.
Will the online programme be affected by the closure of the in-person studio?
The online programme will not be affected, although in the future it may lead to the expansion of our online offering.
What will happen at Draw after New England House closes?
Once we have been evicted from our studio we will be building on our partnerships with other studios in Brighton to continue to offer a programme of subsidised classes in other spaces, including maintaining our free programme (portrait club etc). We're also hoping to bring the Drawing Circus back to Brighton! While this is an incredibly sad circumstance for us to face, having rebuilt the studio after lockdown and having survived the 2022 energy crisis we're making plans to ensure we can keep funding affordable and accessible art classes in Brighton, making sure artists in the town are paid fairly for the work they do and bringing some of the best educators in the UK to teach for us.
What is New England House?
New England House is the studio block in Brighton which has housed the Draw studio since 2009, it is the centre of a diverse and supportive community of creative business and has been our physical and spiritual home for the last 16 years, with lots of Draw tutors and models based in the building.
What has happened at New England House?
Our landlords, Brighton & Hove City Council, recently commissioned a report into the fire safety of the building which found issues with its fire safety measures, caused by their own failure to adequately maintain the building. They immediately closed the building and put temporary measures in place to ensure the building is safe to use, reopening it after 3 days of closure.
Is New England House safe?
Yes; the risk-averse City Council are happy that New England House is safe to work in and to attend classes in.
What is happening to New England House next?
The expensive temporary safety measures in place will need to be replaced with longer term solutions in the next year. The city council will be meeting in March 2025 to decide the future of the building, with all of the options they are looking at involving evicting us from the building. This means that we have had to make plans at very short notice to prepare for being evicted in 2025.
How long will the Draw studio remain open for?
The Draw studio will be open until the end of August 2025. In September 2025 we will have to close the in-person studio.
Why is this affecting some classes now?
All of the in-person classes at New England House are subsidised by the Draw Patreon. In order to make sure that we have enough money set aside to move & store the contents of the studio at the end of this summer we have had to cut some of the in-person the classes in our programme that make the largest loss. These are the only cuts we plan to make and the current programme reflects sessions that will all be going ahead as planned.
Will the online programme be affected by the closure of the in-person studio?
The online programme will not be affected, although in the future it may lead to the expansion of our online offering.
What will happen at Draw after New England House closes?
Once we have been evicted from our studio we will be building on our partnerships with other studios in Brighton to continue to offer a programme of subsidised classes in other spaces, including maintaining our free programme (portrait club etc). We're also hoping to bring the Drawing Circus back to Brighton! While this is an incredibly sad circumstance for us to face, having rebuilt the studio after lockdown and having survived the 2022 energy crisis we're making plans to ensure we can keep funding affordable and accessible art classes in Brighton, making sure artists in the town are paid fairly for the work they do and bringing some of the best educators in the UK to teach for us.
UPDATES
No updates have been published yet.
No updates have been published yet.