Art School Live

• A device with internet connection
• We recommend you connect your device to a Smartboard, large screen or projector so your students can see the livestream clearly
• Connected speakers to allow your students to hear the session clearly
• The art materials required for the session
• A mobile device or tablet (should you wish to share your students work with us as part of the session)

Our Art School Live sessions are free to all schools in the UK.

You can book onto any of our upcoming sessions via the NG Art School Live page on our website. Click the ‘Book now’ button on any session, then select ‘1’ ticket from the drop-down menu before filling in the short form with your schools’ details. You can then check out and will be prompted to create a National Gallery account if you do not already have one or sign in if you do. 

Your booking will be confirmed by email. Everything you need for the session will automatically be available in the ‘Online events and films’ area of your account.

• Our artist educators will warmly welcome your students, then give a short 5-minute introduction to the workshop. They might share some examples of paintings from the collection and stories behind them as part of this.
• We will then embark on approximately 10 minutes of warm up exercises to help your students settle into the session.
• The remainder of the session is usually divided into three main activities, each one lasting approximately 10-12 minutes.
• We usually use the end of each session to share and celebrate the artwork your students have created during the workshop. Please keep reading to find out how to share this with us.

There is no limit to the number of students, classes or schools who can join each session. We are proud to have an active NG Art School Live community, made up of schools and home educators from all over the UK (and beyond). Many of our participants take part every month.

No, you and your students won’t be visible during the livestream, although they will still feel like our Gallery Educators are teaching a special class just for them. Sessions are highly interactive, and we strongly encourage you to share your students’ artwork with us via our digital Padlet gallery, details of which will be shared with you before and during the session. You can also submit your students’ questions for our Educators to answer via Vimeo’s chat function.

As soon as you book onto a workshop, a session handout/materials list will be loaded to the ‘Online events and films’ area of your National Gallery account. To make the classes as accessible as possible, we always try to build our sessions around materials most schools already have in the classroom, like pens, pencils and A4 paper. However, to keep our sessions as varied and exciting as possible, there will be some exceptions- for example, a session around creating shadow boxes might require your class to bring in torches. We therefore recommend you access the session handout/materials list at your earliest convenience, to give you plenty of time to gather the materials you need.

Any member of school staff or home educator can book onto a session. Once booked in, the ticketholder will have access to a link to the livestream which can be shared with any colleagues who might need it. If one member of staff is booking for multiple classes, we kindly ask that the total number of students who will watch the session is reflected when filling in the booking form. Keeping track of viewer numbers allows us to keep our sessions free for all.

Home educators are hugely welcome to join our NG Art School Live sessions. If you are a home educator, you will still be asked to fill in your ‘school’s’ information when you book, however you can just add your personal details instead.

Each school or home educator only needs one ticket to take part, even if the livestream will be shown to multiple classes or students on multiple devices.

As soon as you book onto a session, everything you need for the workshop will be available in the ‘Online events and films’ area of your National Gallery account. This includes the session handout and materials list, a QR code which will allow you to share your student’s artwork with us via our digital Padlet gallery, a list of FAQs including technical troubleshooting, and a link to join the livestream. 

The ‘Join now’ button will be active as soon as you book the event, even if you book months in advance. However, we will not begin livestreaming until the session start time. Shortly prior to the start of the livestream, you will see some holding slides advising you that the event will be starting shortly.

On the day of the session, log in to your National Gallery online account and head to the ‘Online events and films’ area. If someone else booked the session on your behalf, you will need to ask them to click on the ‘Join now’ button and share the Vimeo link that appears with you.

If you join the workshop we are livestreaming late, Vimeo allows you to go back and watch what you missed. If you see a notification in the player that the live broadcast has ended while watching, you can keep watching so you don’t miss the ending. Vimeo also allows you to pause the session at any time, or rewatch sections again, allowing you and your students to work at your own pace.

Please don’t worry. A recording of the session will appear within the event details in your National Gallery online account, usually within 2 working days of the livestream finishing.

Yes! All sessions are appropriate for KS1 up to KS5. While sessions will be tailored to the suggested key stage - and some may be more challenging than others - the most important thing is taking part, being creative and having fun.

If you would prefer to review a session in advance to determine its suitability for your students, you can book onto the live session, then wait for the catch up version to appear in your National Gallery online account within 2 working days of the live session finishing. You can then share it with your class at your leisure.

Our Educators create a set of further classroom activities that you can use with your class after each workshop has finished. This includes images and names of all the artworks featured in the session. You will find the classroom activities pack in the ‘Online events and films’ area of your National Gallery online account, usually within 2 working days of the session finishing.

You can email us any time at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you.