MAIDSTONE COLLEGE OF ART
Maidstone College of Art was founded in 1867 when, on the initiative of the Revd Henry Collis (1835-1905), the local vicar, art classes were started in the picture gallery of the Charles' Museum in St Faith's Street, Maidstone and later that year the classes moved to the College of All Saints in College Avenue. Students' work was sent for examination to the offices of the Department of Science and Art at the South Kensington School of Art. A Science Class opened in 1884, and by 1887 the School of Science and Art had merged the two subject areas. New premises were opened in 1893 with the ground floor occupied by the Science Classes with the Art Classes on the first floor and renamed Maidstone Municipal School of Science and Art and again renamed in 1896 Maidstone Municipal Technical School. By 1914 the School of Art was no longer associated with the Technical Institute other than sharing a physical location. By 1923 the School was known as the Maidstone School of Arts and Crafts and in 1966 the College consisted of four schools: Fine Art (including Sculpture), Graphic Design, Printing, Fashion and Textiles, as well as a Crafts department. Around 1870 both the Maidstone College of Art and the Maidstone College of Technology moved to new college premises on the Oakwood Park. In 1987 the Kent Institute of Art and Design (KIAD) was formed by the amalgamation of the Canterbury School of Architecture, the Canterbury School of Art and well-established art colleges in Maidstone and Rochester. In turn KIAD merged with the Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College on 1 August 2005 to form the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester. In 2008, this gained full university status and became the University for the Creative Arts.
Website: https://www.uca.ac.uk