MEETING LOCAL TRAINING NEEDS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

As a specialist arts institution, Hereford College of Arts has played an important role in the history of Hereford City and the county since its establishment in 1850 and HCA is proud to be one the four remaining independent specialist colleges of the arts left in the country. It has seen many changes over the years and has produced an impressive range of practitioners and artists including John Ward CBE Royal portraitist, Martin Smith, (Jerwood Prize Applied Arts finalists) and Lawrence Walker (and not forgetting, allegedly, band members of The Pretenders!)

Whilst most such specialist institutions have lost their identity by merging with larger colleges and universities, Hereford College of Arts has survived and prospered. In an age increasingly attuned to creative outcomes and dominated by an ever-present media culture, where the creative industries are now the fastest growing employers and creators of wealth in the country, students are choosing in growing numbers to study creative, vocational, specialist courses in a specialist institution.

No longer is arts education associated solely with traditional arts & crafts, easels and paint brushes; the college has always excelled in the provision of a full range of art and design disciplines: contemporary applied arts, illustration, graphic design, fine art and photography and it has more recently added at undergraduate level digital media (graphic & media design, film & animation) and performing arts (drama, dance and music).