Professor Andrew Brewerton has announced he is to retire as principal and chief executive of Plymouth College of Art in July.
He has held the post for 11 years in a 27 year career of in academic leadership. In his time as principal, Plymouth College of Art transferred from the Further Education (FE) sector to the Higher Education (HE) sector in 2014, doubled its student numbers, and gained degree-awarding powers at BA (Hons) and Masters level.
Under his leadership the college has transformed the landscape of creative learning in Plymouth: developing an extraordinarily rich and diverse learning environment with the construction of new craft, design and fabrication workshops and Fab Lab Plymouth; establishing Palace Court and Palace Studios as its dedicated pre-degree campus; and founding the Plymouth School of Creative Arts, (now Millbay Academy) at the Red House.
These ground-breaking developments have been the subject of independently commissioned films by Freelands Foundation and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios respectively.
It has been a highly productive period in which Plymouth College of Art emerged with new visibility as a public arts venue, fostering its own distinctive gallery programme and participating in multi-site exhibitions across the city such as British Art Show 7 (and the forthcoming British Art Show 9) and became the home address for independent film in the city as host venue to Plymouth Arts Cinema.
Mutual partnership has been a hallmark of the work of Plymouth College of Art during Andrew’s leadership tenure. This partnership is exemplified in Plymouth College of Art’s role as a founding associate of Tate Exchange; with The British Council in fieldwork internationally; with the West Bund Art Centre on the FutureLab project in Shanghai; in leading Plymouth’s successful bid to become the UK’s first Fab City; and in establishing Makers HQ, a fashion manufacturing CIC on Union Street in partnership with Millfields Trust
In 2018 Plymouth College of Art was ranked fifth out of Higher Education establishments in the UK for class equality and widening participation by Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), making the college the only specialist arts institution to rank within the top 10.
Professor Brewerton said:
“It has been a privilege to serve this great Art School as principal these 11 years, a period in which Plymouth College of Art has found a distinctive voice in its advocacy of arts and cultural learning and practice, and social justice, in our city – a voice whose essential message, ethos and values now resonate far beyond this region, nationally and internationally.”
Plymouth College of Art’s Board of Governors will now begin putting in place arrangements to appoint a successor.
