The Prince's School of Traditional Arts is a school in London which teaches students at the postgraduate degree level, and short open courses and in the community.
The school was founded in 2005 by the Prince of Wales

Charles, Prince of Wales

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...

  as part of The Prince's Charities

The Prince's Charities

The Prince's Charities is a group of twenty not-for-profit organisations of which HRH The Prince of Wales is Patron or President, eighteen of which were founded personally by The Prince. The group is supported by The Prince's Charities Foundation....

 group, with the aim "to continue the living traditions of the world's sacred and traditional art forms".

Philosophy

The School is believed to be unique among art schools although there are many theoretical programmes in western universities at graduate and postgraduate level, there are no colleges apart from the School where the practical skills of the Islamic and traditional arts are taught at this level.

The School strives to preserve global traditional arts and traditions under threat of extinction .

Building

Based in the fashionable and artistic area of Shoreditch

Shoreditch

Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...

, an average of 25 students work permanently on site, numbers increasing with students studying PhDs and open courses.

History

The School was originally established as the Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts Programme (VITA) at the Royal College of Art

Royal College of Art

The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...

 in 1984. It was the brainchild of Dr. Keith Critchlow

Keith Critchlow

Keith Barry Critchlow is an artist, lecturer, author, and professor of architecture in England, and a co-founder of the Temenos Academy.He was educated at the Summerhill School and the Royal College of Art...

, the Professor Emeritus at the School, who is also the author of several books on Sacred Geometry.

The Programme transferred to The Prince of Wales’ Institute of Architecture in 1993 which subsequently became incorporated into The Prince's Foundation in 2000. The School was initiated as a separate charity of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales in April 2004.

Postgraduate degrees

Three postgraduate degrees are offered by the school: a Master of Arts (MA), awarded by the University of Wales

University of Wales

The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...

, a Master of Philosophy degree (MPhil), also awarded by the University of Wales and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).

See also

• The Prince's Drawing School
• Multiculturalism in the United Kingdom
• Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom

External links

• The Prince's School of Traditional Arts