History

The original Brighton School of Art was founded in 1859 and was re-named the Brighton College of Arts and Crafts in 1947, gaining a reputation as one of the top art schools in Britain.

Cultural connections

We’re a key part of cultural life in Brighton. As well as hosting our own exhibitions and events (such as the Graduate Show each June), the Schools of Architecture & Design, Art, Humanities and Media have partnerships with arts organisations and festivals, including Photoworks, who host the Brighton Photo Biennial and are based at the university, the Brighton Festival, the Brighton Fringe and the Brighton Museum & Gallery.

Locations

We’re based at three locations across the city. On the Grand Parade campus (also known as City Campus) courses from the Schools of Art and School of Media are held at:

• Grand Parade building, just by the Royal Pavilion and home to the Sallis Benney Theatre and Gallery and dedicated specialist workshops and studios for practical arts courses
• Our newest building Edward Street, just around the corner from Grand Parade, a modern media centre with its own gallery space

On the Moulsecoomb campus, along the Lewes Road, courses from the Schools of Architecture and Design and School of Media are held at:

• Mithras House where Architecture courses have huge dedicated studios across the top floors
• Watts builidng which has specialist Media Studies facilities
• Cockroft building with its impressive Creativity Centre for Product Design students

Facilities

Specialist resources at the University of Brighton include:

• The Design Archives
• Screen Archive South East
• Aldrich Collection
• The Dress History Teaching Collection
• The Ray Watkinson Archive