Chelsea College of Art & Design starts new term in historic Millbank site

Chelsea College of Art and Design, the world-renowned art college that trained Gavin Turk, Quentin Blake, Anthony Caro, Dirk Bogarde, and Turner Prize winners Anish Kapoor, Chris Ofili, Gillian Wearing, Steve McQueen and Richard Deacon, begins a new term today (17 January) on a spectacular new campus on London's Millbank, next-door to Tate Britain.

The listed site has been adapted as a 21st Century art college and centre for the arts with the help of architects Allies and Morrison. It formerly housed the Royal Army Medical College, where the vaccine for typhoid was first developed, and in the 19th Century was site of the world's first modern prison. The 1,500 students and 200 staff of Chelsea College, part of University of the Arts London, will move from four different locations to the landmark site. This June, Chelsea's renowned Final Year Shows will be held at a single location for the first time in the College's 100-year history.

To celebrate the move to Millbank, Chelsea College will be inviting the general public to the campus to see cutting edge art and design in a new public gallery, and to attend the Chelsea Programme, a series of events including lectures and discussions with eminent former students. The Chelsea Programme will make use of the exciting new and refurbished buildings as well as the College's Parade Ground, opening an impressive new London square to the public.

Joint events are also being planned with new neighbour Tate Britain, with Chelsea students hosting this February's Late at Tate event, and British sculptor and former Chelsea student Anthony Caro discussing his work to coincide with a major retrospective of his work at Tate Britain. The developing relationship of the two great art institutions promises to give London an exciting new cultural quarter on Millbank.

An Open Doors Day on 9 April will allow visitors the first behind-the-scenes glimpse of the refurbished splendour of the three listed buildings, as well as impressive state-of-the-art workshop facilities, studio spaces, and a stunning new library. Visitors will also see the original amphitheatre-style auditorium dating back to Royal Army Medical College days, now refurbished for art and design lectures. This will be followed by regular tours throughout the Summer, and Open House days during the Final Year Shows from 18 to 28 June.

Highlights of the forthcoming Chelsea Programme include:

• 4 February - Late At Tate curated by Chelsea students - tomorrow's art practitioners explore their relationship with their new neighbours
  
• 23 February - Former Chelsea student Anthony Caro in conversation with writer and art historian Tim Marlow, to coincide with his major retrospective at Tate Britain
  
• 5 March - Chelsea's new public gallery opens with Gary Woodley's new site-specific work Impingement, exploring the architecture of the new Chelsea space
  
• 9 April - Open Doors Day, the first opportunity to look around the new campus with Head of College Professor Roger Wilson and site architects Allies and Morrison.
  
• June 2005 - Leading journalist Andrew Marr in conversation with Chelsea graduates including Alan Rickman and Richard Deacon
  
• 18-28 June - Chelsea College of Art and Design Final Year Shows, showcasing the work of this year's BA and MA graduates
  

Professor Roger Wilson, Head of Chelsea College, said:
"Our new home has a history of innovation, from Jeremy Benthams' radical ideas of prison reform, to the research that went on in the Royal Army Medical College. As the UK's first new art college of the 21st Century, we expect to see that tradition of challenging accepted thinking continue at Chelsea, as our immensely talented staff, students and graduates use the site to launch their creative ideas on the world."

Sir Michael Bichard, Rector of University of the Arts London, said:
"This is a momentous move for University of the Arts London. The students who have emerged from our five Colleges have always gone on to blaze a trail for art, design and the creative industries. Chelsea's move places our staff and students next to the great names in Tate Britain, and gives us a real place on London's creative map."

Nicholas Serota, Director of Tate Galleries said:
"We are delighted that Chelsea will now sit alongside Tate Britain at Millbank, and look forward to exploring the huge potential that this new conjunction creates."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. For further information, or to set up interviews or press tours, please contact Rhian Thomas at the Press Office of University of the Arts London on 020 7514 6218 or e-mail r.m.thomas@arts.ac.uk
   
2. University of the Arts London (formerly the London Institute), inaugurated in May 2004, is the first dedicated arts institution in the UK to achieve university status. The University brings together in a single federated structure five of the world's most famous art and design colleges. They are: Camberwell College of Arts; Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design  (incorporating Drama Centre London and Byam Shaw School of Art); Chelsea College of Art and Design; London College of Communication (formerly London College of Printing); London College of Fashion (incorporating Cordwainers).
    
   The Colleges of the University have produced many of the greatest names in art, design, communications, fashion and performing arts, including: Anish Kapoor, Sir Terence Conran, John Galliano, Ralph Fiennes, Sarah Lucas, Gavin Turk, Stella McCartney, Gilbert and George, Antony Gormley, Pierce Brosnan, Rankin, Jefferson Hack, Mike Leigh, Malcolm McLaren, Colin Firth, Jane Root, Rebekah Wade, John Hegarty, Peter Kindersley and Tom Hunter.
   
3. Chelsea's five Turner Prize-winning alumni are: Richard Deacon (1987 winner), Anish Kapoor (1991), Gillian Wearing (1997), Chris Ofili (1998) and Steve McQueen (1999).
   
4. University of the Arts London worked with architects Allies and Morrison on the £30million redevelopment.
   

Chelsea College of Art and Design - Facts & Figures

• Chelsea College of Art and Design dates back to 1895, with the founding of one of its six constituent colleges, the art faculty at The South Western Polytechnic (Later the Chelsea Polytechnic).
  
• The semi-autonomous Chelsea School of Art was born in 1964, the same year it moved to a purpose-built site on Manresa Road, Chelsea. 
  
• Chelsea is part of University of the Arts London, the UK's flagship institution dedicated to art, design, communication and performance, inaugurated in May 2004. The other Colleges which make up University of the Arts London are: Camberwell College of Arts; Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design  (incorporating Drama Centre London and Byam Shaw School of Art); London College of Communication (formerly London College of Printing); London College of Fashion (incorporating Cordwainers).
  
• Chelsea College of Art and Design now has almost 1,500 students, and offers courses from textile design and fine art to ceramics and interior design.
  
• Famous alumni include Anthony Caro, Gavin Turk, Mark Wallinger, Patrick Caulfield, Quentin Blake, Elisabeth Frink, Dirk Bogarde, Gillian Wearing, John Bird and Turner Prize winners Richard Deacon (1987), Anish Kapoor (1991), Gillian Wearing (1997), Chris Ofili (1998) and Steve McQueen (1999).
  
• The new Millbank site of Chelsea College of Art and Design was originally part of Jeremy Bentham's Millbank Penitentiary, the world's first modern prison. The penitentiary was built in 1821 at a cost of £500,000, with corridors totalling three miles in length. 4,000 transportation prisoners passed through its walls every year.
  
• The Millbank Penitentiary was finally closed in 1890, making way for developments including the Royal Army Medical College, which was based on the site of today's Chelsea College between 1903 and 1975. It was here that scientists worked on the first anti-typhoid vaccine, which protected troops during the First World War.
  
• The site of the former Royal Army Medical College was used by the Ministry of Defence until 2000, when it was acquired by the London Institute (now University of the Arts London) for Chelsea College.
  
• Architects Allies and Morrison worked on the £30million development of the site, which involved renovating the three listed buildings and opening up the former Army Medical College's Parade Ground to the public, as well as adding new buildings including state-of-the-art new workspaces, a new library extension and administration building.
  
• A College gallery and coffee shop will be open to the public from March. For information on in-conversation events, public lectures, tours and shows as part of the Chelsea Programme, see http://www.chelsea.arts.ac.uk/
  

1. Lost London, Hermione Hobhouse, Macmillan 1971. See http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Millbank.html
2. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. See http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/leishman.html