Creative Connections: Celebrating 20 years of creative journeys

In 2027, UAL Awarding Body will celebrate 20 years of our qualifications being delivered by centres across the UK and internationally. Since 2007, more than 665,000 learners have undertaken one of our qualifications. Behind every one of those numbers is a person, a creative journey and a tutor or centre that helped them take their next step.

Behind every qualification is a creative journey.

A qualification might be a certificate on paper. But for the person who earns it, it can represent discovering their creative passion, finding confidence, meeting a tutor who makes a difference, taking the next step into further study or employment, or simply realising that a creative future is possible. But where do those journeys take people next?

To mark our anniversary, we're beginning to explore some of those journeys through Creative Connections, a small-scale alumni storytelling project bringing together former learners and the tutors who helped them along the way.

In this short piece, Justine Head, Chief Examiner in Fashion Business and Retail, and Kristen Horner, Impact and Evaluation Officer, share the recent work they’ve been doing on the project.

What is Creative Connections?

Justine: At its heart, Creative Connections is a storytelling project. It’s currently quite small scale, with the aim of reconnecting with learners who have taken UAL Awarding Body qualifications and hearing about where their creative journeys have taken them.

We also know that tutors who have taught UAL Awarding Body qualifications over the years are an integral part of those stories. In the coming months, we’ll be bringing together a small group of alumni and tutors to reflect on where creative journeys begin, how they evolve over time and what creative practice can mean long after a qualification has been completed.

What happens after a UAL Awarding Body qualification?

Kristen: Creative careers rarely follow a straight line and that’s one of the things that makes them so exciting. A UAL Awarding Body qualification might be a starting point but where that starting point leads to can be totally unexpected. It could mean further study, a job, freelancing, starting a business, creative practice - or a change of direction entirely!

That’s why I’m interested in hearing about what happens after the qualification. What do those creative journeys actually look like, and what role did creative education, tutors and centres play along the way?

We also really want to celebrate the people who helped (and continue to help!) make learner journeys possible. Alumni may be the people whose stories we're telling, but those stories don't happen in isolation. Behind them are tutors, centres, classmates and communities who helped learners develop their skills and confidence in the first place.

Why Creative Connections now?

Justine: 2027 is a really special year for us at UAL Awarding Body, as it marks 20 years of our qualifications being delivered by tutors to learners across the country and internationally. Since 2007, hundreds of thousands of learners have had a UAL Awarding Body qualification as part of their creative journey. Each of these journeys is an individual story, shaped by learners, tutors and centres along the way, and a brilliant reason to take a moment to look back at some of those journeys and celebrate the people behind them.

Creative education doesn't stand still either. As creative education and the creative industries continue to evolve, so do learners’ ambitions and the routes they take. Working closely with centres and tutors helps us understand those changing journeys and how we can continue to support learners as they find their own way forward.

What can we learn from creative journeys?

Kristen: I think that's one of the questions that excites me most about the project because my own creative journey hasn't been particularly straightforward! I spent most of my school years focused on orchestral music-making on the cello, and only really discovered improvisation (and developed the confidence to try it on a quite stereotypically “classical” instrument!) in my mid-twenties. That opened up a whole new musical world for me. Alongside studying music, I started freelancing and tutoring cello, went on to do a Masters and PhD in music education, moved into creative education and the children and youth music sector, and eventually found my way to UAL Awarding Body.

What I love about creative journeys is that you don’t necessarily know where they’re going to take you. Whilst there is a sense of risk there, there is also a sense of freedom. Looking back, some of the things that have shaped my own path weren’t necessarily things I could have predicted at the time.

That’s also why alumni voices are so important. There’s something very powerful about hearing someone say “This is where I was, and this is where I am now. Your journey might look completely different, and that’s ok.” For current learners, those stories can make the future feel a bit more tangible and help them see that there isn’t necessarily a single route they need to follow.

Justine: I don't think there's ever been one defining moment in my career. Looking back, it's really been a collection of experiences, opportunities and people that have shaped the path I've taken.

Early in my creative journey, I had the best time experimenting and exploring whilst studying on my Foundation Diploma, which led to further specialist study in Fashion and Textiles. I started out exploring my own creative practice in a variety of guises, fashion and interior design, including living and working creatively in Paris, where collaboration was integral to my practice.

Since then, I've spent more than 30 years working across art, design and fashion education in a variety of settings, from schools through to higher education.

I was fortunate to teach on the first UAL Awarding Body Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at London College of Fashion and later joined one of the Awarding Body's first groups of external moderators.

One thing that's remained constant throughout is my belief that creativity can lead you in all sorts of directions, whether that's design, education, business, sustainability or something different altogether. That’s why I think it’s so valuable for current learners to hear from alumni. Learning about someone else’s journey, the twists and turns along the way, and the opportunities that can be seized, can help make future possibilities feel more real. It's a reminder that your career doesn't have to follow a set plan, and that sometimes the opportunities you never imagined can lead to the most rewarding outcomes.

What’s coming up for Creative Connections?

Justine: We're really excited to take the Creative Connections pilot to the Teach Inspire Create Summit on Friday 20 November 2026. It feels like the perfect place to start sharing these stories, bringing together educators and others working across creative education to think about where creative journeys begin, and where they can lead.

Want to get involved?

Creative Connections is starting small, but we’re interested in hearing from people across the UAL Awarding Body community about the creative journeys behind our qualifications.

Do you know a UAL Awarding Body alum whose story you’d like to share? Perhaps you’ve taught a learner whose creative journey has taken them somewhere unexpected? Or you’re an alum yourself and would like to tell us where your journey has taken you?

If so, we’d love to hear your story.

Get in touch with the team at creativeconnections@arts.ac.uk to tell us a little about your connection to UAL Awarding Body and your story.

Are you coming to the Teach Inspire Create Summit?

If so, come and find us at the Creative Connections stand in the exhibition space, where you can hear more about the project, meet the team and explore some of the first alumni stories we're sharing.

Places at the Teach Inspire Create Summit are free but limited, so register now via Eventbrite to secure your place.