Alex Soulsby: Creating Meaningful Opportunities for Young Learners

Lefteris Heretakis

Alex is an internationally recognised creative education practitioner with an extensive career that stretches over twenty-five years. His work encompasses an extensive portfolio of international education development, creative project management, artist mentoring and educational policy-making.

In the UK, Alex played a key role in steering influential campaigns such as ‘Youth Arts Transforms Lives – FACT,’ benefiting from input and direction from the late Sir Ken Robinson as chair. His projects have twice been shortlisted for the UK National Charity Award and contributed to the Royal & Derngate Theatre and Arts Centre’s recognition as the UK’s Regional Theatre of the Year and Guardian’s Arts Centre of the decade

His work has featured in publications including The Times, The Guardian, Scotsman, RSA Magazine, the BBC, and the International Baccalaureate magazine, along with mentions in various academic journals. Recognition of his contributions to education and work with young people, recently resulted in a nominated and elected fellowship at the Royal Society of the Arts.

He is committed to creating meaningful opportunities for young people by bringing schools, creative minds, and educators together. His approach being, not just to work with, but to deeply embed schools in their communities and to reimagine the educational landscape for the betterment of young learners.

The Education of Attention: Esen Karol on Design, Publishing and Joy Teaching Designers to See: A Conversation with Esen Karol – Design Education Talks

In this episode of Design Education Talks, I am joined by graphic designer, publisher, editor and educator Esen Karol for a thoughtful conversation about what it means to educate designers in an age of distraction, artificial intelligence and accelerating change. Drawing on her experience at Pratt Institute in New York and through her independent cultural criticism journal Manifold, Esen reflects on the changing role of the design educator, the importance of editorial thinking, and why the future of design education depends on cultivating attention, curiosity and meaningful human relationships rather than simply teaching software or preparing students for employment.Together we explore the value of studio culture, deep reading, writing, publishing and critique as essential components of creative education. Esen argues that students need more than technical skills or polished portfolios; they need opportunities to experience the world directly, develop confidence in their own actions, and discover their unique voice through making, reflection and dialogue. The conversation examines how joy, discipline and slow observation can become powerful teaching methods, and why publishing remains one of the richest educational frameworks for developing critical thinking, collaboration and cultural awareness.More than a discussion about graphic design, this episode is an exploration of the future of art and design education itself. We consider how schools can resist standardisation, rebuild communities of learning, and create spaces where students learn not only to communicate, but to perceive, question and think independently. It is a conversation for educators, designers, students, researchers and anyone interested in how creativity is formed, how culture is transmitted, and why the most important work of education may still be helping people learn how to see.Since its inception in 2019, Design Education Talks podcast has served as a dynamic platform for the exchange of insights and ideas within the realm of art and design education. This initiative sprang from a culmination of nearly a decade of extensive research conducted by Lefteris Heretakis. His rich background, intertwining academia, industry, and student engagement, laid the foundation for a podcast that goes beyond the conventional boundaries of educational discourse.See all of our work on on https://linktr.ee/thenewartschoolFollow us on twitter at @newartschoolRead our latest articles at https://newartschool.education/and https://heretakis.medium.com/Equipment used to produce the podcast:Rodcaster pro IIRode NT1 5th generationElgato Low profile Microphone ArmMonster Prolink Studio Pro microphone cableThe rest of the equipment is here 👉https://kit.co/heretakis/podcasting
  1. The Education of Attention: Esen Karol on Design, Publishing and Joy Teaching Designers to See: A Conversation with Esen Karol
  2. Simon Collins – What Design Schools Get Wrong About the Real World
  3. Graham Fink – Why Process Matters More Than Finish in Creative Work
  4. Dan Vlahos – Dynamic Media, Critical Thinking, and Design Pedagogy
  5. Jan Kubasiewicz on Teaching Design as a System of Meaning
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Published by Lefteris Heretakis

Navigating you through the disruption in #art, #design and #designeducation.

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