About us

Arts Education Exchange is a charity based in Margate that provides creative education, training, and employment for young people.

What we offer

  • 1:1 creative arts sessions

  • Group projects

  • Learning and therapeutic interventions

  • Training and employment to young people aged 18-25

  • Opportunities in art, drama, music or film, to game design, creative writing and performance

  • ESOL for unaccompanied asylum seeking young people

  • School holiday workshops and short courses

Who we are

Arts Education Exchange is run by compassionate staff who come from arts education, charity, and therapeutic backgrounds. We also employ young people aged 18-25 to take on important roles and offer unique perspectives to the organisation’s development. Have a look at our friendly faces here:

Our team gathered for a photo in front of a wall in the AEE studios.

Where we are

You can find us in Cliftonville, which is a seaside district in Margate. Our studio has great links with the local Margate train station, and plenty of bus stops along Northdown road.

When you arrive at the studio, you will be welcomed by one of our friendly team and shown around our colourful art studio, our fully equipped music studios, and our bright sunny courtyard.

 

Our address:

59 Northdown Road,
Margate, CT9 2RJ

Contact us:

hello@artsedex.org

01843316867

Four young people and a guest tutor stand on the Margate Steps.

Our Story

The seeds of Arts Education Exchange were sewn in 2016 with a short arts-based learning project with six young people in Margate.

In October 2017 we incorporated as a Community Interest Company and supported by Arts Council England and widening participation UCA, set up 2 pilot projects with schools.

The organisation grew quickly and in 2019 we became a charity and sharpened our a focus on working with young people, who faced barriers to accessing mainstream education.

Today we are a team of 11 permanent staff and are actively seeking to reimagine what learning looks like in our community for and with young people.

Three alumni, filming a music video on Margate beach.
Five young people gathered in the original AEE music studio.
Crowdfunding page for the original xChange Studios, from 2018.
Our study space, with three computers and a collection of books.
Root causes, need, resources, activities, outcomes, participant change and system change.

Why we exist

We try to be as responsive as we can to the affects of social and educational inequality. Our theory of change outlines what we see at the underlying structural and systemic issues that impact young people’s experiences of education. We recognise that particular groups are disproportionately affected by these systems but we believe that true creativity exists in the margins so we seek to work with marginalised communities to resist this prevailing narrative.