Cleveland College of Art & Design were astounded by the special mention of Hartlepool College of Art (we were previously West Hartlepool College of Art before CCAD) in Sir Ridley Scott’s BAFTA fellowship speech on Sunday 18th February 2018.

Sir Ridley has privately supported our standing as an independent art school as recently as the summer of 2017; when he kindly loaned some of the original story boards from Boy and Bicycle to our bi-annual festival of illustration.

Three minutes and thirty seconds into to his speech, Sir Ridley came to mention how supportive his father was in following a path in which he loved, which took him to applying for what at the time was called West Hartlepool College of Art.

His words about the college will have resonated with many students who entered art college from a secondary education they did not fully enjoy:

“The college was a revelation, it’s weirdly dressed students expressing their individualism and passionate teachers who are genuinely interested in the students, not just tolerating, but actually engaging with them – a world apart from my schooling until then.

It is extraordinary what an enthusiastic teacher can do; drawing the student out, igniting independence and encouraging the design of your own future rather than waiting for something to happen.”

He went on to make a very important point about the education system as a whole:

“Teaching is the most important of all professions: sort that out and social problems will get sorted out. Sounds simple, we’ve been talking about it for years, but it is absolutely vital. My teachers inspired me and thanks to my Dad’s intuition, here I am tonight!”

If you would like to watch Sir Ridley Scott’s BAFTA fellowship speech in it’s entirety, you can do so below: