Magic Lantern Educational Charity

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Magic Lantern Educational Charity

Since 1994 the Magic Lantern team has been giving exciting educational presentations to schoolchildren throughout the UK using famous works of art.

Magic Lantern is an educational charity that delivers inspiring and accessible art history workshops in schools around the country demonstrating that anyone can enjoy and understand art. Every session is interactive – instead of telling the audience what they’re looking at the children are encouraged to tell us what they can see. They pose as characters in the painting, provide dialogue, sounds and actions, tell us what happened before, after or outside the paintings and become the artist, emulating brushstrokes and different artistic styles. We believe that it’s possible to teach pretty much anything through art. Paintings allow children to travel the world and back in time from the comfort of their classroom. History, geography, science and even maths can be illuminated through art. Issues including relationships, race, gender, immigration and the environment are all there to be discerned and discussed. Our sessions also help develop various skills in children. As well as honing their powers of observation and deduction, looking at and talking about paintings allows children to express their own ideas. It helps them with Speaking and Listening and encourages them to question and debate on a variety of levels. And while all of this is going on we are introducing children to some of the greatest works of art ever made – the majority of which can be seen free of charge around the UK – and helping to ignite a lifelong love of culture. We currently have eight presenters covering Greater London, Kent and Essex, the North East, Devon and Hampshire, and reach over 20,000 children each year. What teachers say about Magic Lantern:
“Truly Inspirational”
“Fantastically engaging and interactive”
“Accessible to all learners”
“Brilliant entry point to our topic”

01/09/2026

Today marks not only the start of the new school year but also an exciting new chapter for Magic Lantern! We are thrilled to share three major milestones with you today!🎨 🎉 👇

First, we are officially launching our brand-new website and our refreshed logo! Our new digital home is designed to make exploring and engaging with our award-winning cross-curricular art history workshops more accessible for teachers, students, and art lovers alike. We would like to express our gratitude to The Bernard Lewis Family Trust for generously funding our new website and Fay Davey for her inspired design work. You can explore our fresh new look by visiting the link below. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments! 👇

We are also delighted to introduce our new Director, Caroline Rae, who joins Magic Lantern at this exciting and transformative time. Caroline brings to the role several years experience in art education, including as a university lecturer and as a Magic Lantern Workshop Leader. 🎨🌟 Caroline’s passion and vision will help us to expand our impact as we continue our mission to make art accessible to all. You can find out more about Caroline on our news page: https://magiclanternart.org.uk/new-magic-lantern-director-caroline-rae/ Please join us in giving Caroline a massive Magic Lantern welcome in the comments! 👇❤️

👉 Want to book an interactive art history workshop for your school, an adult group or teacher CPD session? Drop us a message at [email protected] or visit our new website for more information: www.magiclanternart.org.uk

12/11/2025

Join us and Association for Art History for this free online history and art cross-curricular session for primary teachers and educators.

Award winning children’s author Hugo Cook will show how art history can bring the past to life with a focus on Ancient Egypt!

To book visit https://forarthistory.org.uk/events/beyond-the-frame-incorporating-art-history-into-the-curriculum-teaching-ancient-egypt/

13/10/2025

Wonderful drawings by Y3 students at St Marks Junior School in Salisbury following a Magic Lantern Stone Age Art session!! Thank you TAS Salisbury The Arts Society for funding these workshops.

08/10/2025

Join us and Association for Art History for this free online history and art cross-curricular CPD session for Primary Teachers on Thursday 20 November at 4pm!

Our award winning children's author Hugo Cook will show how art history can bring the past to life with a focus on Ancient Egypt!

For further information and to book tickets please visit AAH's booking page https://members.forarthistory.org.uk/events/68dd0f573448590008d10d22/description?ticket=68dd0f573448590008d10d21

19/09/2025

We are looking to recruit new Trustees who will champion our values and bring different perspectives, skills, and life experience to our Board. For further information about the role and application process please visit our website https://www.magiclanternart.org.uk/our-people

02/09/2025

Book your school workshops for this academic year! Our award winning sessions use art to extend learning across the primary curriculum and promote visual literacy.

Visit www.magiclanternart.org.uk for topic list and locations, or contact [email protected] for further information.

08/11/2024

Book your place now!
Join us and Association for Art History for this CPD workshop on Thursday 14 November!

Magic Lantern and Association for Art History present a free online CPD workshop for primary school teachers on how to use art history to supplement the English curriculum.

For further information and to book tickets please visit the AAH’s Eventbrite page:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beyond-the-frame-incorporating-art-history-into-the-curriculum-tickets-1028093153297?aff=oddtdtcreator

03/10/2024

Magic Lantern and Association for Art History present a free online CPD workshop for primary school teachers on how to use art history to supplement the English curriculum. For further information and to book tickets please visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beyond-the-frame-incorporating-art-history-into-the-curriculum-tickets-1028093153297?aff=oddtdtcreator

16/01/2024

Listen to Magic Lantern on the Art Engager Podcast from Thinking Museum discussing our work delivering interactive art history workshops in schools across the UK.

https://thinkingmuseum.com/podcast/

We explored Magic Lantern's unique cross-curricular approach, incorporating art history into various subjects like science, geography, history, English, maths, and more.

We discussed a variety of specific strategies used in classrooms, such as:

✨ inviting students to step into artworks
✨ creating soundscapes
✨ exploring colours and patterns
✨ engaging students in the making process through dry painting

We chatted about how to engage children with art, how to cultivate a ‘culture of looking’, letting paintings speak for themselves and gradually introducing historical and narrative context.

Hope you enjoy our chat!

Listen to Episode 119 at The Thinking Museum https://thinkingmuseum.com/podcast/

Address

London

Website

http://www.magiclanternart.org.uk/

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