All the free online courses to take in January
1 Granary’s guide to the free fashion schools, libraries, museums and university courses to up-skill yourself in 2025.
After a busy party season, January is the time to wind things down and reboot both physically and mentally. But slowing down and staying in doesn’t need to be boring. From art history courses made available online by some of the world’s best institutions and organisations to fashion webinars and film studies classes you can attend from your bed, here’s a guide to a few that caught our eye.
MOMA: Fashion as Design
This course looks at garments and accessories from around the world, from kente cloth and denim to turtlenecks, swimwear, and 3D-printed dresses. Through these clothes and interviews with designers, makers, historians and more, students will take a closer look at “what we wear, why we wear it, how it’s made, and what it means.”
Timeline: Open now
More info: coursera.org
National Gallery: Impressionists and zine-making
Zoe Thompson, who runs sweet-thang zine, will lead this one-and-a-half hour online workshop at the National Gallery that looks at the link between zine culture and the history of the Impressionists. In the 1860s, the Impressionists exhibited their work outside the Paris Salon as part of the Salon des Refusés – the "exhibition of rejects". Today, zines give artists a way to share creative practices, buck traditions and create new worlds outside of mainstream formats. For this session, you’ll need your own card, scissors, glue, old magazines and newspapers, and pens.
Timeline: 10 January 2025
More info: nationalgallery.org.uk
University of London: Camera Never Lies
This four-week course is a short film studies taster looking at the use of images and film and their use in historical interpretation in the 20th century. It will challenge students' understanding of the limitations of the medium, how images can be manipulated, and how, when put in their wider context, the meaning of the images can change.
Timeline: Open now
More info: london.ac.uk