The SLiCE® Fellowship

What is SLiCE®?

Curious Minds is reimagining its flagship leadership programme, ensuring it continues to inspire and influence leaders across today’s shifting education and cultural landscape. In this new evolved format, school and cultural organisation leaders will learn together, forging powerful partnerships, to develop the vision, tools, and network to lead cultural education system change.

The Specialist Leaders in Cultural Education (SLICE®) fellowship is an 18-month professional development programme for school senior leaders and cultural organisation leaders. It is designed to equip influential professionals with the requisite skills, knowledge, and connections to become powerful co-creators, strategists, advocates, and commissioners for cultural education within their own setting, and beyond.

Born from a belief in the transformative power of arts and culture in schools, the SLiCE® Fellowship will:

• Develop confident, values-led arts and cultural education leaders who drive systemic change in their schools/ cultural organisations and the wider cultural and education sectors.
• Equip leaders to influence across sectors using strategic insight, policy fluency, and strong partnerships.
• Strengthen cultural learning ecosystems by connecting schools and cultural organisations.
• Enable fellows to navigate the changing education and cultural policy landscape (Curriculum and Assessment Review, Hodge Review etc) and be ready to implement and instigate change effectively.

The Fellowship intentionally centres equity, supporting leaders who are working-class and/or from underrepresented groups (Black and Brown, neurodiverse, disabled, LGBTQIA+). Inclusion is embedded in how content is created, delivered, and how Fellows are recruited, supported, and sustained.

“My SLiCE placement has been one of the highlights of my career.”

Becky Haworth, The Elms Academy, Lambeth London

Why now? Why SLiCE®?

We’re witnessing a crucial moment for cultural education. The landscape has seen some momentous policy shifts – including the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the government commitment to an Enrichment Entitlement for every child, & the Hodge review of the Arts Council England with more changes expected on the horizon.

SLiCE will enable leaders to be at the forefront of system design and change, ready to embrace and lead the new implementation of arts and culture within the revised curriculum.  As the recently launched International Teaching Artists Collaborative (ITAC) England Hub, Curious Minds will also connect SLiCE Fellows to an international network of leading-edge practice.

"According to the Cultural Learning Alliance's Report Card 2025, children and young people from the most deprived areas have the least access to arts and culture. By making the most of the upcoming policy changes, this Fellowship will cultivate a new generation of changemakers, equipped to reimagine education through cultural learning. Our ambition is to ensure that every child, regardless of background, has access to the life-changing power of the arts.”

Emma Bush, Director of Education & Leadership at Curious Minds

What's included?

This fully subsidised pilot programme (value over £4,000 per person) runs from May 2026 to October 2027. It is a practical, hands-on programme which uses a hybrid-learning approach. It includes:

• A 2-day residential
• A 2-day placement in a school or cultural organisation
• Action Research commissioned activity, co-designed and delivered with a partner organisation
• CPD and 1:1 mentorship focused on commissioning, funding models and fundraising, including support through a fundraising bid
• Leadership mentoring
• National SLiCE® Symposium – an opportunity to be a thought leader share your research with the wider cultural education community
• Access to a prestigious, supportive alumni network of cultural education leaders.
   

See below for the wider finanical commitment required from your school or cultural organisation.

• A hands-on approach to leadership development: 
  Learn to navigate education and cultural policy change with confidence

• Cross-sector collaboration:
  Schools and cultural organisations working side by side –leading to richer, more equitable partnerships and genuinely co-created activity. 

• Strategic skill development:
  Policy literacy, equity frameworks, advocacy & influence, funding mechanisms, measuring & communicating Impact

“What [our SLiCE fellow] does is something quite different entirely. What she does is a shining example of systems leadership; it has had an impact way beyond this school. [She gets] people together and says right let’s get things done, let’s get behind this and look at it together for the benefit of young people and teachers.”

School Leader

If you’re a school leader who feels not quite ready to apply for the SLiCE Fellowship just yet, you may be interested in our Leading the Arts in Your School CPD programme. Applications for Cohort 2 are now open.

Time and Financial Commitment

Successful applicants must be able to attend all the scheduled days and online sessions and commit to undertaking the action research activity, placements and self-directed research and development.

Each school must contribute a minimum budget of £1,000 to commission arts or cultural activity from a cultural provider or teaching artists for their school as part of their action research.

Each Cultural organisation must release staff for a minimum of 4 days to deliver activity in a school as part of their action research or provide a minimum budget of £1,000 to commission arts or cultural activity from a teaching artists to deliver the action research activity.

Staff travel costs are the responsibility of the Fellow’s school or organisation. If Fellows require overnight accommodation for project days (excluding the residential), it will be the responsibility of the school or organisation to cover these costs. If these costs are a barrier to participation, please get in touch.

Applications are now open

With only 12 Fellow places available (6 from schools and 6 from cultural organisations), early application is encouraged. 

• The deadline for applications is Monday 30th March, 17:00.
• Online interviews will take place Thursday 16th, Friday 17th, Wednesday 22nd, Thursday 23rd April
• Applicants to be notified of outcome Friday 24th April.
• Before applying, please ensure that you have the support from your Headteacher/ Chair of Governors or CEO/ Line Manager and that they are fully aware of both the time and financial commitment required.
• If you'd like to prepare answers in advance, please see full list of questions here. 

Apply now