ĚUROFÅBŔIQUË

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts is a higher education institution in the arts, funded by the Federation Wallonia-Brussels. Its educational project is part of the broader initiative of the City of Brussels, its organizing authority.

Founded in 1711, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Arts, is now at the crossroads of a rich history and a contemporary educational and artistic project. It inherits a tradition that has seen the stratification of highly diversified artistic practices and invented teaching methods. Today, it is positioned within the complex international landscape of higher education, with a focus on pedagogy, artistry, and professionalism. It is a place of teaching, research, and a large workshop for creation and production, where generations of artists, creators, and project authors are shaped.

Each year, over 500 students, both Belgian and international, follow its programs. They are enrolled in bachelor’s (first cycle) or master’s (second cycle) courses within one of our 17 programs: Art in Public Space, Interior Architecture, Visual Communication, Textile Design, Urban Design, Drawing, Urban Space – ISAC, Engraving, Illustration, Lithography, Painting, Photography, Exhibition Practices – CARE, Editorial Practices – MULTI, Sculpture, Screen Printing, Tapestry/Textile Arts, or in the Aggregation, PhD in Arts and Art Sciences, or one of our three continuing education programs: Knitting Maille, Food Design, or Interior Design Management.

The school aims to foster the unique development of its students’ artistic and professional practices, providing them with a reflective and critical perspective in the field of the arts. In recent years, new programs and courses have been introduced: Master’s in Exhibition Practices, Editorial Practices, Urban Design, as well as the Institute of Arts and Choreography, and professional training such as the Executive Master in Knitting, Food Design, and Interior Design Management. These new programs reflect the school’s desire to advance its teaching in line with the practices of its time.

The Academy is recognized, both in Belgium and internationally, for the quality of its programs, its teaching staff, and the academic support it provides to its students. In recent years, the integration of research and professional practice into the curriculum has made the programs both exploratory and open, preparing students for their entry into the workforce.

A program of cultural activities, renewed each year, punctuates the academic year: exhibitions, workshops, study days, visits, awards, and guest speaker invitations: artists, theorists, and professionals from the art world. The Academy has also developed a dense network of partners, both internationally (with over 50 Erasmus partners) and within Belgium and Brussels, with whom it collaborates actively.

The ArBA-ESA advocates for a unique and demanding education and is committed to addressing the challenges of contemporary creation and the research it requires, with particular attention to collective practices, both through the transmission of knowledge and through constant questioning.

The school is dedicated to a tradition of social openness. It aims to be open to society and the outside world. The ArBA-ESA is an inclusive, democratic, and pluralistic space.

It upholds a pedagogical practice where the position of the artist is not a social or cultural given, but requires training, development, and maturation.