Opening Doors: How Christie's Partnership with Art History Link-Up is Transforming Young Lives

On paper, Art History is one of Britain's most embattled subjects. Arts GCSE entries have dropped by 47% in a decade. Fewer than 1% of state schools offer the A Level, and there is no GCSE. The pipeline of diverse talent into the creative industries - worth £126 billion to the UK economy - is thinning at precisely the moment it should be growing.

Christie's support since 2021, through sponsorship and generous support in kind, is helping AHLU to effect a sea change. AHLU has been offering accredited Art History courses to state school students free of charge across the UK for almost ten years, and Christie's has been alongside us for more than half of that journey. The results speak for themselves. AHLU alumni are now studying Art History in every undergraduate year group at Oxford, Cambridge, the Courtauld, and Russell Group universities across the UK. Five students have been awarded places to study Art History at Cambridge from 2026, a remarkable achievement, and especially so for young people whose schools offered no Art History at all.

Through Christie's Fund for the Arts, the auction house has provided sustained financial support and, crucially, something harder to quantify: access and advocacy. Toby Monk, Christie's Global Head of Recruiting and a former long-serving AHLU trustee, has supported students from across the UK with careers and vocational guidance, resulting in work experience placements, apprenticeships, and in some cases permanent roles at the auction house.

Orlando Rock, Christie's Chairman, calls the partnership "a fundamental bridge in enabling talented individuals from diverse backgrounds to step into the art world." The Christie's Education x AHLU Scholarship extends that bridge and commitment still further. Each year, current Art History A Level and EPQ students are invited to write an essay or make a film about a work of art or architecture, with five winners receiving a laptop and access to Christie's Education's online courses.

The standard of entries is consistently high, and so is the calibre of judges. This year's panel includes Sussan Babaie, Professor in the Arts of Iran and Islam at the Courtauld Institute; Maureen Hooft Graafland, Chair of Art History Link-Up; Ted Sandling, Global Director of Education at Christie's; and Katy Wickremesinghe, entrepreneur, cultural commentator, and founder of The Wick.

The Earl of Snowdon, Christie's Honorary Chairman, captures what is at stake: "It's vital to give all young people of all different backgrounds, abilities and learning styles, the space to encounter art and craft. That is why I am proud to support the work of this small, but mighty charity."

Christie's support has been transformational for AHLU. Together with our other generous partners, it is making it possible to demonstrate that Art History truly can be for everyone, and for generations to come.

Thank you.

Read Ted Sandling's blog on why the Christie's Education x AHLU Scholarship is a highlight of his year: https://www.arthistorylinkup.org/news/wide-ranging-topics-and-brilliantly-written-essays-are-a-highlight-of-this-years-ahlu-x-christies-eduction-trust-scholarship

Read first prize winner Beatrice Michaelickova's essay, and why she credits AHLU with changing her life: https://www.arthistorylinkup.org/news/christies-education-scholarship-winner-feels-studying-with-art-history-link-up-is-shaping-her-life

Rose Aidin MBE, Founder and CEO, AHLU

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