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URBAN LEARNERS is an award winning, not-for-profit, education and design agency dedicated to improving creative, heritage, and cultural opportunities for Communities, Children, and Young People.

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📣 Guildhall Art Gallery and URBAN LEARNERS family

📣 Guildhall Art Gallery and URBAN LEARNERS family day Saturday 13th June 11am to 4pm

📍 If Stone Could Speak Pavilion, Peter’s Hill junction with St Paul’s Churchyard South and Guildhall Art Gallery

❤️ WELCOME FAMILIES to the City of London Saturday for drop in events, tours and trails, activities and fun for the family. At the Pavilion you’ll be able to experience STONE rubbing, WEAVING, Sketching and GAMES. DROP IN – No booking required.

❤️ You’ll also be able to BUILD Dream Dens as part of the London Festival of Architecture inside the incredible Guildhall Art Gallery! who are inviting families to feel at home in the space and build their DREAM DEN inspired by City structures and London landmarks.

❤️ In the City and as approaching the Gallery, you’ll will notice the streets taken over for NOCTURNE - a celebration of cycle racing in the centre of the City. There will be lots of ways for you and your family to enjoy all things two wheeled, including a chance to ride the circuit yourselves.

💚 These programmes are brought to you by Guildhall Art Gallery, Cheapside Business Alliance, the City of London Corporation, URBAN LEARNERS and racenocturne.com

🫶 @londonfestivalofarchitecture @cheapsideba @cityoflondoncorp @thecityofldn @guildhallartlondon @racenocturne

#LFA2026 #Belonging #Culture #London #ifstonecouldspeak urbanlearners

📸 Photography and Image credits, Guildhall Art Gallery, Nocturne.com, URBAN LEARNERS

📣 Making and remaking at tonight’s stone lifecycle

📣 Making and remaking at tonight’s stone lifecycle workshop with @cskarchitectsuk. Thank you to @temple_bar_london for hosting the workshop as part of @londonfestivalofarchitecture

❤️ Thanks to @cheapsideba and @cityoflondoncorp

📸 URBAN LEARNERS

📣 The ‘If Stone Could Speak Pavilion’ is the lates

📣 The ‘If Stone Could Speak Pavilion’ is the latest work by URBAN LEARNERS, the London based cultural agency whose practice has spent almost a decade making art, architecture, and heritage genuinely accessible. It is part of the London Festival of Architecture 2026 and celebrates the launch of new granite seating around St Paul’s Cathedral as well as telling the story of stone, its geology, and our place in that lifecycle.

The pavilion itself is an object of quiet structural simplicity. Three pillars of hand-tooled aluminium rise from gabion bases packed with medieval carved stone, fragments of the city’s deeper biography collected originally by the Museum of London Archaeology department and generously loaned by PAYE Stonework & Restoration.

Each tube has been individually worked by the URBAN LEARNERS team, shaped by hand and finished with care, referencing the boring rods and breaking bars of the quarry, the instruments by which stone is persuaded to leave the earth. At the summit of each pillar, the tubes bend and reach toward one another, connecting in a continuous loop: part historical arch, part eternity symbol, part social truth. We move through cities largely alone. At certain moments, in certain places, we find one another. Each pillar carries a single word. Ephemeral. Eternity. Belonging. The structure will stand for weeks. The stone at its feet has endured for centuries.

Cascading from the arcs are panels of coloured acrylic, coral, cobalt, orange, lime, burgundy, that shift and lift in the wind, a direct reference to the heraldic colours of the livery companies and guilds whose halls stand within walking distance and who formed the foundations of the City.

❤️ The URBAN LEARNERS ‘If Stone Could Speak Pavilion’ is made possible by Cheapside Business Alliance and City of London Corporation and with the generous support of PAYE Stonework & Restoration.

📍 St Paul’s Churchyard and Peter’s Hill, City of London

#LFA2026 #PublicArt #Architecture #Belonging #urbanlearners

📸 Photography URBAN LEARNERS

📣 Join ‘From the Thames to Eternity: Stone Life Cy

📣 Join ‘From the Thames to Eternity: Stone Life Cycle(s) Workshop’ From one Life Cycle to the Next – a collaborative workshop with experts from CSK Architects and Bartlett UCL

11th June 5-7pm
📍 Temple Bar, Paternoster Square, London EC4M 8AD

👆 Link in BIO above for booking places or visit incheapside.com/stone

❤️ Some materials like stone, especially granite, can last for thousands of years, which is longer than the lifespan of most architecture – so what happens when buildings die? What would the city look like if all materials had to cycle from one building lifespan to the next? Through a process of making, unmaking and remaking, this hands-on workshop will explore the use and re-use of architectural stone components, and the unfolding relationship between mountain, building and block.

The workshop will include an on-site introduction to From the Thames to Eternity project by the design team from CSK Architects and UCL.

This event is part of the ‘If Stone Could Speak’ cultural programme delivered by Cheapside Business Alliance and the City of London Corporation, produced by URBAN LEARNERS. The programme celebrates the installation of the ‘From the Thames to Eternity’, a City of London project providing new accessible granite seating outside St Paul’s Cathedral. It explores the cultural and historical value of stone, while encouraging discussion about reuse, longevity, and heritage, and the role natural stone can play in creating a more sustainable built environment

💚 This programme was developed by Cheapside Business Alliance the City of London Corporation and URBAN LEARNERS

🫶 @cskarchitectsuk @thebartlettucl @londonfestivalofarchitecture

#LFA2026 #Belonging #Culture #London #ifstonecouldspeak

📣 Something powerful is happening within some of t

📣 Something powerful is happening within some of the most socially and economically disadvantaged school communities and it starts with giving young people the belief that their ideas matter. 🏛️✂️

👏🏽 Participating students are stepping into the roles of designers, thinkers, and community advocates through our archiLEARNERS programme. They’re questioning the ordinary, imagining the extraordinary, and creating spaces that spark JOY and CONNECTION for the communities and places around them.

But here’s what makes this truly different:

✅ 95% of participating young people say they would now consider a career in the built environment industries.
✅ We blend Sixth Form students with younger pupils, creating genuine peer mentorship and leadership, not just passive learning.
✅ Every theme is curriculum aligned, so schools gain real educational value, not just an enrichment add on.
✅ Pupils don’t just learn about design they become community changemakers and feel positively valued.

🫶🏼 URBAN LEARNERS bring archiLEARNERS into local schools, leaving a lasting impact on young people, their schools, and the neighbourhoods you care about.

❤️ If your organisation has a commitment to the communities where you build, invest, or operate please contact us or link in ☝🏽BIO ☝🏽 to find out more about archiLEARNERS.

📸 Photography Phoebe Ireland and URBAN LEARNERS

#UrbanLearners #archiLEARNERS #SocialValue #BuiltEnvironment #creativelearning

📣 CITY STONE MAP is a FREE map which you can acce

📣 CITY STONE MAP is a FREE map which you can access ☝🏼 from our bio ☝🏼or pick up a paper copy.

❤️ As part of the London Festival of Architecture, the maps tell the story of stone in the City.

🫶 Cheapside Business Alliance, The City of London Corporation and URBAN LEARNERS.

#LFA2026 #Belonging #Culture #London #ifstonecouldspeak visitLondon

📸 Photography and Image credits URBAN LEARNERS

Calling all families! Join us on Saturday 13th J

Calling all families!

Join us on Saturday 13th June for artisan craft workshops and guided tours.

We’ll re-live the story of the City through hands-on crafts including weaving, stone rubbing and a treasure hunt to discover the pavilion’s hidden medieval stones.

What if the City’s stones could speak? Join our Stone Detective team for guided tours exploring the City of London’s history, uncovering stories written in stone from Roman foundations through to today’s buildings.

📍If Stone Could Speak Pavilion, Cheapside London
🪨Drop-in Activities: 11am - 4pm
🔍Guided stone tours: starting at 11:30am and 2pm 
🎟️ All events are FREE. Sign up via the link in bio or at incheapside.com/stone

If Stone Could Speak is a cultural programme developed by Cheapside Business Alliance, the City of London Corporation, and URBAN LEARNERS.

📸 Images by URBAN LEARNERS

#LFA2026 #Belonging #Culture #London #families

✨ What a day at Guildhall Art Gallery! ✨ We were

✨ What a day at Guildhall Art Gallery! ✨

We were thrilled to lead the CITY CREATORS FAMILY DAY: COMMUNITY TAKEOVER — a joyful celebration marking the culmination of the Sculpture in the City Family & Community Programme.

Over the past few months, we’ve worked closely with more than 100 participants aged 7–90 from three local community groups, exploring art and architecture through a series of creative workshops. Together, they developed three incredible artworks that were showcased throughout the Gallery.

🌞 Light versus Shadow by City of London Primary Academy Islington explored the relationship between light and shadow through collaborative collage.

🔺 Dendraboreal by The Aldgate School celebrated shape and structure through imaginative 3D forms.

👐 Moment by Dragon Café in the City explored materiality, texture and making.

Alongside the exhibition, over 250 visitors joined us for hands-on creative activities including Capturing Light & Shadow, Crafting Materiality, Constructing Shape and City Collage. It was fantastic to bring together so many people creating, experimenting and discovering new ways of seeing the City.

Seeing these artworks celebrated in such a historic setting was a fitting finale, we’re super proud of everyone who took part. 💛 Huge thanks to @Guildhallartlondon for generously hosting us, to all the participants, families and community members who made this programme so special. The Sculpture in the City Family & Community Programme is supported by the City of London Corporation’s CIL Neighbourhood Fund.

📸 Photographs by Phoebe Ireland

#urbanlearners #sculptureinthecity #creativity #cityoflondon #publicart

📣 Come visit the IF STONE COULD SPEAK PAVILION loc

📣 Come visit the IF STONE COULD SPEAK PAVILION located between St Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.

🫶 And we’d love you to join the events, sign up for artisan craft days, join guided tours around the City, and much more! As part of the London Festival of Architecture _ June 2026

👆 Link in BIO above for booking places or visit incheapside.com/stone

💚 This programme was developed by Cheapside Business Alliance the City of London Corporation and URBAN LEARNERS

#LFA2026 #Belonging #Culture #visitlondon #publicart

📸 Photography and Image credits URBAN LEARNERS

📣 Join us at our From the Thames to Eternity LAUNC

📣 Join us at our From the Thames to Eternity LAUNCH event on 3rd June 6:15pm and hear from industry experts telling the lifecycle story of STONE, its geology, extraction, fabrication, assembly, re-use and re-formation.

❤️ This stellar panel event is not to be missed! 👆 Link in BIO above for booking places or visit incheapside.com/stone

💚 This programme was developed by Cheapside Business Alliance the City of London Corporation and URBAN LEARNERS

🫶 @cskarchitectsuk @thebartlettucl and @ozruh_official @payestoneworkandrestoration @londonfestivalofarchitecture @webbyates @huttonstonecoltd @huttonstone @ruthie.siddall

#LFA2026 #Belonging #Culture #London #ifstonecouldspeak

📸 Photography and Image credits, Clive Totman, URBAN LEARNERS

📣 Join us this June for an exciting FREE cultural

📣 Join us this June for an exciting FREE cultural programme of activities, artisan crafts, tours, and expert talks about STONE, CRAFT and BELONGING.

👆 Link in BIO above for booking places or visit: incheapside.com/stone

We’re celebrating the launch of ‘From the Thames to Eternity’ that transforms historic granite stones from the River Thames walls as new seating outside St Paul’s Cathedral. The stone seats highlight London’s heritage of craftsmanship, architectural history, and sustainable material reuse.

❤️ Come and explore ‘If Stone Could Speak’ our programme of expert-led workshops, walks, and tours, celebrating how built heritage and public space shape identity and community in the City.

🫶 And we’d love you to join the events, sign up for artisan craft days, join guided tours around the City, and much more !

#LFA2026 #Belonging #Culture #London #ifstonecouldspeak

💚 This programme was developed by Cheapside Business Alliance @cheapsideba the City of London Corporation @cityoflondoncorp and URBAN LEARNERS @urban_learners with incredible contributions from so many specialists from artisan stone crafts by @payestoneworkandrestoration the design team for the new seating @cskarchitectsuk @thebartlettucl and @ozruh_official And, for URBAN LEARNERS’ Pavilion and activation programme thanks to the @londonfestivalofarchitecture @payestoneworkandrestoration Amari Recycled Acrylics @amariplastics_el Advanced Digital Graphics @advandigi and engineering by @heynetillettsteel

📸 Photography and Image credits, Clive Totman, PAYE, URBAN LEARNERS

We hope you can join us for the CITY CREATORS FAMI

We hope you can join us for the CITY CREATORS FAMILY DAY: COMMUNITY TAKEOVER

An immersive day at the Guildhall Art Gallery on Saturday 23rd May, from 11am - 4pm.

Across the gallery there will be hands-on, drop-in creative activities and three artworks on display created by local community groups - The Aldgate School, City of London Primary Academy Islington, and Dragon Café in the City.

These works are truly fantastic and celebrate each group’s creative exploration of art and architecture in the City as part of the Sculpture in the City Family and Community programme.

Drop-in activities will include: 🔺 Constructing Shape
🧵 Crafting Materiality ⚡️Capturing Light & Shadow   This event is free and open to all, find out more via the link in bio.  
Supported by The City of London Corporation’s CIL Neighbourhood Fund
 #UrbanLearners #Sculptureinthecity #art #creativity #CityOfLondon

📣 COMMUNITY CULTURE AND ART 🫶🏼 Last week we were

📣 COMMUNITY CULTURE AND ART

🫶🏼 Last week we were working with three incredible communities exploring art and architecture through observation and interpretation.

❤️ And we can’t wait to show you how this all comes together at The Guildhall Art Gallery on 23rd May.

#UrbanLearners #Sculptureinthecity #community #art

Supported by The City of London Corporation’s CIL Neighbourhood Fund

@cityoflondoncorp @thecityofldn @bloomberg @guildhallartlondon

The Cosmic House 📣 This July to November URBAN L

The Cosmic House

📣 This July to November URBAN LEARNERS will once again be at @thecosmichouse exploring Charles Jencks’ symbolic programme with local schools.

🫶🏼 Students will join us for immersive workshops and activities exploring Post-Modernist ideals, aesthetics, and concepts through exploration, observation, and interpretation.

❤️ The current exhibition METAMORPHOSIS ALL THAT CHANGES YOU by @isaacjulien is a a poetic reflection on transformation and change in times of ecological and social crisis. Thank you for such beautiful art. 🙏🏽

#TheCosmicHouse #Urbanlearners #PostModernism #CreativeLearning #ArtEducation

📣 So pleased to announce the selection of URBAN LE

📣 So pleased to announce the selection of URBAN LEARNERS by the City of London Corporation and Cheapside Business Alliance for the FROM THE THAMES TO ETERNITY engagement programme this summer.

❤️ Launching as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2026, throughout June URBAN LEARNERS will host events, talks, heritage trails, and activities. These will celebrate the journey of reclaimed granite stones, repurposed from the Thames Embankment as permanent seating outside of St Paul’s Cathedral as conceived by the incredible team at CSK architects and The Bartlett at UCL.

🫶🏼 We’ll also unveil our ‘If Stone Could Speak’ Pavilion - aligning with the LFA theme of ‘belonging’ - It’s located in the shadow of @stpaulscathedrallondon, and acts as the centrepiece of the engagement programme and its associated activities.

🔍 Join us for artisan workshops, from stone to weaving - our heritage trails will discover the ‘layers’ of the city and its use of stone - and we will explore our collective connection with the City of London.

Follow for our full programme or via @londonfestivalofarchitecture listings.

💚 URBAN LEARNERS is a not-for-profit Art, Architecture & Built Environment education agency improving creative, heritage, and cultural opportunities for children, young people, and communities.

🙌🏼 With thanks to @cheapdeba @thecityofldn @cskarchitectsuk @thebartlettucl @payestoneworkandrestoration

#UrbanLearners #LFA2026 #Art #Architecture

❤️ So impressed with the families who’ve been part

❤️ So impressed with the families who’ve been participating at today’s second Sculpture in the City Community and Family day.

🙌🏼 Thank you to the amazing team at City of London Primary Academy Islington’s children and parents who also created some spectacular art interpretations over Easter using our collage kits.

#UrbanLearners #Sculptureinthecity #community #art

Supported by The City of London Corporation’s CIL Neighbourhood Fund

@cityoflondoncorp @thecityofldn

📸 URBAN LEARNERS

❤️ Really enjoyed co-creating with the community g

❤️ Really enjoyed co-creating with the community group at @dragoncafeinthecity and @mentalfightclub_art today and seeing their inspirational work.

🫶🏼 There were some beautiful community led interpretations of art works Roots by @aiww Ai Weiwei, Dendrophiles by @janeandlouisewilson and Looping Loop by @andrewsabinsculpture

🙌🏼 Thank you to the amazing volunteering team from @bloomberg and supporters from @thecityofldn and also the @guildhallartlondon Guildhall Art Gallery where we will be celebrating the work on Saturday 23rd May.

Supported by The City of London Corporation’s CIL Neighbourhood Fund

#UrbanLearners #Sculptureinthecity #community #art #weaving

📸 URBAN LEARNERS

🫶🏼 We were absolutely blown over by the amazing st

🫶🏼 We were absolutely blown over by the amazing stone artisan workshops at @payestoneworkandrestoration. Thank you Robert Greer for showing us around and showing us true #British craftsmanship in action.

❤️ Loved learning about forming, shaping, cutting and carving technique’s as well as hearing about your innovative restoration processes, reuse and repurposing.

#UrbanLearners #Stone #Heritage #Architecture

📸 URBAN LEARNERS

📣 CREATING CREATIVE COMMUNITIES 🫶🏼 We’ve been res

📣 CREATING CREATIVE COMMUNITIES

🫶🏼 We’ve been researching and piloting an iterative creative and cultural co-creation process with distinct and separate communities across The City of London. They don’t know each other, yet! - Aged 9 to 90! They’re exploring art and architecture through different lenses - MATERIALITY - LIGHT and SHADOW - NATURE - TEXTURE - SHAPE and they’ll ideate and interpret their observations in unique ways learning new SKILLS along the way.

❤️ Each community includes a Project Champion role and we’ll bring all of the explorations together at The Guildhall Art Gallery on Saturday 23rd May as a celebration of our cumulative co-creation process. Keep an eye out for more about the event.

💡 KNOWLEDGE is built through active participation as well as social interaction across several workshops and tours. Participants observe, evolve their ideas, iterate, reflect, and reinterpret.

For some, this is the first time they’re ACCESSING the cultural opportunities within The City of London; for others their first taste of co-creation and the agency this brings to them as individuals and as communities.

💥 What happens when different generations and different communities co-create together? Join us on Saturday 23rd May to find out!

URBAN LEARNERS have teamed up with The City of London culture team to develop the programme around the @sculptureinthecity artwork. Thank you to the organisations who are supporters of the programme including @bloomberg (brilliant volunteers) @40leadenhall.london who have provided space for us @nuveeninv and of course @thecityofldn @thecityoflondoncorporation

Supported by The City of London Corporation’s CIL Neighbourhood Fund

#UrbanLearners #Sculptureinthecity #community #Art #Architecture

📸 @phoebeirelandphotography and URBAN LEARNERS

📣 We’ve been developing ideas around stone, not ju

📣 We’ve been developing ideas around stone, not just as a sustainable building material, but also as record of memory of our built heritage and its place in our future.

💚 From its creative potential for curious minds, to its serious structural proposition for the cities we are building right now - stone is a material that performs in pure compression, ages with integrity, and outlasts almost everything we currently build with. Its carbon footprint is up to ten times lower than concrete!

🗺️ Our cities are built on it. Our heritage is layered through it. And throughout June 2026 we will be exploring it - with our hands, - with paper, - with imagination, and - hopefully with you!

🫶🏼 We’ll be working with Stonemasons, Artisans, and Experts building a foundation of understanding through interpretive and exploratory activities, talks, trails, and workshop’s.

#UrbanLearners #Stone #Heritage #Art #Architecture

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