The Scheduling Challenge Unique to Art Schools

Most children's activity providers run one format: weekly term-time classes. Gymnastics clubs, swimming schools, and football academies all follow broadly the same pattern. Art schools are different. A typical art school might offer weekly pottery classes for children, fortnightly life drawing for adults, Saturday morning mixed-media workshops, holiday clay camps, birthday party packages, and an annual exhibition that takes the studio out of commission for a week. Each format has different booking rules, pricing structures, staffing requirements, and space needs.

Add to this the physical constraints that are unique to art: kiln drying times that mean work started in week one is not ready for glazing until week three, wet canvases that need drying racks, printmaking presses that take 30 minutes to clean between sessions, and sculpture work that cannot be moved until it is stable. Your scheduling is not just about people and rooms. It is about the physical lifecycle of the artwork itself.

This guide covers how to build a scheduling system that handles multiple formats, respects the physical realities of art production, and keeps your studio running at maximum capacity.

Mapping Your Format Types

Before building a schedule, document every format you offer or plan to offer, along with its specific requirements.

Term-Time Weekly Classes

These are your bread and butter. They run on the same day and time each week for a term of typically 10 to 12 weeks. They provide predictable income and strong student retention. Scheduling considerations include ensuring continuity of tutor, maintaining the same room setup each week, and allowing for progressive projects that span multiple sessions. A pottery project that involves throwing in week one, trimming in week two, bisque firing between weeks two and three, glazing in week three, and glaze firing before collection in week four requires that your schedule accounts for kiln access and drying time between student sessions.

One-Off Workshops

These are typically two to four hours long and focus on a specific technique or project. They attract new students who are not ready to commit to a term. Price them as standalone experiences (typically £30 to £65 per person including materials) and schedule them on weekends or evenings to avoid conflicting with your term-time programme. Workshops also serve as excellent taster sessions that feed students into your regular classes.

Holiday Courses

School holiday camps are a significant revenue opportunity, running for half or full days across one to five days. They require different staffing ratios (typically 1:8 for under-8s and 1:10 for 8 and above as recommended by Ofsted guidance for out-of-school settings) and a different room setup to your term-time classes. Plan your holiday courses at least one term in advance so parents can book before they commit to other childcare arrangements.

Birthday Parties

Art birthday parties are popular and profitable, typically priced at £150 to £350 for a 90-minute to two-hour session for 8 to 15 children. They need a dedicated time slot (usually weekend afternoons), a simplified project that can be completed within the session, and additional staff for supervision. The challenge is that parties take your studio out of action for other activities, so pricing must reflect the opportunity cost.

Exhibition Periods

If you hold student exhibitions, whether termly showcases or annual shows, you need to block out setup and display time. A typical exhibition requires one to two days for setup, three to seven days for the exhibition itself, and half a day for takedown. During this period, the exhibition space cannot be used for classes, so your schedule must account for this well in advance.

Building a Multi-Format Calendar

The key to managing multiple formats is a layered calendar approach. Start with your fixed elements and layer in flexible ones.

Layer 1: Term Dates and Holidays

Fix your term dates to align with local school terms. Parents expect art classes to follow the same pattern as school, and diverging from this creates confusion and drop-off. In England, term dates vary by local authority, so check your council's published dates and set yours accordingly. Build in a one-week buffer at the start and end of each term for administration, deep cleaning, kiln maintenance, and exhibition setup.

Layer 2: Term-Time Classes

Schedule your weekly classes first. These are your most consistent revenue source and should get priority for your best time slots. Group similar class types together to minimise room turnaround. For example, schedule all pottery classes on consecutive days so the clay preparation area stays set up, and group all painting classes together so easels and drying racks remain in place.

Layer 3: Kiln Schedule

Your kiln schedule is a constraint that affects everything else. A typical bisque firing takes 8 to 12 hours plus 12 to 24 hours of cooling before the kiln can be opened. A glaze firing takes 6 to 10 hours plus similar cooling time. That means a single firing cycle occupies the kiln for approximately 24 to 36 hours. If you fire twice a week, that leaves limited windows for loading, unloading, and maintenance. Build your kiln firing days into the calendar as fixed events and schedule pottery classes so that work is ready for the next firing slot.

Layer 4: Workshops and Parties

Fit workshops and parties into the gaps around your fixed schedule. Weekends are prime time for both. Consider designating specific weekends as workshop days and others as party days to avoid conflicts. If demand is high, you can run a workshop in the morning and a party in the afternoon, provided you allow adequate turnaround time (minimum 30 to 45 minutes) between sessions.

Layer 5: Holiday Programmes

Plan holiday programmes at least two terms ahead. They may require different room layouts, additional equipment, and extra staff. If you run holiday camps in the same space as your term-time classes, ensure all term-time work is safely stored or completed before the holiday programme begins.

Managing Physical Constraints

Art scheduling is uniquely constrained by the physical nature of the work.

Drying Time

Clay needs to dry slowly and evenly to avoid cracking. Depending on the thickness of the piece and the humidity of your studio, drying can take 5 to 14 days. You need designated drying shelves that are not disturbed between sessions. If space is limited, consider investing in drying cabinets that use gentle heat and air circulation to speed the process to 2 to 5 days.

Wet Work Storage

Paintings, prints, and glazed pieces all need somewhere to dry undisturbed. Drying racks (vertical for canvases, horizontal for prints and wet ceramics) are essential. Factor the footprint of your drying equipment into your room layout planning.

Room Turnaround

Switching a studio from pottery to painting, or from children's classes to adult workshops, takes time. A realistic turnaround for a full room change is 20 to 30 minutes with two people. Build this into your schedule rather than hoping it will happen in a five-minute gap between classes.

Using Software to Manage the Complexity

A paper diary or basic spreadsheet becomes unmanageable once you are running more than two or three class types. You need scheduling software that can handle multiple event types, recurring sessions, one-off bookings, and resource conflicts. A purpose-built platform like AMES allows you to create different class types with their own booking rules, pricing, and capacity limits, then view everything on a single calendar with room and resource allocation visible at a glance.

The ability to see all your formats in one view is essential for spotting clashes, identifying underused time slots, and ensuring that physical constraints like kiln schedules and drying times are respected. Automated waitlists, online booking for workshops and parties, and integrated payment collection remove the administrative burden that otherwise makes multi-format scheduling unsustainable.

Key Takeaways

Document every format you offer with its specific space, staff, and time requirements before building your schedule.
Use a layered calendar approach: term dates first, then weekly classes, then kiln schedule, then workshops and parties.
Account for physical constraints including clay drying times (5 to 14 days), kiln firing cycles (24 to 36 hours), and room turnaround (20 to 30 minutes).
Schedule birthday parties and workshops into designated weekend slots to avoid cannibalising your term-time programme.
Plan holiday programmes at least two terms ahead with confirmed staffing and room layouts.
Use scheduling software that supports multiple event types and resource management to prevent the complexity from becoming unmanageable.