A CITY college opened its doors to come to the rescue of the fire-ravaged Glasgow School of Art (GSA).

A group of S4 secondary school pupils were due to take part in a week of taster events as part of the GSA's Widening Participation programme – however it faced being cancelled due to the Mackintosh Building blaze.

Fortunately for the young people, who come from schools across the west of Scotland, City of Glasgow College offered the GSA spaces in its Cathedral Street campus so that the programme could go ahead as planned.

The taster week for S4 pupils gives the young people an introduction to the various creative disciplines that are offered in undergraduate programmes at the GSA. Throughout the week the young people were tutored by members of the Widening Participation team, all of whom are GSA graduates. They also enjoyed a workshop led by acclaimed designer, Laura Spring, and visited Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery to make preparatory drawings before going in to create a range of headdresses.

The week culminated in Tower Wars, a fun event which saw groups of young people competing to build the highest standing tower as part of an introduction to architecture.

Suzanne Kay, widening participation manager at The Glasgow School of Art, said: "We are hugely grateful to City of Glasgow College for their support in helping us make sure our S4 taster week could go ahead.

“Taster week is a very important part of our Widening Participation work. It gives a hands on opportunity for young people, many of whom have not considered following a course of creative study at university, to learn more about what is on offer at the GSA.

“Many of the young people are inspired by taster week to go on and take part in our portfolio preparation courses.

"This year, 36 young people who took part in WP activities were offered places to study architecture, design or fine art at GSA, with many others receiving offers to study at their chosen universities across the UK.”

For further information on the GSA’s Widening Participation programme, visit gsa.ac.uk/about-gsa/key-information/our-structure/widening-participation.