About LUMA College
LUMA College is a specialist post-16 arts college for young people and adults aged 16 to 25 whose needs relate to autism, ASD or Social, Emotional and Mental Health. We are based at Camden Arts Centre in NW3 and we open in September 2026.
Embedding LUMA within Camden Arts Centre is central to what we do. Our students learn in a professional creative environment alongside practising artists. They have access to studio space, galleries and the cultural life of the building. This is not a classroom. It is a creative institution that takes the work seriously. That makes all the difference.
Why Camden Arts Centre?
Why I started LUMA
I have spent years working in specialist SEND education in London. I have seen what works and what does not. I have sat in annual reviews where young people are being sent miles away from home because nothing local exists for them. I have watched families fight for years to find the right place, only to run out of options at 16.
LUMA exists because that gap is real and it does not have to be. Young people with autism and SEMH needs are creative, capable and full of potential. They deserve an education built around who they are, in a place that takes their work seriously.
That is what LUMA is. And Camden Arts Centre is exactly the right home for it.
Rahi Thoufique, Founder and Head of LUMA College
