The Golden Key Academy is a public speaking course developing the essential skills, knowledge and critical thinking required to deliver engaging walking and cycling tours unlocking complex architecture, heritage, and urban issues
Created by Open City, the charity behind the acclaimed Open House festival and a much-loved year round programme of public tours, the Golden Key Academy covers everything a skilled guide needs to create and deliver an insightful, entertaining, culturally-aware, critically-ambitious and financially successful outdoor event explaining the city and bringing its many stories to life.
The taught programme – running from February through to September – features a series of informative and interactive lectures covering core competencies including: editorial programming, critical interpretation, and the ethics of cultural production; guiding responsibilities and crowd safety; self-promotion and the use of technology and confidence in public speaking.
2023 Golden Key Academy London wide alumni
Andy Garland, Anthony Palmer, Brandon Jackson, Brian Jowers, Daniel Levin, Darren Leftwich, Debbie Kent, Emily McFadyen, Helen Longmate, Imogen Steinberg, Justin Manley, Kevin McNerney, Mary Crowley, Paul Steeples, Petra Cox, Rachel York, Rob Harris, Sally Itani, Sam Chen, Simone Kunisch, Susannah Ford, Vojta Nemec, Zoe Harmar
2022 Golden Key Academy London wide alumni
Adrian Gibbs, Alison Porter, Christopher Booth, Emma Keyte, Ian Kernohan, Irina Maliugina, Joanna Oyediran, Joe Brookes, Louise Vannier, Lynne Matthews, Olga Zilbershtein, Sara Probert,Sarah-Jane Day, Tony Ganio
2022 Golden Key Academy Royal Docks alumni
Anna Gibb, Danny Danquah, Emma Deba-Smith, Halima Hamid, Joanna Dong, Julia Omari, Matt Ponting, Miko Schneider, Momtaz Begum-Hossain, Tim Peake
2021 Golden Key Academy alumni
Áine Grace, Alison Rae, Courtney Plank, Evgeniya Petrova, Jack Chesher, Joseph Granata, Judith Nichol, Lisa Lu, Martin Scholar, Nic Durston, Noel Wright, Peter Burrows, Sarah Jackson, Stefan Cucos
Sponsor Golden Key Academy
The Golden Key Academy is part of our mission to create and deliver programmes which aim to open up the art of tour guiding to wider audiences and involve the public in conversations about the future and past of architecture.
If you want to find out about supporting this programme please get in touch with the Golden Key Academy Team at goldenkey@open-city.org.uk