Can Liège’s stained-glass academy turn a fragile craft into a viable profession?
Liège’s Académie du Vitrail has completed its first year and is recruiting for a longer practical programme combining stained-glass techniques, inclusion and professional experience.
In 30 seconds
- Angélique Pickmann presented the academy at the Maison de la Presse de Liège on 23 June 2026.
- Cré et Arts advertises 120 teaching hours per year at €18.50 an hour, excluding some material costs.
- The curriculum includes copper foil, soldering, lead work, grisaille and painting on glass.
- The provider says certification requires a voluntary, unpaid work placement.
’s Académie du Vitrail marked the end of its first year this summer and presented plans to develop its workshop into a professional reference point for stained-glass training in the province. Founder Angélique Pickmann outlined the project at the Maison de la Presse de Liège on 23 June, while the academy’s operator, Cré et Arts ASBL, has since begun promoting the next intake at its premises on Rue Basse-Wez.
For people in Liège and elsewhere in Wallonia, the immediate significance is practical: the initiative offers local access to a specialist craft that usually requires sustained hands-on instruction. RCF Liège reported that learners have travelled from Arlon and , illustrating a catchment extending well beyond the city. The academy says no previous experience is required, although places are limited and students pay tuition and material costs.
The programme teaches glass cutting, copper-foil assembly, soldering, lead work and painting on glass. According to Cré et Arts, its present course structure progresses from foundational projects towards Tiffany-style objects, leaded panels, grisaille and a final work placement. The association currently advertises 120 hours of teaching per year at €18.50 an hour, with some equipment included but glass and consumables charged separately. Those details come from the provider and should not be read as an independently audited account of enrolment, completion or employment outcomes.
Pickmann describes the ambition as making the school a Liège and provincial reference. Speaking to RCF, she said it was important to “professionnaliser notre école” and noted demand from southern Belgium. The non-profit also places inclusion at the centre of its identity, presenting creative practice as a way for people affected by illness, disability or difficult life experiences to rebuild confidence. That makes the academy more than a conventional leisure workshop, but evidence about its first-year results remains incomplete: the organisation has not published a detailed annual report specifying student numbers, retention, finances or destinations after training.
There is also an important distinction around the word “certifying”. Cré et Arts presents the academy as the first certifying stained-glass school in Liège province and says students can receive a certificate after completing the programme and a voluntary, unpaid but compulsory placement. Publicly available material does not establish that this certificate is a qualification formally recognised by Wallonia or the Belgian education authorities. Prospective students seeking entry to regulated restoration work, further study or public contracts should therefore ask who issues the certificate and where it is recognised.
Wallonia’s institutional approach is broader and more formalised. The Walloon Heritage Agency’s Direction de la Formation aux métiers du patrimoine says its role is to transmit heritage techniques through centres at La Paix-Dieu in Amay and the Pôle de la Pierre in Soignies, including qualifying pathways delivered with recognised training bodies. The Liège academy, by contrast, offers a small, accessible and locally rooted route focused specifically on stained glass. The two models need not compete: one supplies a public heritage-training framework, while the other may reach learners who would not initially enter a conventional vocational pathway.
The wider European picture supports the academy’s underlying concern. In a 2025 answer to the , the said cultural and creative-sector partners had made vocational initiatives preserving technical arts-and-crafts skills a priority. It pointed to Erasmus+, Creative Europe, the Pact for Skills and the European Alliance for Apprenticeships, while stressing elsewhere that education and vocational-training organisation remains principally a responsibility of member states. Brussels-based EU institutions can support mobility, cooperation and skills transmission, but they do not validate this particular Liège certificate.
Where this is happening
View on map Liège →The first-year bilan is therefore encouraging but preliminary. The academy has established a teaching offer, attracted interest from outside Liège and articulated a route from creative discovery to professional practice. Its next test will be whether it can retain learners through the full programme, secure suitable placements and demonstrate that graduates can move into paid creation or heritage restoration. Publication of enrolment, completion and recognition data would turn a promising local account into a measurable assessment.
What to do
Prospective learners should budget at least €2,220 for 120 teaching hours at the advertised €18.50 hourly rate, before material costs and travel to Liège. They should also ask Cré et Arts how the longer programme is scheduled, which materials are excluded, what insurance applies and how the required voluntary unpaid placement is arranged. Before treating the certificate as a route into employment, applicants should request details about recognition, assessment standards, previous completion rates and graduate outcomes. People travelling from elsewhere in Wallonia should include transport and placement time when comparing this course with AWAP heritage-trades training.
Impact
Regional — Learners reportedly travel to Liège from Arlon and Bastogne, suggesting unmet demand across Wallonia. The academy may complement the Walloon Heritage Agency’s established training infrastructure, particularly for adults seeking an accessible entry point.
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Voices & reactions
What the main actors are doing
Reported positions, summarised — not direct quotationsCré et Arts’ accessible professional pathway
Angélique Pickmann and Cré et Arts frame the academy as an inclusive route towards professional practice and want to make it a reference for Liège province and beyond. Their emphasis is on complete hands-on instruction, confidence-building and access without prior qualifications.
Wallonia’s recognised heritage-training framework
The Walloon Heritage Agency describes heritage-skills training through public centres and qualifying partnerships. That institutional framing places greater weight on recognised pathways and established training bodies, leaving an unresolved question about how the academy’s own certificate fits into the formal system.
European support with national responsibility
The European Commission presents traditional-craft training as a priority supported through Erasmus+, Creative Europe and skills partnerships, but stresses that member states organise education and vocational training. EU support therefore strengthens the policy case without certifying the Liège course.
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