OnStage Blog: We need to address an issue within training for the performing arts in the United Kingdom. In England, Northern Ireland and Wales right now, you must pay tuition fees to go to a university, which means, any actors, directors or writers who wish to study a BA must have the money to afford this course or else look for a scholarship. In Scotland, the government funds the majority of our courses, which means that you would think that working-class students within the performing arts within Scotland would have a better chance to get the training they deserve.
Well you're wrong.
3 comments:
College and higher education is extremely expensive. While I was uneducated in the European system of arts education this article was very insightful. The arrangement for an arts education is completely elitist and I am honestly just as frustrated as the author of this article about this issue. However, I wonder if it is possible for Europe/UK specifically can implement a system similar to financial aid to help support talented and less economically stable families in their endeavors to obtain a form of higher education. Everyone deserves to have equal training in their arena of study and it is blatantly obvious from this article that that is not the case. Theatre is meant to be an inclusive, open, and accepting space for all people and it seems that the European education system is not as accommodating as it should be.
I knew that going to college was going to be expensive, and my experiences over the past few months that I have been at Carnegie Mellon have only reinforced this fact. To me, it is important to think about why I really want and need the education I am getting through this program when I think about the money my family and I are spending for me to be here and the student loans that I will be building up over the next four years. I am here because I want to learn and know what it takes to be a well rounded artist within the theatre community. This article brought up a great point about education, especially education in the arts, which is that for many people it is totally inaccessible. I think that people that know that they want to pursue art as a career at a relatively young age should be able to fully experience and explore that field without being totally hindered by the cost of those experiences, and I am glad that this article brought up this issue.
In college its sometimes hard to see the true reason for spending all this money for the education and training but I know later in life I will greatly appreciate and be helped exponentially by my investment in my own education. With each thing we learn and we grow I believe in truly being a life long learner and college is apart of that as during my most impressionable years come to a close I need/want to get as much "proper" education as possible so that I can grow as a human and student of my craft. It's so disheartening to see those less fortunate though because education should be accessible to whoever is willing and able to work for it. The cost of education especially in the arts should never be a hindrance for anyone in their pursuit of their dreams and their work. It's hard to see things like this as it's not what the arts are about as a whole and maybe one day that will change for the better.
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