HowlRound Theatre Commons: Four years ago, Frank Ludwig (scenic designer and professor, Department of Theatre and Music Theatre, Viterbo University) wrote this article in Theatre Design and Technology about the impact of university and college downsizing on theatre design and production programs. It was a dire situation then. It’s even worse now.
3 comments:
Arts education is the only reason I went to high school. The only reason I kept my grades up and applied myself was to participate in technical theater and perform on stage. Now it has become my lively hood, to the point that I am seeking a graduate degree in hopes to share the knowledge I have. Also the more funding that is cut makes theater less diverse and prevents growth in the industry. People come to study theater to be surrounded by like minded individuals hopeing to make a change in the industry to continue to enrich peoples lifes with live entertainment.
I love how Lawton and Pollock discuss the integration of theatre into other university classes as a means to save it. I went to a high school that was split into different “majors” (culinary, medical, computer science, etc.) and most of the theatre teachers taught additional academic courses based on their specialty: the costume design teacher taught medical students how to sew sutures and the acting teacher taught business students public speaking skills. It was a great way for students to understand the importance of theater—many of them went on to become involved in our productions both on and off stage. I think making theater known to people who don’t usually interact with it is an important step to ensuring it isn’t defunded. If the student body treats the arts as a necessity, it will be more difficult for administrators to make the “vertical cuts” to drama departments that are discussed in the article.
I read somewhere that the arts are an indication that was civilized society. I don't remember where I read that, why it claims to be, or anything else about the statement honestly. But I believe it. And it worries me that support for the arts continues to dwindle for some reason. You'd think that as society advances, our lives would become less revolved around difficulty, and we could focus more on the arts, and leisure, and entertainment, etc. Arts and theater education is what teaches a human how to feel, how to empathize, how to socialize and discuss things. Arts and theater education forces people to consider stories other than their own life story. Forces people to think of how others might see things. Some people may wonder why artists are such an eclectic group of people. Why you never have to worry about seeming odd when there's an artist next to you. But for those who are actually in the community, we know it's because those in the artistic community have been trained to try to accept someone before ever considering to reject them. Artists have had a safe space to explore themselves, and how they interact with the world. That exploration leads to a unique human being, and we want to preserve that safe place for others to do the same.
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