This may be of interest to Canadian Theatre/ Drama Departments

[Lynette Hunter]

To argue that we 'overtrain' "(in the sense that supper far exceeds demand)
actor and other theatre students" is to ignore the list of trained areas
offered by Professor Irwin:
strong and transferable skills training, vibrant community building
activity, creative problem solving, enhanced tourist activity, and so forth.
this list could easily be extended.

Departments of English Literature 'overtrain' in the sense that students
rarely become creative writers, and only a small proportion become English
Literature teachers. The vast number develop transferable skills that equip
them to work in areas that require understanding of communication
strategies - from the law to banking to retail to social services to
medicine ...

Theatre, dance and performance university departments are often only
incidentally training people to enter professional performance activity.
This training has in the past been frequently more appropriately acquired
in conservatory systems. Today universities are the sites where far more
experimental work is possible, but students still rarely become
professionals.

Theatre, dance and performance in the university context are more likely to
train an understanding of both creative power and different kinds of
knowledge (especially practice-based and embodied knowledges that generate
new insights drawing from current issues around diversity and
globalisation), interpretation (in an exceptionally wide range of different
media not encountered in any other arts or humanities textual base), and
communication (using voice, body and gesture, spatial and material
visualization and implementation, and sociocultural media), as well as
academic exploration and argumentation.

*
*

The skills outcomes in departments of Theatre, Dance and Performance, are
also inherently interdisciplinary and collective, training students in the
pragmatics of problem-solving, negotiation, time- and material-management,
and project completion.


There are few other departments in a university in which students can be
trained for such a wide range of skills acquisition necessary for
contemporary society to adapt, change and flourish.


Lynette Hunter
Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance
Chair, Graduate Group in Performance Studies
University of California Davis
lhunter at ucdavis.edu


On 14 October 2012 09:21, David Ferry <appledor at sympatico.ca> wrote:

> Thank you Ms Irwin for your thoughtful and provocative post.
>
> We must reflect too that our university and college system, nation wide,
> has been overtraining (in the sense that supply far exceeds demand) actors
> and other theatre students for years. As far back as the late 1970s the
> Canada Council sponsored Black report (after its author, theatre director
> Malcolm Black) warned of the trend then to have far too many theatre
> training programs to support an industry that has (among actors alone) a consistent
> 85-90% unemployment rate. He questioned then, and the questioned has never
> really been addressed, the ethics of creating so  many training programs
> for so few jobs. Of course immediately on delivery of that report, it was
> shelved.
>
> David Ferry
> Appledore Productions
> 416 433 5826
> www.davidferryactor.com
>
> On Oct 13, 2012, at 8:38 PM, Kathleen Irwin <Kathleen.Irwin at UREGINA.CA>
> wrote:
>
>    *This may be of interest to Canadian Theatre/ Drama Departments***
>
>  On September 26 2012, the University of Regina posted an update
> regarding the university-wide Academic Program Review (APR) on their public
> website. The information in the announcement regarded major changes to the
> delivery of programs within the Theatre Department. It was erroneous and,
> as many of you across Canada have asked about it,  I want to correct the
> misinformation and provide a context for the statement. What was posted was
> news that the Theatre Department had retired its BFA in the Performance and
> Design / Stage Management streams effective January 1, 2013 – after 42
> years. While this was true in part, it was only partial. The official
> statement from the Theatre Department on what really happened follows here.
>   ****
>
>  The Theatre Department at the University of Regina is focusing attention
> on the delivery of the core degree, the BA in Theatre and Performance (with
> optional concentrations in acting or design/stage management). We see
> this as a way of consolidating our course offerings into a flexible degree
> that optimizes our skills and resources and enables students to choose
> widely from a menu of courses that reaches across the Fine Arts disciplines
> or to pursue further training in theatre, a professional career or higher
> education.   ****
>
>  We believe that this will educate students to be broad thinking and
> resourceful in their approach to creativity while they are here at the
> university and when they graduate into the world beyond whether they chose
> to pursue further training in theatre, a professional career or higher
> education.
>
>   ****
>
> In reality, nothing changes in the delivery of our program other than the
> name change. In doing this we feel we are reflecting a current shift across
> North America in the delivery of performance-based undergraduate
> training by allowing our student more control over their course of study.
> We are excited to offer a more progressive degree – A BA in Theatre and
> Performance that will highlight traditional training in addition to
> innovative courses in creative technologies and community-oriented practice.
>   ****
>
> The BFA programs are suspending admissions as of January 1. Current
> students have 6 years to complete.  ****
>
>  While the official Theatre Department statement points to exciting new
> directions in course delivery (digital media, community–oriented practice,
> links with indigenous communities, ACTRA mentorships, international
> exchange), it also puts a slightly optimistic spin on a slow decline that
> masks a self-fulfilling prophecy (the annual department budget is now
> $40,000 less than it was 16 years ago). Cuts and changes are almost always
> read in a negative way. What is self-fulfilling is that the withdrawal of
> funding and the loss of 2 key faculty positions in the studies area (due to
> cuts and attrition) and the elimination of many sessional positions in a
> department already stressed by tight overall budgets and static numbers is
> demoralizing and it immediately impacts registration. When current and
> potential students sense weakness, they look elsewhere for education and
> training. This is not only true at the U of R. Anecdotal information
> indicates that many smaller departments across the country are suffering as
> administrations slowly withdraw support in those areas following fiscal
> strategies that prioritize student numbers and research dollars over less
> directly quantifiable measures of success that the arts amply produce –
> strong and transferable skills training, vibrant community building
> activity, creative problem solving, enhanced tourist activity, and so
> forth. Students will take note and Theatre Departments will continue to
> crumble. ****
>
>  In our case, following APR directives to modernize old courses, the
> Theatre Department was aggressive and proactive in cleaning up programs
> thereby making them more focused, accessible, flexible and aligned with
> current interdisciplinary pedagogy. However the overall net gain is
> negative as the perception that we are now closed for business, fed by the
> University’s fatal error in reporting changes to our program, persists
> despite retractions, rebuttals and statements that stress otherwise. This
> is, in fact, why I am so emphatically making two points simultaneously: 1.
> The Theatre Department at the University of Regina is open for business; 2.
> The University is slowly pulling the rug out. The third point is: if it is
> happening here, it will happen elsewhere.
>
>  ****
>
> This is all happening within a wider provincial context. Over the past 6
> months, the film business in Saskatchewan has received a deathblow through
> changes to the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit. This has affected
> the entire creative industry and it is estimated that approximately 600
> arts professionals are leaving the province for greener pastures. As head
> of the Theatre Department at the University of Regina, I am, in part,
> responsible for the training of our undergraduate students to prepare them
> for a future in the Theatre, Television and Film industry in Saskatchewan.
> Every year we graduate young people who are trained in acting, technical
> direction, costume, set, props, lighting and sound design.  These are the
> troops on the ground who help make the industry vibrant and successful.
> Without jobs to go to, our graduates will join the flood of young people
> leaving the province and they will take our training / their education with
> them.  ****
>
>  These two events are, of course linked in important and obvious ways.
> The arts feed into a complex ecosystem – when one part is jeopardized, the
> rest of the organism begins to fail as well. Is this important? You tell me.
> ****
>
>  Kathleen Irwin, Head ****
>
> Theatre Department, University of Regina****
>
> Kathleen.Irwin at uregina.ca****
>
>
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