The Welsh College of Music and Drama welcomes the opportunity to offer a College response to ACW's Draft Drama Strategy.
As the only provider in Wales of vocational training for actors, designers and stage managers, the College has a keen interest in the professional opportunities available to its graduates and wholly endorses the ACW's intention to maximise employment opportunities for Welsh artists (assuming this to mean Wales-based), as detailed in paragraph 1.7.
The College notes the Arts Council's intention to develop a powerful Arts and Young People initiative' (2.3) and looks forward to receiving further details on this in the near future. It also notes that the Drama Review has addressed the strengthening of links with the Higher Education sector (3.5) and again would be grateful for further information in due course. The training and mentoring schemes referred to in paragraph 3.7 are also of interest.
Welsh National Performing Arts Companies
Clwyd Theatr Cymru, particularly under the directorship of Terry Hands, has employed a significant number of Welsh College graduates. Because of its location however, collaboration during the academic year has, in the past, been limited. That both Theatr Gwynedd and Clwyd Theatr Cymru reside in the North of the country is, in part at least, the result of historical accident.
The College is concerned, however, that the focusing of resources away from the major conurbations of the South Wales area will deprive its students of easy access to, and identity with, the two flagship' companies. Part of this concern may be allayed when the details of both companies' touring plans are made public. The College will need to continue to develop relationships with local theatre companies however - in Cardiff and in Bristol for example - in order to provide its students with an adequate professional interface.
Whilst acknowledging the economic imperative to identify a sustainable client base, the College also endorses the Arts Council's view (as outlined in paragraph 3.2) that one of the main strengths of drama in Wales has been its diversity'. It would be regrettable if the major shift in emphasis towards the two mainstream' companies were to be achieved at the expense of this diversity of product.
Mindful of the keen interest expressed by both students and graduates for the opportunity to work in a wide range of settings, the College would urge the Arts Council to ensure that this diversity is protected. It is to be hoped, for example, that the economies of scale referred to in paragraph 4.2.7 are not achieved at the expense of the small community venues currently served by Bara Caws.
The College welcomes the fact that the Welsh National Performing Arts Companies will be required to develop active policies for young people, but is concerned that Clwyd Theatr Cymru no longer maintains a youth theatre provision. Clwyd Youth Theatre has, in the past, been the source of a significant number of applications to WCMD's undergraduate courses.
Building Based Producing Theatre
The College endorses the Arts Council's view that it would be inconceivable that Cardiff, as the capital city, should be without a range of theatre on offer to the general audience. Both the Sherman Theatre building and the Sherman Theatre Company are a valued resource for the College. The main house is of an appropriate scale to host the College's annual summer opera, and the studio provides a useful alternative to the College's own performing spaces.
More interestingly, a number of collaborative ventures have been developed over the past years, ranging from Sherman Theatre staff teaching at the Welsh College to Welsh College students performing on the main stage with the Sherman Theatre Company's professional actors. The Sherman is also able to offer a range of work placement opportunities for a large number of stage management students throughout the year. It should, perhaps, be emphasised that the value of these placements would be significantly reduced were the Sherman to lose its ability to produce. The College is keen to maintain its institutional links with the Sherman and would welcome the opportunity for further discussion on this particular issue.
The College would also wish to maintain its close links with Torch Theatre in Milford Haven.
Production and Touring 2: Theatre for Young People
The current network of TIE / community theatres has provided a valuable source of freelance professionals - directors and stage managers - who work regularly at the College. This has resulted in a dynamic interchange between professionals and students in training, an employment route for students on graduation and a means by which the College can ensure that the training it offers is of use to the profession. The proposed reduction in the number of companies is, therefore, viewed with a certain amount of unease. Although the Arts Council clearly views this reduction as both inevitable and desirable, the College has identified three areas of specific concern:
that the introduction of time-limited franchise agreements may limit the scope of longer term collaborative ventures with partners such as the College
that a reduction in the number of TIE companies operating will result in fewer opportunities for young people to experience professional theatre created specifically for their age group
that regional youth theatre throughout the country, which is currently supported by some, if not all, of the TIE companies, will see this support disappear. The vast majority of applicants to the College's undergraduate courses are actively engaged in youth theatre activity and the College believes that it is in the youth theatres that many of the professionals of tomorrow are to be found.
Production and Touring 3: Audience for Other Production Companies and Projects
The College welcomes the Arts Council's intention to support new writing initiatives. In recent years the College has jointly commissioned two plays with Made in Wales, and has been involved in developmental workshops with the Sherman; it is keen to continue and develop both of these ventures. Support for new writing in the Welsh language is particularly welcomed; although the College offers but one annual production in the Welsh language, in recent years it has had to resort to translations of English plays as no suitable Welsh texts have been available.
Revenue Support to Other New Work
The College is not able to offer its students very many opportunities to experience non text based and experimental theatre and for this reason, access to examples of professional practice are particularly useful. The College would be interested to learn more about the experimental practice' expected of the Welsh National Performing Arts Companies and the TYP franchise companies.
Community Touring and Projects
The College has some experience of attempting to mount community tours on a one-off' basis and can testify to the difficulties created by a lack of continuity, intermittent contact with non-theatre venues and a lack of local knowledge. College tours have been made easier by the expertise available in the national community touring companies and the regional TIE teams. It is concerned that the proposed strategy will, in effect, dismantle the entire professional information exchange and knowledge base, with the possible exception, in the short term, of those venues served by Bara Caws.
The College has experienced the fact that many non-theatre venues run by members of the local community will not book companies which are unknown to them. They are unlikely, therefore, to offer bookings to project companies about whom they have little knowledge, unless the Arts Council has plans for a substantial development of the infrastructure which supports these venues.
The College has an interest in audience development, as its own position will be greatly enhanced by an increased awareness that artistic activity is important and life enhancing. If applications to the projects scheme must be partnerships between a company and a presenting organisation, then it seems unlikely that the very small, local community audiences will be developed; indeed, there appears to be some doubt that the existing network of community venues will be maintained.
The increase in project funding is welcomed in principle, but project funding, by its nature, does not encourage stability or continuity in the management of the project companies themselves. The Arts Council has done much in the past to ensure that arts managers are offered opportunities for in-service training and this initiative, coupled also with training undertaken by WAPA, has resulted in the considerable expertise to be found amongst the current client base.
Changes in employment patterns caused by the shift away from revenue funded clients may result in the loss of this experience as established Arts Managers seek alternative full time employment and an influx of less experienced administrators who may require fast-track, specialist training opportunities. The College will be running a one-year Advanced Diploma in Arts Management from September 1999 and would welcome the opportunity to discuss future training needs in this area.
Support to Art Form Practice and Support to Individual Artists
As mentioned above, the Welsh College of Music and Drama is the only institution offering accredited vocational training in the professional performing arts and will shortly be adding Arts Management to its portfolio of courses. It would welcome an approach form the Arts Council to discuss further those points made under paragraph 7.1.4 - viz. courses for writers or practitioners and networking initiatives. The Arts Council will be aware that the College engages a wide variety of established and sometimes high-profile directors and other specialists, and would be happy to consider ways in which the theatre community as a whole could benefit from these engagements. The College, particularly since the opening of the Anthony Hopkins Centre, is well placed to offer short courses and courses designed to meet specific needs.
General Comments
In conclusion, the College's overriding concern is that there should continue to be a thriving theatre scene which will offer employment opportunities to its graduates, a stimulating environment in which its students can train, and high-quality relevant and appropriate work to the widest possible audience.
The College relies on a pool of Wales-based creative artists who can be invited to the College to work with the students and who can inform best training practice. Access to the arts for young people at school is of paramount importance in developing an interest which can lead to lifelong involvement in artistic activity.
The College is keen that theatre provision in Wales should be seen as part of a continuum, encompassing young people, professional training and professional theatre work. Wales, because of its compact geography and homogeneity of cultural interests, is ideally placed to develop the Government's lifelong learning agenda. The professional theatre workers and training providers cannot operate in isolation and the benefits from close collaboration will enliven the theatrical and artistic life for all people of Wales.
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