Huge cuts to 'rare and precious' youth services proposed at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama

The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama has proposed huge cuts to its youth services, affecting 340 students, five members of salaried staff and a further 112 on variable hours. Former participants have expressed "great concern" at the proposals which would see the college's weekend classes for children cut from its programme.

Currently the college operations the Young RWCMD Music programme weekly on Saturdays for children aged four to 18 and the Young RWCMD Drama programme on Sundays for children in school years three to 12 and older. It plans to cut these in the face of "serious financial pressures."

The college said it recognised the concerns the proposals would cause but was conscious of the need to make "difficult decisions." A spokesperson also said the college was "fully committed" to providing opportunities in music and theatre for young people. Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news.

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Erica Eirian, the inaugural leader of RWCMD Young Actors Studio who ran the programme for five years, told WalesOnline: "I am so sad and very disappointed in RWCMD to read of plans to axe Young RWCMD this coming September. YAS Acting Courses provide young people from a wide range of social, economic and cultural backgrounds who wish to train for the acting profession with a unique opportunity to experience a taste of conservatoire-based training in a conservatoire. Alongside the YAS Acting Course, YAS Theatre Workshop provides young people, who don’t necessarily want to train for the profession, with an opportunity to explore and develop their creativity.

"Both YAS Acting Courses and YAS Theatre Workshop place a strong emphasis on the personal as well as the creative development of the student, are process rather than performance led and delivered by a team off tutors drawn from the profession – actors, directors, writers, choreographers, voice specialists, singers - eager and committed to sharing their passion for their craft, their skills and experience. I think it is very shortsighted for a National Conservatoire to axe such a valuable provision."

In a full statement, a Royal Welsh College spokesperson said: "The Royal Welsh College is currently undergoing a consultation around proposals to stop some of our present activity with Young RWCMD. Alongside the entire UK High Education Sector, the College is facing significant financial challenges.

"Young Acting and Young Music activity is important to us, and the Senior Management Team and the Board greatly value the dedication and commitment of the staff who deliver this work. We recognise the concerns that these proposals will cause the staff, students and parents involved. At the same time, we are very conscious of the need to make some difficult decisions to ensure that the College is ready to meet the challenges of the coming years.

"Our Young Acting and Young Music work needs a considerable subsidy from the College as we receive no direct funding for pre-College education from the Higher Education Funding Council Wales, (now Commission for Tertiary Education and Research) or the Welsh Government. Continuing to subsidise Young RWCMD in this way isn’t sustainable given the serious financial pressures on us. Furthermore, as the National Conservatoire of Wales, and in line with our wider strategy, we recognise that we have a responsibility to offer vibrant experiences into professional training that reach young people from diverse backgrounds, not just from the Cardiff area but throughout Wales, and to embrace the Welsh language.

"The current model of weekly, term-time activity limits our ability to do this. These proposals potentially affect five members of our core salaried staff as well as 112 staff working variable hours who dedicate their time to teaching our students over the weekend during term time. Of these, 52 also teach on our degree courses which are not affected by these proposals. We currently have 182 Young Music (Junior Conservatoire) and 158 Young Acting (Richard Burton Youth Company, Young Actors) students studying with us.

"We are determined not only to sustain the National Conservatoire for Wales, but to ensure that it thrives and meets the changing needs of students in the future. Like many higher education providers and arts organisations, this means rethinking aspects of how we deliver our training while continuing to make the highest impact and contribution possible to the performing arts, to musicians and theatre makers, and to Wales.

"We remain fully committed to providing opportunities in music and theatre for young people and to creating pathways into professional training. In the first instance, we will continue to deliver project work, including a series of weekend immersive music workshops, the National Open Youth Orchestra residency at RWCMD, and our holiday courses in production arts. Alongside these, we will consider how best to develop a new and sustainable future model, collaborating with other arts organisations, and building on the ongoing partnership work for example, through the National Music Service." For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter

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Chris Harris is a writer and theatre maker from Cwmbran. He joined the Young Actor's Studio for two years and his career has since included work with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, BBC Radio Cymru, S4C, Theatr Bara Caws, Sherman Theatre, National Theatre Wales and more.

He said: "I joined the Young Actor's Studio in 2008 in its inaugural, pilot year. Some of the most gratifying and life-changing years I have experienced were spent in that building and institution; learning from the most experienced of Welsh practitioners, as well as fellow peers, almost all of whom have gone on to long and successful careers in the arts. My trajectory turned out slightly different in that I turned my interests into writing for stage, screen and radio. But many of the foundations that make up my understanding of what makes up the performative experience is indebted to my early training at YAS.

"To witness the possibility of its conclusion fills me with great concern knowing that, amidst the devastating collapse of many other arts institutions across the UK as a result of constant cuts to arts funding, a central gateway for young actors looking for further professional training at many of the prestigious drama schools across the UK will be gone. YAS is a rare and precious stepping stone."

The news comes at a concerning time for arts in Wales, less than a week after celebrities including Katherine Jenkins, Michael Sheen, Rob Brydon and Bryn Terfel signed a letter calling for emergency funding to protect the future of the Welsh National Opera which recently saw its English funding cut by £2.2m and its Welsh funding cut by £500,000.

Some 175 actors, musicians, singers, sportspeople and others signed the letter to say the cuts would result in the loss of vital skills and "severely dilute the quality and output of Wales’s flagship arts organisation." You can read more about that here.