Regional Roadshows 2007 - Report
In February the College sent out workshops to three regional centres, hosted by major FE Colleges in major conurbations. The three Colleges were selected on the basis of a) distance from the College being deemed far enough to create travel difficulties b) there was some evidence of feeding RB with candidates. Initially six areas were selected, and it was hoped that neighbouring regional theatres would participate. In the event, this proved too difficult to manage, though Norwich Theatre Royal, Nottingham Playhouse and Poole Lighthouse all expressed a strong interest.
The basic format for performers was warm-up followed by exercises to put relaxation into audition pieces, and work on general presentation. For technical students there was a warmup exercise in creative process applied to design, followed by a Powerpoint presentation and work on developing self-profile. The groups then joined for a viewing of the newly commissioned film, followed by a broad question and answer session.
All colleges involved both first and second year students. (Yr 12 and yr 13 equivalent). One College tried to involve neighbouring schools, who appeared to be over-extended.
Bournemouth & Poole College 20th February 2007
Performing Arts at BPC is on a small campus about a mile from Poole centre, based on the Jellicoe Theatre, a large and atmospheric variable space. It runs two successful ND courses, in Performance and Technical, as part of a portfolio which includes HE provision. Its catchment area is primarily Dorset including the Bournemouth and Poole conurbation and other smaller urban areas such as Portland and Weymouth as well as a rural hinterland.
Roadshow tutors: Julian Bryant, Gareth Jones
Ambassador: Stephanie Dulieu
BPC Tutors: Jo Bardsley (acting) Sarah-Jane Ash (tec/design)
This was the first try-out for the project, and generally was felt to have gone well. Tec’s needed a more advanced presentation. Grotowski exercises for the perfs went down a storm. Morning session too long (3 ½ hours)
Student comments:
• Bring productions
• Sound muffled on video
• Powerpoint too long
• Prospects after college
• Warm ups too long
• Found out a lot about being a student from the film
• Everything useful
• Emotions and holding moments very beneficial
• Helped with decision on drama school and university
• All questions were answered
• Feedback on individual speeches
• Audition style/technique at some point
• I’d like a visit to the College
• Video too dark
Questions from students:
• How much does it cost, is there help in the form of scholarships and bursaries?
• Where do students live?
• Is it difficult studying far from home? Will I miss my friends?
• How many shows does the College do?
• What kinds of jobs do students get when they leave?
• Is there access to current equipment, and does it give a realistic picture of the industry? (both ways?)
• Does the College help students to demonstrate the quality of their work?
• Does it cost extra to go to America on ATA?
• Why doesn’t RB run a musical theatre course?
Lighthouse (Poole Arts Centre)
Interested in being regional audition centre
Studio theatre relatively underused – commercial rate for bare hire £150 per 4 hr session. Space 8m x 4m deep (8m without bleachers); dressing room for tec/des interviews
Now understand the WP angle, and interested in Graeae tie-in
New College Nottingham (Clarendon) 22nd/23rd February
NCN is a large consortium of Colleges in the City of Nottingham: Clarendon campus has a long tradition of supplying the College with strongly motivated and well-informed students. It has a good range of spaces, including a god design/technical block, and is based on an arts centre which includes the Robert Lindsey Theatre. The College again offers technical theatre and HE courses. Attendance was voluntary, as a way of managing numbers. The second day was designed for the College’s partner schools
Tutors: Julian Bryant, Colin Ellwood
Ambassador: Richard Porter, Jodie Wilson-Smith (both ex ncn)
Host tutors: Lisa Jones (technical) Penny Hargreaves (HoD)
NCN students were recruited on a voluntary basis during half term, so these wre a self-selecting group. For many students the issue here was “People like me” – they were surprised that drama school staff and students were “not posh”. They wanted more contact – a trip to RBC, or a visit from a College show/workshops, and felt he sessions were too short. 75% said they would be more likely to go into HE as a result of the event, while 92% were more likely to go into creative industries. (the rest were unchanged). The event with Partner Schools was undersubscribed: with more forward planning this may go better, but we must be clear of our objectives. While FE colleges match reasonably well the criteria for WP, I’m less confident of the control with partner organisations.
Student questions
Matched well with Bournemouth, covering the same field. The impact on individuals was significant: we were able to give supportive guidance to a number of students about their own choices, including whether to defer or not; and were able to determine that a student who had been rejected from TD in fact was a promising candidate for SA.
The individual guidance factor points up the need for RBC to develop a course guidance toolkit . The comment from a tutor was that our portfolio is much less rigid than it appears on paper: in fact we are more student centred though we give the impression of being outcome and activity focussed.
Student comments
• Shorter video, more workshops
• Keep coming and sending info
• Summer school at Drama school to see what sessions are like
• Jungle exercise made me focussed
• A whole day as it was really helpful.
• More time so we could perform our monologues
• Workshop and performance from RB Students
• Particularly enjoyed One Minute Theatre
Future projects
Penny Hargreaves was keen to continue the project, and for NCN to act as a regional audition centre for first round. Saturdays were perhaps the best day for auditions, though half term week works quite well. She was keen to act as a regional node and contact feeder schools.
We also discussed progression agreements and compacts, which might for the basis of future agreements, and the possibilities of linkage on HND/FdA programmes.
Our main contact, Lisa Jones, was really pleased with the outcome, and was interested in knowledge sharing between HE and FE also. She is keen to continue the project. Colin meantime was discussing with Dan Jones, the prospect of work sharing and exchange of small shows, which he suggested might be eligible for Aim Higher funding from the College.
City College Norwich 23rd February 2007
City College Norwich is a large organisation, with Performing arts as an expanding part of its portfolio. While they do not offer technical theatre as a separate course as yet, they have just launched an FdA in performing arts (validated by UEA), and have an active staff team who are engaged in a number of initiatives including young apprentices and NT Connections. They have plans to build new performance spaces in the near future. Attendance was part of college day; we were there during an Ofsted inspection, which understandably had some impact on the institution.
Norfolk is an area with one of the lowest HE participation rates in the UK. The College is keen to develop the relationship for all the usual WP reasons.
Tutors: Julian Bryant, Gareth Jones
Ambassador: Richard Hill
Host Tutor: Warren Cathrine
Student questions
• I have a syndrome. What kind of support would I get?
• I’ve got a small child. Will it be possible for me to study?
• How much would it cost? Can I afford it without a scholarship?
• I’m interested in acting and writing, so which is the most suitable course for me?
• Which is the broadest course, since I’m interested in a wide variety of things?
• Where would I live and how much does accommodation cost?
• Would I need my own transport?
• Why study in London rather than (say) Edinburgh or Leeds?
Student comments
• Add dance
• I thought there would be more movement
• Very useful and fun
• Useful knowing how to perform my monologue in different ways
• Better than expectations
• I thought it would be a lot more formal – glad it wasn’t!
• Perform a short scene to show us what you do at the College, before getting us to do stuff. Enjoyed it all very useful.
• Cost of beer in the SU bar
• Video movement hurt my eyes
• Scriptwriting, acting, performing on the road and music making
• It was nice to meet people in the position I aspire to be in
• I’d like to be put in an audition situation to learn what they look for
• Summer schools or short courses
• A bit more physical, moved around a bit more
Conclusions
Design of project - Needs information on broader career structures, especially for performing students. This emerged at Norwich, on a general course, where some students seemed relieved that there were other options.
Regional centre – works for auditions; some call for training but I suspect only from those sectors who are advantaged already. Asking colleagues to organise local schools on our behalf is cheeky, and should have been compensated. The partner establishments don’t have the same ownership as the College.
Industry links - proved difficult to build these into the structure of the visit, despite willingness on the part of theatres. For this occasion it proved to be a layer too far.
Student response – overall very positive, but with about 20% not engaging
College image, and implications for The Project – Some quite strong reactions. Students seemed positive about what we have to offer, and were relieved that we came across as normal people – the ‘people like us’ factor. The video gives a positive image but is too long. Some reaction and confusion as to why students might choose different programmes – our courses appear to be very narrow in their focus, and tutors were surprised to the extent to which we were student centred, overlapping and complementary, and to which we were already using the notion of shared- and peer-learning.
Tutor engagement – proved quite difficult to manage, given the extent to which tutors are already deployed in a heavy period, and already committed to auditions and interviews during half-term period. We should discuss the provision and engagement of an audition tutor, in whom colleagues had confidence and who was sufficiently trained in RBC expectations. Certainly, for the workshops, using younger staff or even students should be seen as a strong positive.
National recruitment roadshows
February 2007
Total Tec yr12 Tec yr13 Perf yr12 Perf yr13 Responses More likely EMA 1st in fam Either Disability Ethnic M
Bournemouth & Poole College am 36 5 5 15 11 23 52% 39% 46% 78% 1 dyslexic 1
pm 19 0 4 15 0
New College Nottingham Thurs 40 11 3 21 6 28 75% 43% 29% 57% 1 dyslexic 3
Fri 7 2 0 5 0
City College Norwich am 24 0 0 24 0 37 62% 35% 38% 62% 1 dyslexic 2
pm 21 0 0 0 21 1 Aspergers I chronic fatigue s
TOTALS 147 18 12 80 38 88 64% 39% 39% 65% 4 6