Theatre / bristol old vic theatre school
Denyer urges government to support theatre school
Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer has urged the government to support Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS).
The school, founded by Sir Lawrence Oliver in 1945, announced in January that it would be scrapping its undergraduate courses, citing that it was now “financially unsustainable”.
In a letter addressed to Baroness Smith, the minister for skills, the Green MP described the school as a “hugely valuable asset to the arts sector, delivering high quality training in acting, directing, set and costume design and more.”
is needed now More than ever
Challenges began when BOVTS – among six other member schools – departed the Conservatoire of Dance & Drama (CDD) in 2022 which formerly enabled the schools to become higher education providers.
The schools all faced the loss of the then institution specific targeted allocation (ISTA) funding. BOVTS faced a £800,000 per year financial gap.
Due to their affiliated partnership with University of the West of England (UWE), they were unable to apply for the specialist funding which was distributed by the regulatory body Office for Students to replace ISTA.
Five of those schools were unsuccessful in securing that funding, but four received transitional funding to support their grant income loss.
In her letter, the Denyer called out how BOVTS has gone without any support despite being in the same position.
Signing off her impassioned plea she said: “Please will you take urgent action to support BOVTS and ensure we can continue to have a thriving, world-class arts education system?
“Will you please consider awarding BOVTS an historical transition fund to acknowledge the loss of ISTA funding, in line with their peer ex-CDD institutions?”
Main photo: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
