The Demise of Hayman Theatre at Curtin Uni
Wed, 22 June 2005, 12:17 pmCrispian42 posts in thread
The Demise of Hayman Theatre at Curtin Uni
Wed, 22 June 2005, 12:17 pmHi Peoples,
With the recent announcement that Curtin Uni will be cutting the number of courses it will run by over 300, it seems the Hayman Theatre is about to be a casualty.
The following was posted by Tony Nicholls on an online forum run by Hayman students:
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IÂ’m sorry to say that this course is now under serious threat of closure.
Curtin recently changed the way funding is distributed to the various Divisions. Teaching areas are now expected to pay for the space they use. In most cases this makes little difference but the Hayman Theatre is a large space to which we have exclusive access. The annual ‘rent’ has been calculated by the university as about $200,000 per year.
The Division of Humanities and our Faculty of MSC are both considerably in deficit already. Closing the Hayman, as you can see, is from that point, an attractive and some would say, necessary choice.
My view is that without a theatre there can be no worthwhile theatre course.
We shall obviously be making every effort to find an alternative solution but as high school students will very soon be making their applications to university courses a final decision must be made within a very few weeks about the continuance of Performance Studies.
The Guild has been informed of the situation.
I believe the university has an obligation to allow students currently enrolled to complete their course.
There is considerable goodwill towards PS within the Division for many reasons not least of which is the contribution theatre students have made to the cultural life of the campus. However we now appear to have moved to a rather less than brave new world in which our leaders cannot distinguish between value and price.
TONY NICHOLLS
22/6/05
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Would love to hear the thoughts of any ex-Haymanites out there or from any patrons who have come to a Hayman performance, on the demise of this course.
Perth's theatrical and cultural landscape will suffer as a result of the closure of this course. Hayman Theatre has been a testing ground for new writers, directors, performers and tehcnical crews who have gone on to successful careers in the local, national and international theatre industry.
Without the Hayman Theatre, the ladder to a professional career in theatre arts has just become longer.
Crispy.
With the recent announcement that Curtin Uni will be cutting the number of courses it will run by over 300, it seems the Hayman Theatre is about to be a casualty.
The following was posted by Tony Nicholls on an online forum run by Hayman students:
***************************
IÂ’m sorry to say that this course is now under serious threat of closure.
Curtin recently changed the way funding is distributed to the various Divisions. Teaching areas are now expected to pay for the space they use. In most cases this makes little difference but the Hayman Theatre is a large space to which we have exclusive access. The annual ‘rent’ has been calculated by the university as about $200,000 per year.
The Division of Humanities and our Faculty of MSC are both considerably in deficit already. Closing the Hayman, as you can see, is from that point, an attractive and some would say, necessary choice.
My view is that without a theatre there can be no worthwhile theatre course.
We shall obviously be making every effort to find an alternative solution but as high school students will very soon be making their applications to university courses a final decision must be made within a very few weeks about the continuance of Performance Studies.
The Guild has been informed of the situation.
I believe the university has an obligation to allow students currently enrolled to complete their course.
There is considerable goodwill towards PS within the Division for many reasons not least of which is the contribution theatre students have made to the cultural life of the campus. However we now appear to have moved to a rather less than brave new world in which our leaders cannot distinguish between value and price.
TONY NICHOLLS
22/6/05
*********************************************
Would love to hear the thoughts of any ex-Haymanites out there or from any patrons who have come to a Hayman performance, on the demise of this course.
Perth's theatrical and cultural landscape will suffer as a result of the closure of this course. Hayman Theatre has been a testing ground for new writers, directors, performers and tehcnical crews who have gone on to successful careers in the local, national and international theatre industry.
Without the Hayman Theatre, the ladder to a professional career in theatre arts has just become longer.
Crispy.
Re: The Demise of Hayman Theatre at Curtin Uni
Thu, 23 June 2005, 10:42 amOh come on ..politically the arts are perceived as having no practical value at all to the hard nosed hard headed politicians who control our destiny...bY OUR CHOICE...because of the well publicised excesses of a few grant supported "out there" artists we are held in general contempt by the public. There is no groundswell of support for students or practitioners of any dramatic art unless you have and are appearing in a mainstream media form.
Our universities are all being, like the Tafes , transformed into Cert 3 or graduate factories, based on a profit motive and a fear motive for the lecturers. Dont be thought HOW to think, rather be taught what to "do" or suffer the consequences of lack of greed and "drive".
The Hayman theatre is a casualty of that. We are in Perth, an unimportant mining centre abutting the powerhouses of Melbourne and Sydney. That is where the war for graduate dramatic excellence is being waged. My 15 year old son now lives in Sydney attending a State school of excellence and specialising in Drama, only because he was warned of the demise of Perth as a dramatic training centre. The numbers are theirs. The studios are theirs the great opportunities are theirs. I wont go there as I loathe the "yuppie" State as much as the "Greedy" State, so we commute.
Any number cruncher will quickly tell you what we do here is expensive, uneconomic and doomed under a rationalist tyranny.
I think it is absurd and as distateful as you and I will join any protest at the closure of the theatre or the DA courses...doomed I am sure but I will fight for it.
Vive la protestation!
Thou fobbing plume-plucked hugger-mugger!
Our universities are all being, like the Tafes , transformed into Cert 3 or graduate factories, based on a profit motive and a fear motive for the lecturers. Dont be thought HOW to think, rather be taught what to "do" or suffer the consequences of lack of greed and "drive".
The Hayman theatre is a casualty of that. We are in Perth, an unimportant mining centre abutting the powerhouses of Melbourne and Sydney. That is where the war for graduate dramatic excellence is being waged. My 15 year old son now lives in Sydney attending a State school of excellence and specialising in Drama, only because he was warned of the demise of Perth as a dramatic training centre. The numbers are theirs. The studios are theirs the great opportunities are theirs. I wont go there as I loathe the "yuppie" State as much as the "Greedy" State, so we commute.
Any number cruncher will quickly tell you what we do here is expensive, uneconomic and doomed under a rationalist tyranny.
I think it is absurd and as distateful as you and I will join any protest at the closure of the theatre or the DA courses...doomed I am sure but I will fight for it.
Vive la protestation!
Thou fobbing plume-plucked hugger-mugger!
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