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:
***************************
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.
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.
Negotiations continue...
Thu, 7 July 2005, 05:01 pmWalter Plinge
Hello all!
Just a quick update to let you know our current position in regards to the possible closure of Hayman.
Firstly, we have been somewhat bolstered by the return form leave of one of our senior lecturers, Donald Pulford. I understand he's been making suitable amounts of noise about the issue, and it's great to have all of our senior staff involved in presenting a united front to the University.
Negotiations are continuing, with no definitive news as of yet. However, it appears as though one of the continuing points of conversation is the support Hayman has been receiving from the wider community - current staff, previous staff, current students, previous students, industry professionals, school teachers, crazy people - all inundating the Vc's office with letters, emails, faxes and phone calls. It is this support that is instrumental in demonstrating Hayman's influence on the wider arts community, and the number of responses that have been received are simply too high in volume to ignore. Thank you to everyone for this support - not only is it making a significant impact, it is reminding me what I love about the arts community, and I really appreciate it.
That being said, it is still very possible that the debate could go either way. The issue with a long negotiation period is that the deadline for the TISC guide is only a few short weeks away. If talks continue as they have, it is unlikely that the University will be able to make the decision to pull the plug in time, which would save us for one more year at least. However, if they do reach such a decision, it will leave us with very little time to reverse the outcome, so it's cort of a catch 22 in that respect. From what I hear, current discussions have been quite productive, but as it stands, any overtly political or aggressive move could jeapordise a decision in our favor. There was an front page article in the Canning Community newspaper today, but I think the current level of media exposure is again about right.
What we do need to do, though, is keep the pressure on the University. More letters. More emails. More phone calls. From more people. If you haven't sent an email yet, please do so asap - the appropriate email addresses were posted by Talei a little while ago. Let's keep the University board aware of the ramifications that closing Hayman would have for the wider community, and really, every little bit counts.
Thank you for your ongoing support. I'll post again the second I hear anything!
Cheers,
Dylan.
Just a quick update to let you know our current position in regards to the possible closure of Hayman.
Firstly, we have been somewhat bolstered by the return form leave of one of our senior lecturers, Donald Pulford. I understand he's been making suitable amounts of noise about the issue, and it's great to have all of our senior staff involved in presenting a united front to the University.
Negotiations are continuing, with no definitive news as of yet. However, it appears as though one of the continuing points of conversation is the support Hayman has been receiving from the wider community - current staff, previous staff, current students, previous students, industry professionals, school teachers, crazy people - all inundating the Vc's office with letters, emails, faxes and phone calls. It is this support that is instrumental in demonstrating Hayman's influence on the wider arts community, and the number of responses that have been received are simply too high in volume to ignore. Thank you to everyone for this support - not only is it making a significant impact, it is reminding me what I love about the arts community, and I really appreciate it.
That being said, it is still very possible that the debate could go either way. The issue with a long negotiation period is that the deadline for the TISC guide is only a few short weeks away. If talks continue as they have, it is unlikely that the University will be able to make the decision to pull the plug in time, which would save us for one more year at least. However, if they do reach such a decision, it will leave us with very little time to reverse the outcome, so it's cort of a catch 22 in that respect. From what I hear, current discussions have been quite productive, but as it stands, any overtly political or aggressive move could jeapordise a decision in our favor. There was an front page article in the Canning Community newspaper today, but I think the current level of media exposure is again about right.
What we do need to do, though, is keep the pressure on the University. More letters. More emails. More phone calls. From more people. If you haven't sent an email yet, please do so asap - the appropriate email addresses were posted by Talei a little while ago. Let's keep the University board aware of the ramifications that closing Hayman would have for the wider community, and really, every little bit counts.
Thank you for your ongoing support. I'll post again the second I hear anything!
Cheers,
Dylan.
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···
- ···