£1.4m dramatic funding boost fails to appease all the critics

Published on Monday 1 December 2008 21:38

AN ADDITIONAL £1.4 million boost for drama education has been announced by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

The move follows anger from celebrities, including the actor James McAvoy, this year over cuts to acting courses.

The SFC said the money would help to fund a network of drama education across Scotland. But critics said the funding would benefit only the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), based in Glasgow.

Professor Anthony Cohen, the principal of Queen Margaret University (QMU), said greater investment in drama was welcome. But he added: "We greatly regret that the SFC has yet again failed to redress the anomalous position in which Scotland, alone of the UK's funding jurisdictions, does not fund conservatoire drama.

"Moreover, it remains entirely unclear to us how the SFC expects collaborative provision to work among four partners when they appear to be providing funding for only one of them."

Last year, QMU announced it was forced to cut its conservatoire – intensive acting training – to cut costs.

RSAMD will receive the addition 1.4 million next year, which must also fund the position of director of the new Scottish Stage and Screen Network.

RSAMD's total funding for teaching and research last year was 7,167,059.

The SFC said funding for the other institutions would be considered as the network develops. The aim of the network will be to link courses at RSAMD with those at QMU, Napier and Edinburgh College of Art's Screen and Media Academy.