Besties, we previously reported on the presumed closure of the MTA Drama School but thankfully the educational establishment has thankfully been able to remain open since time of publishing the below article.

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This week, the industry took another fatal blow with the announcement that leading drama school, The MTA, was being forced to close its doors due to reasons beyond its control.

Since opening in 2009, The MTA has been a force in drama training, maintaining excellent graduate success along the board, been awarded ‘The Stage School of the Year Award’ twice and become the only higher education institute to operate a full school mental health policy that even remains open to students upon their graduation. However, due to changes and cuts to funding provided by the government and the intense fiscal consequences of both the pandemic and Brexit, The MTA is facing no other option but closure if they cannot raise the money, they need to fund this essential institute. 

The MTA are now actively seeking charitable donations to ensure they can maintain providing their consistently high levels of training to the next generation of artists. Below is a statement from the school and its principle and founder Annemarie Lewis Thomas:

“It was with heartbreak that The MTA, a leading drama school in London, came to the conclusion they would have to close. This school that was home for 193 graduates found itself in every school's nightmare. The loss of earnings throughout the last 18 months from the lack of rehearsal hire which usually supports the Hardship Fund, the end of PCDL by the government, Brexit (20% of our students on average came from the EU, yet as a vocational college we were denied the right to sponsor an overseas student), the pandemic... These are some of the reasons that forced our beloved college to close... For the past few months we’ve been attempting to raise the potential deficit via charitable donations, unfortunately, just as every time we’ve asked in the past, our applications were unsuccessful. To be clear there is not a lack of demand to train with us, there’s a lack of funding to facilitate it. BUT, we're not going down without a fight! We are asking you for all the help you can give to save our school! Why should you help us? Here are a few reasons: 

• The Musical Theatre Academy Ltd: Established in 2009, we have twice been awarded The Stage School of the Year Award for our innovative approach in drama training, and our pioneering pastoral care.

• We are the only HE college to operate a whole school policy when it comes to Mental Health. We initiated an industry wide Mental Health campaign in 2016.

• To date 100% of our students have graduated having secured independent agent representation. 74% of our graduates are still in the industry.

• We are the only MT college to do a 50/50 stage/screen split.

• Our graduates have gone on to work on the West End, from China to America, Off-Broadway to fringe theatres in London, from short films to feature films.

• We are the first drama school to have introduced a dedicated performance for every panto and musical with a BSL interpreter.

• We are the only school to have a college for life policy, meaning our graduates have access to 24/7 pastoral care with a mental health clinician, can return for audition prep, classes, use the studios for rehearsals and much more.

The myth of performers needing a degree in order to work in the industry all because the colleges were chasing a funding stream, has led to the now accepted norm of essentially being trained with a ‘fall-back’ in mind, the lack of any government funding for those colleges like us, that dared to work outside of the degree model. For refusing to spend our students’ fees on joining pointless bureaucratic ‘clubs’ which would then potentially open the magic pot of funding. We ask YOU, to help us save our college and allow us to continue our studies in the place we've learned to call home. Please donate and share as much as you can.”

The school have launched a gofundme page in order to collect donations to keep the institute going. 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-the-mta

Besties, we know it’s been a tough year but if you can spare any money to aid this amazing institute keep its doors open and train the next generation of Olivier award winners, or even just raise awareness with the hashtag #savethemta, it would be greatly appreciated.