We stand in solidarity with those at the University of Roehampton who are facing cuts in the Drama, Theatre & Performance, and Dance departments.
Sixty per cent of Roehampton’s performing arts students are Black or from other minoritised ethnic backgrounds. Cutting these programmes that have been so successful in supporting Black British and other under-represented students is especially misjudged, at a time when HE institutions should be urgently decolonising and diversifying their spaces. We condemn the Vice Chancellor’s decision to cut funding in the very departments which support historically under-represented artists and cultural producers, and provide space for them to excel.
As TaPRA and others have suggested, these cuts are also ideological in nature, in line with the UK government’s short-sighted bias against the arts and humanities and its instrumentalisation of HE to these ends.
Please consider signing the petition to oppose the proposed £3.2 million cuts.
Read Dr Kélina Gotman’s letter in response to the proposed cuts here.
Read about the Vision for Roehampton here.