We are continuing to support members affected by this consultation. Image credit: Shutterstock.
Staff working at Young RWCMD, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s junior department, have started a Senedd petition calling for the protection of the Young Acting and Young Music programmes.
The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) is consulting on proposals to cease its weekly Young RWCMD sessions from the end of this academic year, with over 100 staff included in the consultation.
Over 7,000 people have signed the petition calling for Young RWCMD to be protected, and at 10,000 signatures it will be considered for a debate in the Senedd.
More time must be spent exploring and discussing alternatives
The MU is also calling for the protection of the Young RWCMD programme. We are devastated by these proposals and are now engaging with RWCMD and supporting members who are affected, after the College took the disappointing and frustrating decision to exclude us from the initial consultation meetings.
The proposals are terrible news for the young people and musicians affected, who will lose important tuition and work. While we understand the difficulties that organisations like RWCMD face, more time must be spent exploring and discussing alternatives.
If this closure goes ahead then RWCMD will be the only conservatoire in Britain without a junior department, with no other equivalent provision in Wales at a time when progress is being made on rebuilding music education through the National Music Service Wales.
We are also concerned about the effect of this closure combined with other issues, such as the cuts at Welsh National Opera and the closure of St David’s Hall, on our members’ work and careers and the broader health of music in Wales.
We are continuing to support members affected
We are continuing to support members affected by this consultation and explore alternatives to closure.
Any members or other staff affected, who haven’t already contacted us, should get in touch with the Wales and South West England regional office urgently via wswe@themu.org.