I welcome the opportunity to address this committee on the future of musical theatre education in Ireland. As director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, RIAM, I run a national performing arts school which trains musicians who aspire to performing careers in classical music, musical theatre and popular music or as teachers, academics, journalists, broadcasters and more. I am joined today by RIAM alumnus and musical theatre director, Séimí Campbell.
I would like to give my perspective on the current status and future possibilities of musical theatre education in Ireland by outlining RIAM’s current offer and drawing on selected international comparisons. I will address the context for employment of musical theatre graduates in Ireland. I will also make recommendations to the committee on a possible way forward to support the musical theatre education.
I define musical theatre education as the training of singers, instrumentalists, directors, musical directors and composers for the professional world, for instance, a commercial West End show.
Examples of Irish successes in this field include RIAM alumnus and London-based director, Séimí Campbell, Olivier and Oscar-winning performer, Jessie Buckley, and musical theatre composer, orchestrator and musical director, Cian McCarthy. While it is wonderful to see Irish talent such as this on the international stage, the musical theatre scene in Ireland at professional level is dominated by the West End shows which are bought in by venues such as the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre using casts recruited in the UK. While there is a burgeoning Irish musical theatre scene in less commercial arenas, which I can speak about in more detail, predominantly we are looking at musical theatre education in Ireland as training our artists for export, while indigenous commercial shows are not financially viable against this strong competition.
Notwithstanding the limited scope for employment in Ireland as a full-time musical theatre professional, in my experience, the market for musical theatre education is strong. Both the RIAM and Lir Academy, our fellow associate college of Trinity College Dublin, annually receive applications from many young people whose dream is to have a career in musical theatre. Our main constraint in taking them in is in the most part due to number caps. Each institution currently can only take in six singers or 16 actors each per year at undergraduate level. Another constraint is the current predominant focus of our courses on classical music and theatre. We hope to expand this intake and build on our current musical theatre offer, which I will outline next.
In explaining RIAM’s current offer and future vision for musical theatre education, I will describe it at three levels: pre-college; undergraduate; and postgraduate. For pre-college, over the past four years RIAM alumnus and dynamic musical theatre director, Séimí Campbell, has partnered with RIAM to create Irish Youth Musical Theatre, an organisation which develops master classes for school- and college-age performers with West End, mostly Irish, professionals and which culminated in July of this year in a semi-staged performance of "Evita" in the National Concert Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra. The Irish Youth Musical Theatre master classes and annual youth productions are invaluable for young people who wish to decide on their future, similar to work experience for transition year students.
For our undergraduate education offer, RIAM's bachelor in music vocal and instrumental students, although they are primarily classically trained, have modules available in musical theatre performance, including voice training improvisation, jazz and popular styles. The uptake on these specialist modules is increasing and we are in the early stages of discussion with the Lir Academy to pool resources and offer more in this area.
At postgraduate level, we have no current offer and I am not aware of any postgraduate offer in Ireland. Our inspiration for the further development of musical theatre at this level is the Royal Academy of Music, RAM, in London and its master of arts in musical theatre programme. Like ourselves, the RAM started out in classical music education but has established one of the most successful musical theatre departments in the UK. Catering only at masters level, the students perform as a company and put on a series of staged productions in one intensive year around which a team of experts give the training. It is our dream in the academy in Dublin to create a masters programme of this level and standing.
One key strength for the RIAM in achieving this goal is the opening of our new campus next month. This spectacular performing arts hub was made possible with significant funding jointly given by the Departments of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. This was matched by some of Ireland and the USA’s most respected philanthropists. With thanks to that €25 million support, we now have the right standard of infrastructure in place to develop new streams of education, such as a postgraduate degree musical theatre, and we are excited about our future.
I have one recommendation to put forward to the committee. RIAM is not the only institution in Ireland with ambitions in developing musical theatre education. If the committee wishes support a case to Government that Irish-based musical theatre education should be adequately resourced, I suggest that it further recommend that additional and targeted Government funds are tendered for competitively by any interested and eligible third level college.
I have recently served on a specialist panel for the Office for Students in the UK which assessed all eligible UK-based performing arts schools that were seeking additional funding from an overall amount ring-fenced by Government. This competitive process had metrics that were objectively evaluated by industry experts and was therefore fair and transparent. Such a tender could include a business and financial plan, a curriculum outline, a statement of existing resources and infrastructure, the professional standing and industry experience of proposed teaching talent, and the track record of the institutions applying as a predictor of their future success.
Ireland has a world-class reputation for the performing arts and this competitive process would ensure that musical theatre education, which is such an important part of our arts, would be further developed to that high standard. I hope this overview from the RIAM’s perspective has been of help, and welcome the opportunity to provide further information.