The Stage

Tennant and McAvoy sign up for Royal Scottish Academy campaign

Published Wednesday 28 May 2008 at 12:50 by Lalayn Baluch

David Tennant, James McAvoy and Tamzin Outhwaite are among more than 60 artists who have signed a letter urging the Scottish government to urgently plug a £600,000 funding gap for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Alan Cumming, Billy Boyd and Bill Paterson are also among those to have put their name to the document. They warn that without the cash the school will be unable to provide high-quality music and drama training, which will “severely damage” the country’s cultural reputation.

They wrote: “We are appealing to the Scottish government to take action to address the immediate £600,000 gap and to work with the Scottish Funding Council to assess the long-term needs of the RSAMD.

“Without this money, we fear that the RSAMD will lose the core of a world-class staff and ruin a teaching environment unique among conservatoires globally. In addition to the damage that will be done to the music school, in the longer term, the RSAMD could have no choice but to water down the drama school or close it all together.”

In January, it was revealed that 20 lecturers at the academy were expected to be laid off, after all staff were asked to consider voluntary redundancy in a “reshape” of the school designed to save £600,000 annually. It was reported that the situation had been caused by long-term under-funding of teaching at RSAMD by the Scottish Funding Council, particularly the drama department.