Dartington College of Arts
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Dartington College of Arts |
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| Established | 1961 |
| Principal | Andrew Brewerton |
| Academic Registrar | Jon Owen |
| Staff | 30 |
| Undergraduates | 500 |
| Postgraduates | 60 |
| Doctoral students | 50 |
| Location | Totnes, Devon, England |
| Campus | Rural |
| Website | http://www.dartington.ac.uk/ |
Dartington College of Arts is a college near Totnes, Devon, South West England, specialising in Post-dramatic Theatre, Music, Performance Writing and Visual Performance, focusing on a performative and multi-disciplinary approach to the arts. In addition to this, lecturing staff are all in some way active arts practitioners. The college aims to promote a critical self awareness in contemporary arts practice, and as such is firmly entrenched in Post-modernism.
The College was founded in 1961 having evolved as part of the original Dartington experiment in rural regeneration. It is now funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Academic degrees are validated in partnership with the University of Plymouth. The College is currently (as of 2006) under a process of Academic Review by which it is hoped it will be accredited the ability to validate its degrees independently. The college is currently (as of November 2006) considering relocating from Dartington to Falmouth, Cornwall due to a lack of available accommodation, both living and academic on the Dartington Hall Estate. This has led to wide spread condemnation, both in the local community and also in the international arts world. As of December 2006 there is still no clear comment from Dartington Hall Trust on what the facilities would be used for, if the college moved.
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[edit] Campus
The college is rural and is divided into four campuses, Higher Close, Lower Close, Aller Park and Foxhole. Higher Close is home to the student bar, the Rat and Emu (commonly shortened to 'the Rat'). Many students find the community life enriching their art, and stong identities develop from the indivdual halls of residences. Accommodation at Higher Close constitues Henning, Perry and Albermale and the old Dartington Hall School at Foxhole is subdivided into the Red, Blue, Yellow, Green and White Houses.
[edit] Academics
All BA students embark on a Contextual Enquiry Project in their third year of study. The project is investigative, and requires the student to examine his or her work in a broader social context. This practice is an example of the College's roots in Dartington School and the Alternative education movement which developed from the ideas of Rudolf Steiner from the early twentieth century onwards.
[edit] Student life
The opportunity to interact with like-minded individuals from their respective artistic fields leads almost inevitably to collaboration and firm friendships that project far into the students' futures. Dartington's rural context is a perfect place to explore new concepts and ideas involving the arts far from the maddening, illusory and constrictive effects cities can have. It is both safe and sound, and while lacking in entertainment around the college, students find their own way of entertainment by putting on shows and festivals themselves. Dartington is unique in that it embraces and promotes nearly every conceivable expression of self, whether through music, dance, literature, art or theatre with annual student showcases under the banner of Concourse self-organised showing the work to the community (covering student, staff, residents of the Dartington Hall Estate and the residents of Totnes
[edit] Uncertain Future
In 2006, the Dartington Hall Trust stated that it did not consider there to be a future for the college on the Dartington Hall Estate. There is wide opposition to this amongst the students, staff and people of Totnes, many of whom suspect that the Trust may have an ulterior motive.[citation needed] The college is looking at the possibility of a move to Falmouth, Torbay or Plymouth. There has been much debate in the community, with part-time music lecturer Sam Richards first being suspended and then summarily dismissed for insubordination over a piece of satire written about the current situation. On Friday, 2nd March the Dartington College of Arts Governors voted to merge with University College Falmouth, in the face of a mass civil disobedience and non-violent protest from a large number of the student body. This decision still needs to be approved by HEFCE and the RDA.
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