Friday, 22 February 2008

Dr. Tara McAllister-Viel - The Central School of Speech and Drama

Dear Judie Christie and Richard Gough,

I am shocked and frustrated by the news that the Arts Council of Wales has decided to withdraw revenue funding from CPR with effect from July 2008. Please use this letter, if needed, to demonstrate strong support for CPR and the work you do.

I find CPR, and specifically the bi-annual conference “Giving Voice,” invaluable to me and my students. I attend, along with my postgraduate students on the MA-Voice Studies course, many of the programs and conferences CPR hosts. CPR and “Giving Voice” provide an essential space for arts and education where both practice and research meet, fuelling the praxis and discourse in Voice. If the withdrawal of revenue funding disrupts the consistency of the programs and infrastructure that plans those programs, this will have serious consequences in the field of Voice: researching new areas in Voice, training future Voice teachers, and developing vocal practitioners.

The access to internationally-renown practitioners and trainers and innovative work also influences the way I design and train actors for the 21st century. As a Voice lecturer in a highly competitive London-based acting conservatory, I rely on this Welsh institution to expose me and my students to other ways of thinking and working in theatre. CPR is essential not only to Wales and Welsh arts and education communities, but to the U.K. as a whole.

When an organization like CPR has delivered innovative and quality work for over thirty years, changing the funding at this point simply doesn’t make sense. I would hate to think that Arts Council funding may jeopardize a relationship I value so highly.

Sincerely,
Dr. Tara McAllister-Viel
Voice Lecturer
The Central School of Speech and Drama

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