Drama and dance schools across the UK may be forced to rethink their audition fees, if a recent call by Equity to do so is anything to go by. The union has stated that audition fees should be capped in order to widen access to schools and improve accessibility to training. It is a notion that has been a hot topic for many organisations and industry professionals, as for many this training is only available to those who can afford it.
A motion passed at Equity’s Annual Representative Conference claimed that the acting profession should be “more representative of the population as a whole”, and the organisation has agreed to carry out an audit of the charges requested for auditions by drama schools across the UK. These fees can be as much as £85, before travel and possible accommodation costs in order to attend the audition. The union is aiming to campaign to encourage drama schools to adhere to a UK-wide cap on audition fees.
The cap would go a long way in improving the diversity of drama schools’ intake, as well as avoiding the fact that currently, it is usually only the well-off who can afford to choose which schools they want to attend for training. For some institutions, over 3,000 audition per year; many state that the audition fee covers the administrative and operations of the audition process, as well as paying the audition panel, however some students have short contact time and little to no feedback on their audition.
For some schools, auditions last all day; some have fee waiver schemes and support some students with travel bursaries also. Others try to encourage applications from talented students from lower income backgrounds, including launching a scheme to waive the fees for target schools, welcoming the transparency this move will bring.