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| The Planned Destruction of the Dartington Ethos - Sam Richards |
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The “Dartington ethos”, for members of Save Dartington College Campaign and our vast number of supporters, has repeatedly figured in our arguments and discussion about the college. It refers to the college’s special flavour and approach - the reason it is so valued by so many people in the arts. We have argued all along that this ethos is linked to the traditions set in motion by the Elmhirsts, to Dartington's history and iconic location. So it is obviously pertinent to ask: would this ethos survive in Falmouth?
Clearly we in the Campaign believe not, largely because we see the location as a key factor. But what if we took another view, that the ethos could be dissociated from the location. Could the ethos be moved, recreated or developed in Falmouth?
I challenge the Livingstone-Brewerton-Bull axis to answer this question on the basic of real research. I suspect they can’t do so because they have not bothered to find out. They have not bothered to research the cultural outlook of young people in Cornwall at all. Simple research and feasibility studies would have revealed that the "Dartington ethos" is doomed by their plans.
If we were talking about the visual arts the case would be different. The Penwith/St.Ives/Falmouth historical connection brings with it a visual arts community and audience. However, in terms of music and theatre the picture is very different. There is no experimental theatre that far west in Cornwall, and, despite the predictable music and arts festivals, no new music either.
Speaking from direct professional experience of the aspirations of young musicians in Cornish (Truro) and North Devon (North Devon/Barnstaple) colleges there is not only no interest in experimental, new or cutting edge music (the Dartington ethos), there is open hostility. My teaching experience with these students shows that it is almost impossible to move them on from their entrenched positions as people who see their training as a way into the "music industry". Were the new university to be located in a populous or accessible location (east or north of Bristol for example) it could be argued that although arts education with the Dartington ethos tends to be minority in its appeal, it would be possible to find such a minority where there are more people to choose from and easier access. However, in the west of Cornwall this is blatantly not the case.
This is crucially important, because RDA and European funding is always surrounded by the rhetoric of caring for, regenerating or otherwise catering for specific areas within the region. The west of Cornwall may need many things, but a university peddling a minority view of the arts is not one of them A simple, preliminary survey of what local people want and need especially if given European funding, and especially young people in the arts, would not reveal a great desire for the Dartington ethos, much though some of us might regret that. Therefore if an appreciable part of the intake to the new university were to come from local young people it is an absolute certainly that somewhat obscure modernism and postmodernism will not engage them in directions they would want.
Incidentally, I am not being snobby about Cornwall's youth here. I'm merely reflecting some years of experience with Cornish and North Devon students. The case would be substantially the same in any other similar area. Over the whole country, or in a city, a minority can amount to a significant number. In Cornwall, without altering the percentage, a minority is miniscule - certainly not worth building a new university for.
It may, of course, be argued that the intake for the new university may not be as overwhelmingly local as I have suggested. In this case it would be pertinent to ask where, therefore, will this predicted (and necessary) massive intake come from? As the RDA is concerned with the whole of the Southwest, what are the prospects of enough students from Gloucester, Somerset, Devon and Dorset going to Falmouth to study “Dartington ethos” arts? The answer to this is, in all probability almost Nil. Students looking for a high powered course traditionally look east and north, not far west. They go, primarily to London. Again, my knowledge of music suggests London and Manchester, although for those who want to stay in the Southwest Bristol can also be a somewhat lesser magnet. The point is that unless what is on offer is as truly unique as Dartington (and that most significantly includes the location) it is highly unlikely that students will be recruited from outside Cornwall. For those whose aspiration is to join the music industry, three years in Falmouth (as opposed to Manchester) would probably be a disaster.
Members of the RDA must (or should) know, in any case, that in far flung, large, rural regions such as the Southwest it is actually very hard to persuade widespread interchange and travel to take place. The culture of the Southwest is made up of quite self contained pockets which only move about a great deal for things like Christmas shopping. It is almost impossible to get people from, say, Newton Abbot, to go to an event in Dartmouth. The old rural sociological model of "match" (i.e. looking within one's location, community and culture) is most important here. Young people, prospective students, if anything, often express the desire to leave this model, which is seen as restricting. If that is the case, they are hardly likely to want to dive further into inaccessibility and obscurity. After all, Falmouth and West Cornwall, lovely though they are in many respects, are the last stop before America.
If what I say is the case, what other options might the new university have to attract students? Clearly, they may wish to look outside the region - although if they do so a major area of relevance for the Southwest RDA falls away. I confess, I can hardly imagine young artists from Bradford, Birmingham, London or Manchester flocking down to the west of Cornwall to disappear into a cultural black hole for a few years - although I suppose, clever marketing might get them there, at least to begin with. When it becomes known that the course on offer is industry-led (as in the appeal to local students) or under resourced (for example, the new campus will have less space than Dartington and therefore significantly less space than good arts courses) the game will be up. Either way, bang goes the Dartington ethos.
Where else might students be recruited from? Ah well, there is always the great overseas market. Overseas students pay more money anyway, and they are not half as likely to understand the geographic, demographic and financial implications of a new university positioned in the back of beyond. I can't help thinking that there might be a link here with recent visits to China from Dartington, but, of course, this can't be proved. I guess it might be possible to sell the idea of a university of the arts located in a beauty spot near the sea to people from overseas. If so, however, all arguments about the RDA, local culture and caring for local needs disappear into the ether. The only argument that might be left is that of regenerating the local economy via the money brought in by foreigners and, maybe, a few students from elsewhere in England who are unaware of how poorly researched the whole thing is.
Were this the case we would probably have the awful scenario of better-off foreign students plus a handful of others becoming a kind of new middle class attended to by local cleaners, dinner ladies, support staff and landladies - this representing very few jobs and a relatively insignificant income. Meanwhile two things happen. Firstly, the people of Cornwall who really needed jobs and a viable economy and culture of their own are once again marginalised. As one contributor to the Falmouth Packet put it, they would be getting Devon's cast-offs rather than being consulted about what they, as Cornish inhabitants, would like and need. Secondly, the Dartington ethos becomes a fading dream of a gentler, more polite, less aggressive era in which a minority approach to the arts was valued precisely because it was minority.
Perhaps we needn’t worry. Recruitment for the Dartington-Falmouth mess is already considerably down. I’m told that the Falmouth end doesn’t even have planning permission to build the new bits necessary to accommodate “Dartington”. Given how long that can take, then the need to draw up and approve plans, and then build the whole thing, surely there’s no way the new provision will be ready by 2010. Furthermore, the locals in Penryn, if direct contact and the letters pages of the Falmouth Packet are anything to go by, are pissed off with the whole affair. Just like us.
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