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Sector responds to proposed RWCMD junior programme slashes

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Famous names sign open letter as Wales’s first minister urges the college to ‘think again’
Richard Burton Youth Company in dance rehearsals with Young RWCMD
Richard Burton Youth Company in dance rehearsals with Young RWCMD - Courtesy RWCMD

Celebrities and prominent figures across the creative industries have signed an open letter calling on the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama to reconsider plans to close its junior conservatoire.

Under the current proposals, the College is set to cease its weekly Young RWCMD activity from September, affecting over 300 students and 118 staff across music and drama.

Explaining its decision, a statement from the RWCMD said: ‘Alongside the entire UK High Education Sector, the College is facing significant financial challenges … Our Young Acting and Young Music work needs a considerable subsidy from the College as we receive no direct funding for pre-College education from the Higher Education Funding Council Wales (now Commission for Tertiary Education and Research) or the Welsh Government. Continuing to subsidise Young RWCMD in this way isn’t sustainable given the serious financial pressures on us.’

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