A British drama school has closed after an unsuccessful restructure left it with heavy losses and no longer financially viable, resulting in almost 300 students having to change school with no warning.
Students at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) said they were stunned and felt “physically sick” after being told on Monday that the institution, which opened in 1979 and whose alumni include Bridget Christie and Miranda Hart, was closing. All 284 students are being offered places at another drama school, Rose Bruford College, to continue their studies.
ALRA said it underwent a restructuring in 2021 but after an unsuccessful search for “new income streams” it was closing with immediate effect. It said its board had sought a new owner but “this was not possible to achieve”.
It said: “The ALRA board sought other options and ultimately resolved to cease teaching students, and working with partners [the school is] providing appropriate support to students to find alternative study options.”
The institution, which has campuses in central London and Wigan and charged £13,000 a year for some courses, said its 28 permanent and 16 fixed-term employees would lose their jobs.
ALRA South students now have the choice of continuing their studies at Rose Bruford, which has sites in London and has run courses in Brighton, Edinburgh and Belfast, or seeking to continue elsewhere, while the Guardian understands ALRA North students may be able to continue studying at the same campus in Wigan.
Students shared their shock on social media. Oliver Knowles, an acting student at ALRA North, wrote on Twitter: “Words can’t describe how I feel. An institution that has raised me gradually into the acting industry from the age of 18. I have seen my institution crumble and it saddens me.”
Nicola Dandridge, the chief executive of the Office for Students, said the regulator had been working “intensively with a range of organisations to ensure that ALRA’s students are protected as far as possible in what is inevitably a difficult situation”.
In 2020 the school was embroiled in a row when 13 graduates published an open letter accusing it of failing to address systemic racism. One student said a teacher had told her she was a “ghetto girl with a rude girl attitude”, while others reported being exposed to racist stereotypes and language from teaching staff at both ALRA locations.
The principal Adrian Hall stepped down after the row and an external review found the school had “turned a blind eye” to racism and had a culture of playing down or dismissing complaints made by students.
