Arts Ed Principal has resigned following external investigation

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Mammamia
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Arts Ed Principal has resigned following external investigation

Post by Mammamia »

Just saw this on The Stage website .
The article is too long to share fully but here’s part of it

“Arts Ex principal Chris Hocking has resigned following an external investigation into allegations of serious misconduct at the drama school, which the board has acknowledged were the result of “a misguided culture” made worse by a “failure in leadership”.

The resulting report, a summary of which has been published by the school’s board, found there was an “overly sexualised environment” in the school of musical theatre at ArtsEd, and that some staff had inappropriate relationships with students, breaching the school’s policies”
jaybeeyellow
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Re: Arts Ed Principal has resigned following external investigation

Post by jaybeeyellow »

This is not good for Arts Ed.
It would appear that there is more to come out on this issue.
Time for a review of practices at all Drama Schools, with a view to them becoming more regulated.
My D has been involved in three different drama schools, and there have been issues at each one of them.
islandofsodor
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Re: Arts Ed Principal has resigned following external investigation

Post by islandofsodor »

I would agree that there is more to come out.

Many on Twitter are asking why is he report/article not about someone else but there may be good reason for that if there is a possibility of future legal proceedings.

The inquiry into possible misconduct began in June 2021.

Just a month later a show involving someone who had links to Arts Ed was cancelled with a rather spurious excuse.
islandofsodor
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Re: Arts Ed Principal has resigned following external investigation

Post by islandofsodor »

I do have to say that although my dd certainly had issues at her last school following a change of management there was (unknown to us at the time) a serious allegation made against a teacher (albeit academic) that was immediately taken seriously. The teacher suddenly disappeared (we’d actually complained about how poor a teacher they were) but we only found the full story when the local paper reported on the case and they were banned from teaching. Apparently concerns raised by both students and other staff members were immediately actioned. It did give me confidence that the school would always act appropriately in those instances.
Stayingcalm
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Re: Arts Ed Principal has resigned following external investigation

Post by Stayingcalm »

Unfortunately, in this case, it was described as “historic” misconduct in the original disclaimer. This is something that was happening for years. Teachers and students knew about it but said nothing. It was time spent thinking during the lockdowns that brought it conclusively to light. Many, many students were affected.
islandofsodor
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Re: Arts Ed Principal has resigned following external investigation

Post by islandofsodor »

Some ex students are defending the practices. It is clear that they were groomed into this way of thinking.
jaybeeyellow
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Re: Arts Ed Principal has resigned following external investigation

Post by jaybeeyellow »

The whole drama school system be it MT, Dance or straight Acting needs reform from top to bottom.
Students, the majority of whom are 18 are just so grateful to be thexperience things that would never be acceptable in the “outside world”. It is all about power and fear. Fear that if they complain they will be singled out for more abusive treatment.

I won’t go into too much detail, but my D left her course at a well known London school due to the training methods of one tutor. She had never suffered from any form of mental health issues, but she in effect had a breAkdown. To cut a very long story sho, it took her two years to recover. She made a complaint, but the school unsurprisingly closed ranks.
She was fortunate enough to be offered a place at another school, but even there there have been issues, albeit not directly affecting her.
She is almost 25 now, and has no hesitation calling out anything that is not right. She would not have had that mental fortitude at 18, however.
Things really do need to change.
amo185
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Re: Arts Ed Principal has resigned following external investigation

Post by amo185 »

I'm very pleased and proud that my daughter attends ArtsEd. Hats off to them for engaging an external team to thoroughly investigate historic allegations, sorting the truth from the gossip from those years and having a clear plan in place to ensure no repetition of inappropriate conduct of any description. Student voices need to be heard regardless of how many and how long ago.
The report and recommendations make interesting reading - sadly though much was no different to what is still happening at many colleges. ArtsEd now have an intimacy coordinator for their more sensual acting and dance work - all colleges need one. And some are following the ArtsEd lead in this. Injuries are taken seriously (not a "suck it up" approach). And maybe all colleges should prohibit relationships between ALL staff and young adult students. Although no ArtsEd staff face any criminal charges, there may well be a case brought against a professional visitor who worked across the industry and in various colleges. Hence some silences.
Most students were not affected. Some geuninely had no idea what this was all about having had three great years of training and are now thriving in the industry. But the point is, some students were not listened to when they raised various personal concerns and this was ignored by someone who had a duty of care. Lack of action should not be an option and the only acceptable outcome for the current principal (being Head of Department at the time) was to resign.
I'm sure ArtsEd will continue to go from strength to strength. Dance and drama colleges are working hard to tackle racism and mental health. Now they all need to work on putting their policies into genuine practice and include intimacy and relationship policies amongst them.
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