The British Drama School suddenly closed after extensive damage

After an unsuccessful restructuring, a British drama school was closed and left with heavy losses and is no longer financially viable, resulting in about 300 students having to change schools without warning.

Students at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) say they are shocked and “physically ill” after Monday’s announcement that the institution, which opened in 1979 and includes alumni Bridget Christie and Miranda Hart, is closing. 284 students are being offered places at Rose Brufford College, another drama school, to continue their studies.

ALRA said it had a restructuring in 2021 but was closing immediately after an unsuccessful search for a “new income stream”. It said its board wanted a new owner but “it was not achieved”.

It said: “The ALRA board has looked at other options and has finally decided to stop teaching students and is working with partners. [the school is] Provide appropriate assistance to students in finding alternative study options. “

The company, which has campuses in central London and Wigan and charges £ 13,000 a year for certain courses, said it would lose 28 permanent and 16 permanent employees.

ALRA South students now prefer to continue their studies at Rose Brufford, which has a site in London and they have taken courses in Brighton, Edinburgh and Belfast, or elsewhere, when the Guardian realizes ALRA North students may be able to continue their studies. On the same campus in Wigan.

Students have shared their push on social media. Oliver Knowles, an acting student at ALRA North, wrote on Twitter: “I can’t describe how I feel. An organization that raised me slowly in the acting industry since I was 18 years old. I have seen my organization collapse and it saddens me. “

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the Office for Students, said the regulator was “working closely with many organizations to ensure that ALRA students are inevitably protected as much as possible in a difficult situation.”

The school became embroiled in a row in 2020 when 13 graduates published an open letter complaining that it had failed to address systemic racism. One student said she was told by a teacher that she was “a ghetto girl with rude girl attitudes”, while others said she faced racist stereotypes and language from teaching staff at both ALRA positions.

After a row and an external review, Principal Adrian Hall resigned, and an external review found that the school had a “blind eye” to racism and a culture of dismissing or dismissing allegations made by students.