Watching a show in Tuesday Night Café Theatre’s (TNC) space, the first thing you will notice is that the separation between crew and audience—or cast and audience, if the director so decides—is almost non-existent. The small theatre at Morrice Hall, whose seating can be configured as the director wishes, creates a fluid, warm atmosphere that serves as a meeting place for McGill’s artistic community.
For McGill students who wish to participate in the creative arts, whether it be in visual arts, dance, drama, journalism, or other disciplines, several clubs and student societies exist to fulfill this need. Organizations such as the Visual Arts Society and the Photography Students’ Society, as well as a plethora of dance and drama companies like Alegria Contemporary Ballet or TNC, provide students—beginner and advanced alike—the opportunity to explore the arts.
However, these opportunities operate within a university that, outside the Faculty of Music, offers little in the way of support for artists hoping to develop their skills professionally. Notably, McGill’s lack of a studio art program has forced students to look elsewhere, as there is no serious institutional alternative on campus.
This persists in the sphere of theatre. Though opportunities to get hands-on experience are diverse in scope, preparing student actors for careers outside McGill is a challenge. In a written statement to The Tribune, TNC production manager Megan Siow, U2 Arts, outlined the issues that student theatre groups face in establishing themselves as serious alternatives to professional drama programs.
“We strive to create an environment where, regardless of experience level, you can get involved and become part of the community. However, in terms of preparing students for arts outside McGill, TNC only really has the resources to support to a certain extent,” Siow wrote. “TNC is, and cannot be, a place geared toward people who want to seriously pursue a career in the arts [.…] There is nowhere at McGill that is a place for emerging artists who are serious about pursuing theatre.”
There is no doubt that student societies have opened doors for students of all backgrounds to get involved in the arts, yet, as with any club, not all members have the same level of commitment. As Siow affirmed, these clubs do not have the resources to be both a society for students to try out new interests and a pre-professional placement.
It is disappointing that, among the three anglophone universities in the province, McGill provides the least institutional support for the arts despite its international renown. Concordia, just two metro stops away, boasts an incredible selection of professional programs in its Faculty of Fine Arts. Bishop’s University has the only English-language musical theatre program in Quebec.
Student-run groups do not hold the same power or prestige as academic programs, making it more difficult for artists to navigate bureaucracy. Siow pointed to the difficulties in making the TNC space available to other groups.
“New policies in the last year have made it so we have to go through [Arts Undergraduate Society] AUS and/or the Islamic Studies [IS] Department to approve other groups using the theatre. Adina [Sigartu, IS Administrative Student Affairs Coordinator] and the IS department have always been very helpful, and we are immensely grateful for their support, but certain bureaucracies undermine TNC’s mission to create accessible theatre.”
McGill artists, while creating impressive work on their own, deserve the opportunity to hone their skills through professional programs. Courses such as the Department of English’s Stage Scenery and Lighting and Costuming classes for the theatre are a great example of the fruitful possibilities that McGill could foster, but McGill should be doing more to connect its artists with industry professionals.
The lengths to which McGill’s artistic community will go to express their creativity deserve further support from the university, which continues to neglect its artists. The current offerings, made by students for students, are endeavours that contribute to the vibrant and diverse community we call home, but they are not enough. Emerging artists who wish to attend McGill should not be shut out due to its artistic impracticalities; instead, McGill should listen to its student culture by nurturing creative arts.