frequently asked questions about the potential relocation of the dartington college of artsLatest News
There has been much comment caused by the recent announcement by the Dartington College of Arts (the College) that it has entered into exploratory discussions with various parties, including University College Falmouth, the University of Plymouth and Torbay Council, with a view to the possible relocation of the College in three to four years' time. While the College is independent from the Trust many questions have still been directed at the Trust. It is not surprising that some comments reflect confusion and misunderstanding of the reasons for the decision, and its possible implications.
To help address this confusion we thought it helpful to answer the most frequently asked questions. If you have further questions that you would like to have answered please email your questions to qanda@dartington.org. We will endeavour to update these questions and answers on a regular basis.
These questions are grouped into four sections, based on issues concerning:
- The reasons for this decision
- 1.1: Why is the College having to leave the Dartington Hall Estate?
- 1.2: Why has this decision been taken now?
- 1.3: Does the Trust want the College to leave the Dartington Hall Estate?
- 1.4: Is the College leaving because it wants to grow?
- 1.5: Is this a Dartington specific issue?
- The implications for the College
- 2.1: Is the College closing?
- 2.2: How can Dartington College of Arts be the same if it is not at Dartington?
- 2.3: How will the College decide where it will go?
- The implications for The Dartington Hall Trust
- 3.1: Does this mean the Trust is moving?
- 3.2: What will happen to the arts at Dartington if the College moves?
- 3.3: Is the Dartington International Summer School under threat if the College moves?
- 3.4: Will the Trust be able to survive without the College?
- 3.5: What will replace the College?
- 3.6: Is the Dartington Plus Partnership in jeopardy?
- 3.7: Does the Trust plan to replace the College with an elite music establishment?
- 3.8: Is The Trust involved in Trademark or Intellectual Property 'Name Grabbing’
- The implications for the local community
1. Questions concerning the reason for this decision
1.1 Question: Why is the College having to leave the Dartington Hall Estate?
Answer: For two years the Dartington College of Arts and The Dartington Hall Trust have been working intensively together to try to secure the future of the College on the Dartington Estate. Despite our best endeavours this has not proved possible. The reasons for this are a combination of accumulated capital needs, changes anticipated in the funding of higher education and the small scale and limited resources of both institutions.
There is an urgent need to upgrade and replace student residential accommodation and much of the College’s teaching facilities. The level of investment required is around £20 million. Neither the College nor the Trust has the financial resources necessary to meet this challenge. Uncertainties regarding the funding for Higher Education also raise questions about the future sustainability of the College on the Dartington Hall Estate within the limited resources of both institutions.
In response to this we have explored all available options to retain the College on the Estate, without success. We have therefore had to take the difficult decision to look for alternative solutions beyond the Dartington Estate to secure the long-term sustainability of this unique College.
Question 1.2: Why has this decision been taken now?
Answer: The tipping point was the recent failure to find a credible developer willing to take on the risk of building new student residences on terms that were acceptable to the College and the Trust. Without fit-for-purpose accommodation the College’s ability to attract and retain students is critically compromised.
Over the past two years four different proposals for students residences have been explored. The options have included the Trust giving Foxhole to the College, providing a 125 year lease for land on the estate, conferring 40 year leases on existing buildings and foregoing the opportunity costs of current buildings. Unfortunately none of this proved sufficient. All floundered because the risk of each scheme proved unacceptably high. These risks are driven by the small scale, the rural location and questions over the College’s long-term sustainability.
Quite rightly, the College is determined to take its long-term destiny into its own hands and has decided to explore a potential move from a position of strength rather than wait for the impact of a slow and steady decline.
Question 1.3: Does the Trust want the College to leave the Dartington Hall Estate?
Answer: No. This has been a painful and difficult decision for the College and the Trust. The College was set up by the Trust and has been an integral and vibrant part of the Dartington Community for over 40 years. More recently both institutions have made important commitments to work together: strategically as part of One Dartington, and also as part of Dartington Plus, one of three national centres of excellence in music and the arts funded by the Arts Council. The potential relocation of the College was not something the College and the Trust had planned, expected or wanted, but it is something we now both have to face up to. The Trust recognises, with sadness, that the long-term sustainability of the College can now be best met beyond the Dartington Hall Estate.
Question 1.4: Is the College leaving because it wants to grow?
Answer: This is not the case. It is important to emphasise that the need to move is not determined by any desire for the College to expand in size beyond the student numbers represented by their current contract with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
The College has no such ambition, and intends to remain possibly the smallest, but certainly one of the most vibrant, arts colleges in the UK.
Question 1.5: Is this a Dartington specific issue?
Answer: The nature of the current, and anticipated, changes in Higher Education funding all create pressure to increases in size and scale. Small colleges, across the country, have been under intense pressure to either merge or close. This includes the Art Colleges in London, Bretton Hall, Winchester College of Art and, more locally, Seale Hayne and Rolle Colleges. Dartington College of Arts has been subject to these same pressures of scale. However, the College also faces a number of problems that have made this difficult environment much harder. These include the fact that the College is unique in not owning its own assets. Instead, its buildings are leased from The Dartington Hall Trust. This means the College has not been able to sell properties or borrow in the way that some other Higher Education institutions have. While this alone is not a critical issue it has certainly limited the options available to the College.
2. The implications for the College
It is important to note that the College of Arts is an independent institution with its own governing body. The College, while an integral part of the Dartington Estate, is in almost all respects separate from The Dartington Hall Trust and the College has its own Board of Governors. While we have attempted to answer some of the more obvious questions below, more detailed questions concerning the future of the College are best addressed to the College itself.
Question 2.1: Is the College closing?
Answer: No. By taking this difficult decision now we believe that the long-term sustainability of the College can best be secured. The decision to consider a re-location has been taken to avoid the potential risk of decline and possible closure if it remains on the Dartington Hall Estate. The need for this kind of long-term thinking is based on a strong confidence in the College as a highly distinctive, creative and academic community. The College has high quality and standards, and has recently received a very good Quality Assurance Agency Institutional Audit report; it continues to engage in teaching, research, creative practice, entrepreneurship and enterprise – regionally, nationally and internationally. The College enjoys the strong support of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
However, it is clear that any failure to act soon would risk a steady deterioration of the rich learning environment, and compromise the ability of the College to attract high calibre students and staff.
We refuse to accept the demise of this great College. The College is determined to take its long-term destiny into its own hands. We know that to stay on the Dartington Hall Estate, however attractive in the short-term, runs the risk of compromising the quality of the College. This decision is based on a clear judgement that it is better to move, and continue to thrive, rather than to stay and risk decline and closure.
Question 2.2: How can Dartington College of Arts be the same if it is not at Dartington?
Answer: There is no denying that a physical relocation of the College from the Dartington Estate will change the College. Nevertheless, there is confidence that the distinctiveness of the College is more than just its physical location. The College has a unique commitment to being a radical, innovative Higher Education learning community for contemporary arts practices in performance. This can best be summarised by a recent quote from Andrew Brewerton, Principal of Dartington College of Arts:
“Our artistic and academic vision and cultural horizons at Dartington have never been confined, either by our physical scale or by our geographic location. What we do here is highly distinctive in teaching, research and artistic practice.
Every creative community worthy of the name will from time to time re-create itself accordingly to the context in which it works and the spirit of its times.”
Question 2.3: How will the College decide where it will go?
Answer: This will be a decision for the College. HEFCE has funded an independent feasibility study to assess each option and to make recommendation of the solution that best secures the long-term sustainability of the College. The final decision will, however, rest with the College Board of Governors.
For the Trust, we hope that any solution will enable the College and the Trust to continue to work together.
3. The Implications for Dartington Hall Trust
Question 3.1: Does this mean the Trust is moving?
Answer: No. The Dartington Hall Trust will remain at Dartington. This question arises from confusion over the difference between the Trust and the College. The College of Arts is an independent Higher Education institution that forms part of the artistic community on the Dartington Hall Estate. The Trust is an independent private Trust with a broader focus on the generation and application of new ideas in the arts, ecology, social research and social enterprise, as well as managing an historic estate.
While the College moving will have a material impact on the artistic community of Dartington there will still be a significant, and growing, range of artistic activities that are supported by the Trust – see below. In addition, the Trust supports significant work in many other areas: in ecology with Schumacher College and the recently launched Land Scope project; in social justice with Research in Practice and Research in Practice for Adults; in social enterprise we have the Cider Press and Dartington Accommodation and Catering Services as well as managing and maintaining a 1,200 acre estate. All these activities, and more, will continue here at Dartington. While the potential loss of the College has cast a shadow we should not lose sight of the broad and growing range of other activities that exist at Dartington.
Question 3.2: What will happen to the arts at Dartington if the College moves?
Answer: Dartington remains totally committed to a rich and flourishing range of arts at Dartington. There has been much confusion that the loss of the College will mean the end of the arts at Dartington. This is not the case. The loss of the College will, without doubt, be a significant loss to the artistic community of Dartington and beyond. Nonetheless, Dartington remains committed to the continuation of a broad range of its existing and growing artistic programmes.
Existing activities will continue to develop and grow. These include the renowned International Summer School; the year-round arts programme of music, theatre and dance; Music & Dance Exchange; the Barn Cinema; Arts & Ecology and Desire Lines; South West Sound music industry conference and Dartington Recordings.
In addition, Matt Griffiths, Director of the Arts at Dartington, has ambitious plans to expand the range of artistic activities. Ideas include establishing Dartington as an international incubator for the creation of new work, developing a visual arts programme, and expanding Devon Artsculture as a countywide project in 2008. Also, South West Music School, an outreach institution with no physical base, which will take support out to the region’s exceptionally talented young musicians, is due to launch in April 2007, with its first auditions planned for June. Proposals will continue to be explored for an Arts Park, which would make Dartington a centre for arts-based enterprises to develop their practice and business.
The art will certainly not go out of Dartington.
Question 3.3: Is the Dartington International Summer School under threat if the College moves?
Answer: The Trust remains committed to the International Summer School. The College move will create challenges for the Summer School but we are confident that it will, after 60 years of growth and change, be able to successfully adapt to meet these new circumstances.
Question 3.4: Will the Trust be able to survive without the College?
Answer: Yes it will. The College leaving will have a negative impact on the Trust but it will not threaten the long-term sustainability of the Trust.
Question 3.5: What will replace the College?
Answer: Our priority at present is to support the College in this difficult time and to ensure that there are no further options that have been left unexplored. However, the Trust will need to start discussions on the opportunities this situation opens up. These opportunities are likely to include the development of some of the Trust’s existing activities, i.e. the possible expansion of Schumacher College, the acceleration of existing new ideas such as the Arts Park at Dartington, and the assessment and planning of new ideas arising from outside the Trust. We are confident that there will be no shortage of new ideas and initiatives to consider.
We hope to use this opportunity to also capture ideas from the local community. We are planning to run a series of open consultation meetings with the local community in March next year, to discuss potential new ideas and aspirations.
However, we need to avoid hasty decisions. The position of the College is still far from certain and we have three to four years to discuss and plan for the future.
Question 3.6: Is the Dartington Plus Partnership in jeopardy?
Answer: No. Matt Griffiths, Director of Dartington Plus, explains the position to avoid any future misunderstandings:
The Dartington Plus partnership, which comprises the Trust, the College and King Edward VI Community College, continues to develop and thrive. Contrary to some recent assertions that have been made, Dartington Plus is not in jeopardy. It has been implied that Dartington Plus faces unusual scrutiny in 2008, this is simply not the case. As with all other revenue-funded organisations, Arts Council England funding currently runs until March 2008 when future funding levels are set as part of the Government Spending Review. This is in no way unusual but is part of the recognised and long-established three year funding pattern. We are looking forward to continuing our productive work alongside the College and KEVICC to the benefit of artists throughout the South West. (Matt Griffiths, Director of Dartington Plus).
Question 3.7: Does the Trust plan to replace the College with some sort of elite music establishment with hopes of multi-million pound sponsorship.
Answer: No. This is entirely untrue. A clear case of putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5.
This rumour, of which much has been made recently, is untrue. It can be more convenient to accept hearsay and rumour but this a clear case of putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5. The Dartington Plus partnership has been working on a variety of projects for the last 4 years, the newest of which is South West Music School. To clarify, South West Music School is not a building. This scheme has been 2 years in the making and has been designed from the outset as an outreach project delivering high quality music support and tuition to exceptionally talented young musicians between the ages of 8 to 18 who are based in the South West region. The project is due to launch in April 2007, followed by first auditions in June / July with the cohort selected starting activities in September. It is already fully funded, with core funds provided by the Music & Dance Scheme at the Department for Education & Skills.
The South West Music School partnership – Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Dartington Plus, Federation of Music Services South West, Wells Cathedral School and Wiltshire Music Centre – will work closely with other music education organisations in the region to identify exceptionally talented young musicians and encourage them to audition for the scheme
Matt Griffiths, Director of Dartington Plus, comments:
"South West Music School is the latest in a long line of partnership initiatives that have been developed since we started in 2003. South West Music School is a fantastic addition to the region’s provision and we are all looking forward to supporting our talented young musicians through this unique scheme."
Should you require additional clarification or have questions relating to other Dartington Plus programmes please email qanda@dartington.org. Further information about South West Music School can be found at www.swms.org.uk.
Question 3.8: Is The Trust involved in Trademark or Intellectual Property 'Name Grabbing’
Answer: No. This issue was first raised on 13th November at the College's all-staff meeting and we now re-iterate the same clarification that was given two months ago. The Trust is not considering setting up a 'new' Dartington College of Arts. The Trust has been registering trademarks and domain names for Dartington for some time to protect the Dartington brand name. Historically we been extremely lax on this and many prime trademarks and domain names have been lost. Some time ago Trustees agreed that we should capture many variants to protect the Dartington brand and our recent branding exercise, which the College has been part of, has focused our efforts on this. Rest assured that the Trust has no intention to use this name itself.
4. The implications for the Local Community
Question 4.1: Why was the local community not consulted sooner?
Answer: While there has been active discussion between the Trustees, the College Governors and HEFCE on this situation over the last few years the college has not discussed this more publicly because of the potential damage to student and staff recruitment at the College. If concerns were prematurely raised about the long-term sustainability of the College at Dartington it was felt it would have a detrimental effect on student recruitment and thereby create a self-forefilling position. It was also hoped that these problems could be solved internally. Unfortunately, the scale of the problems has proved beyond the reach of both the College and the Trust.
Question 4.2: What will be the financial impact on the local community?
Answer: It is not clear. Figures of £5m have been floated but these are, at best, guestimates. South Hams District Council and Devon County Council have agreed to assist in a formal impact assessment. This will provide a better estimate of the impact on the community and the scale of new activities we, as a community, will need to develop and to attract in order to ensure that the effect of the College relocating is minimised.
Question 4.3: What will be the cultural impact on the local community?
Answer: Anyone who knows the range of cultural activities that happen at Dartington, at KEVICC, and in Totnes, and the concentration of artistic talent that exists in the Dartington and Totnes area, knows that Totnes will continue to be a unique centre of creative and cultural activity. This is not to deny that the loss of the College will have a significant impact on the creative community. It brings the vibrancy of students, the talents of its staff and a continual flow of visiting artists. This will be hard to replace. However, it does not mean the end of artistic culture in Totnes and Dartington. We need to recognise and support the activities and enterprises that continue to exist in the area.
Question 4.4: What is ‘Save Dartington College’?
Answer: It is a campaign group set up by committed local people. They are, sadly, not well informed. They unfortunately appear more concerned with tabloid headlines than finding ways to best help the College secure its future. We were alarmed to hear the chairman of this group say ‘ I want to see the College stay at Dartington, at any cost, even if it means it has to close’. Clearly this is not in the College’s best interest.
We are ready and willing to meet with the group, at any time, to discuss how we can best work together to secure the long-term sustainability of the College.
17.12.06
The Dartington Hall Trust is a registered charity no. 279756. Company no. 1485560
Registered Office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL United Kingdom.
Telephone 01803 847000; Fax 01803 847007;