Academy Drama School goes bankrupt..

[tokm]

Hello all.

 

Just read the article in the stage about the closure/bankruptcy of the Academy Drama School, in London. Any BR members got much to say about it? Thats not the reason I'm posting this topic though.

 

Apologies if this isn't really the right place for this but..

 

A friend of mine from college had the misfortune (because the place went bust, apparently the training was good) of attending the place. She's obviously upset, as are many of her friends of whom I know. Basically, does anyone have any advice as to what she/they can do next?

 

Not things like 'try getting into somewhere else' but rather, is their any way to get their money back or is their an organisation that could help.. Things that come to mind are student union, NCDT??, legal action.

 

Sorry this is all a bit random and at a very odd hour of the day and a few weeks after it all went down, but thought I'd wait till the news broke publicly that the place went bust, coupled with the fact that I thought I'd wait to ask on here until after she & her friends had checked everything out on their end. The time.. well, I've only just got home!

 

Thanks again.

 

Tom

 

*mods - please move if this is the wrong section*

[Freddie]

Just in case anybody's not seen the article, its here

[Andrew C]

Not things like 'try getting into somewhere else' but rather, is their any way to get their money back or is their an organisation that could help.. Things that come to mind are student union, NCDT??, legal action.

Not much chance really. Bankruptcy usually only occurs when one of the big creditors (think VAT man, Tax man, NI, Bank) pulls the plug. Then they split any assets between them, anything left over (ha ha) goes to the customers. She may get a few pence/pound owed.

[Tomo]

Former principal Daniel Brennan is launching a new drama school in Wapping this month, offering Academy students the opportunity to continue their training with him and allowing them to deduct the amount they have lost from their fees.

That's probably the best deal available - as Andrew said, it's highly unlikely that students will get anything from the bankruptcy.

 

The article implies that late payment was the major culprit for the bankruptcy, which seems very likely as I know that that has been the cause of a very large number of business failures - my grandfather's engineering firm went under almost entirely because several large creditors never paid their invoices.

[Nicktaylor]

Pity the students. Even more pity the staff!

 

Not nice at all

[gareth]

As Tomo says, the best chance these students have got is to take up the principal's offer of a place on a course at his new drama school, deducting any fees already paid to their old drama school from the fees charged by the new one. In fact, given that (by the sound of it) the principal of the bankrupt school isn't actually responsible for their financial situation and is just an employee, that seems like a very generous offer.

 

Once a company goes into the hands of the official receivers, the customer who's paid for goods or services is usually at the very bottom of the 'food chain' when it comes to getting anything back. Larger creditors such as suppliers tend to get first bite of the cherry - and let's be honest, if the school hasn't got enough capital to keep operating, there's not going to be much to go around in the share-out among the creditors, is there?

[tokm]

Hello again.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

 

I think it is going to be pretty much like how Andrew C put it. Just because its a uni/drama school doesn't mean that the usual workings of bankruptcy don't apply.

 

I think most of the students are taking up the offer for a place at the new drama school that the former principal is starting up..

 

Pity the students. Even more pity the staff!

Big heat surrounding that side of the closure.. Mainly because most, if not all the staff new what was going to happen/high likely hood of happening a while before the students were told, which brings up two things..

 

1) the staff apparently knew ahead of time so could already start looking for new jobs! While the students didn't know so couldn't start looking around at what to do next until after Xmas..

 

2) As happens at college/uni/drama school, students and staff/lecturers become friends of sorts, so the fact that the staff didn't say to the students what the situation was, left them (or at least my friend and her mates their) with a feeling of betrayal. Screw weather they'd have got fired for telling the students, the place was closing up shop anyway. Or at least thats the stance I'd have took.

 

But yes, still, pity anyone who had anything to do with the place

 

Thanks again. Just thought I'd see if their was something/some organisation, that I'd forgotten or not heard of before.

 

Tom

 

*edit - separated up the middle paragraph a little*

[Nicktaylor]

"the staff apparently knew ahead of time so could already start looking for new jobs! While the students didn't know so couldn't start looking around at what to do next until after Xmas..

"

 

Says who, out of interest?

[tokm]

"the staff apparently knew ahead of time so could already start looking for new jobs! While the students didn't know so couldn't start looking around at what to do next until after Xmas..

"

 

Says who, out of interest?

A fair few of the students actually, it became pretty well known after the announcement.. Gossip, apologies from the tutors, etc

 

From the article in the stage:

 

We weren’t given any notice at all. The teachers didn’t say anything, they made out next year would still go ahead right up to the last minute

.... Sounds like it wasn't a secret that tutors knew before..

 

After re-reading the article again, it looks like it'll pretty much be a complete transfer of staff and students.. As apparently some of the staff will be working at the new school as well as most of the students.

 

Bit off topic in terms of advice for what my friend could do, but:

Like its predecessor, it will offer a full-time evening course, allowing students the option to work during the day to support themselves financially.

Not a bad idea IMO, specially if it means less student debt!

 

Tom

[dwh]

We weren’t given any notice at all. The teachers didn’t say anything, they made out next year would still go ahead right up to the last minute

.... Sounds like it wasn't a secret that tutors knew before..

To me that just sounds like students having a gripe, and being annoyed that they weren't told; not necessarily that the staff actually did know beforehand.

[Suzette]

Even if the staff did know before the students they should still have the professional respect not say anything until their employer had informed the students. Mentioning something to one student would have started rumours, gossip and unrest in the school - and it sounds like the school owners tried everything they could, before admitting defeat.

What if they had succeeded in avoiding the school closure but half the students had already left because they "thought it was going to close anyway". Then any work to avoid closure would have been wasted as there would not have been enough students to continue.

 

Should the school perhaps be blaming the students, as it appears that unpaid student fees seem to be the reason for the bankruptcy.... £67,000 equates to a lot of students who have had professional training but not actually paid for it (or only paid for some of it) - or is that really putting the cat among the pigeons!!

[tokm]

Even if the staff did know before the students they should still have the professional respect not say anything until their employer had informed the students.

From what I've been told, that was the reason most of the tutors gave when students had it out with them..

 

What if they had succeeded in avoiding the school closure but half the students had already left because they "thought it was going to close anyway". Then any work to avoid closure would have been wasted as there would not have been enough students to continue.

I doubt that they'd have got anything sorted until after Xmas anyway. But yes, you have a point.

 

Should the school perhaps be blaming the students, as it appears that unpaid student fees seem to be the reason for the bankruptcy.... £67,000 equates to a lot of students who have had professional training but not actually paid for it (or only paid for some of it) - or is that really putting the cat among the pigeons!!

Spoke to my friend again this evening.. and in the mix of things, asked about this point. Basically, from what she knew, the majority of students had paid up as it was ish-well known that you'd get kicked out if you didn't pay up. So could it have been that they were owed by other creditors? That we might never know.

 

Just to keep everyone informed, my friend and the majority of her mates have decided theirs not much else to do than to carry on with their course at the new drama school and try stay positive about it all!

 

Thanks again.

 

Tom

[TashK]

I used to work for that drama school. I still do on the very rare occasion.

 

Hopefully they'll see that the best bet for them is to go over to the new school. It'll be basically the same, with the same tutors and they'll get the chance to finish the education that they've already paid for.

 

It's a shame that the school's gone bust but things like this happen unfortunately. I hope that your friend and her mates enjoy their time left at ActorWorks/The Academy Drama School.

[gareth]

I used to work for that drama school. I still do on the very rare occasion. ... {snip} ... I hope that your friend and her mates enjoy their time left at ActorWorks/The Academy Drama School.

One of us - either you or me - is missing the point here, Tash. I was under the impression that the school had already gone bankrupt and closed for business. That's certainly the impression I got from reading the Stage article - in which case, the students don't actually have any time left to enjoy at the Academy, and I'm afraid you won't be doing any more work for them, not even on 'rare occasions', because they're no longer trading. :P

[TashK]

I used to work for that drama school. I still do on the very rare occasion. ... {snip} ... I hope that your friend and her mates enjoy their time left at ActorWorks/The Academy Drama School.

One of us - either you or me - is missing the point here, Tash. I was under the impression that the school had already gone bankrupt and closed for business. That's certainly the impression I got from reading the Stage article - in which case, the students don't actually have any time left to enjoy at the Academy, and I'm afraid you won't be doing any more work for them, not even on 'rare occasions', because they're no longer trading. :P

 

No no. You're right, and yet so am I. The former director of The Academy Drama School is opening another school in Wapping called ActorWorks where the students who are halfway through their courses will get the oppertunity to continue and finish the course. This is mainly due to the fact that the students have all paid for their entire 2 year course in advance. But you're right, because the Academy and Actorworks are not the same establishment - however the tutors (for the most part) will remain the same and they [the students] will be continuing their coursework as they had when they left off.

 

I apologize for being vague earlier.