Students involved with the theatre scene at Carleton University are concerned about being defunded in the wake of the Ontario government’s Student Choice Initiative.
The initiative, announced by the government earlier this year, allows students to opt out of ancillary fees associated with their tuition. These fees include funding for a variety of student groups–including Carleton’s Sock ‘n’ Buskin (SnB) Theatre Company.
As of the 2018-19 school year, undergraduate students pay $0.87 to SnB, which is the school’s oldest club and student theatre group.
“The main tenant that we’re concerned with is that they are going to be deeming some student fees essential and others not essential. They’ve already identified health and recreation to be essential fees, but that leaves out the arts. So we’re concerned that we’re going to be considered non-essential,” Molly McGuire, SnB’s co-artistic director, said.
McGuire added that students will likely choose to opt out of most ancillary fees, which will result in SnB and other performing arts groups not receiving any funding. To increase awareness about the importance of theatre and why it should be considered essential, SnB is hosting a gala at the National Arts Centre (NAC). The gala was originally to celebrate SnB’s 75th anniversary, but in light of the proposed opt-out option, the focus of the gala has changed.
“So, the gala has sort of become a repurposed event to celebrate the performing arts, particularly student theatre,” McGuire said, “and talk about the impact that it’s had on the lives of those who have been a part of these communities and to encourage our government and university to consider us as essential to continue to provide these opportunities for students.”
Thomas Williams, a second-year English student at Carleton, has been with SnB since he arrived at Carleton.
“It’s worrying to know that we may not get the same amount of, I guess, a budget to work off next year,” he said.
Molly Kalnitsky, a second-year student in women and gender studies, also feels the same way adding shows aren’t free to put on.
“It does come with quite a budget that you need to have, so you know, taking away any bit of that would mean cutting back on a lot of our shows,” she said.
Williams and Kalnitsky both got involved with the SnB in their first year and they have found a community and a voice in theatre.
“In my case, theatre is kind of how I found my voice and just kind of how I gained the friendships that I have,” Williams said.
Kalinitsky feels the same way.
“We get to express ourselves and have a creative outlet through theatre,” she said.
They both agree that theatre and the arts should be considered essential.
Williams said while people are willing to pay for sports and for sciences, the arts “get brushed to the side.”
“There’s a whole other realm of intellectual storytelling going on through theatre,” he said. “People will willingly go and watch a movie. A play is just that without cameras.”
Kalnitsky said art is something accessible for everyone, compared to science or sports.
“It’s like this immersive ‘everybody can do it’ sort of thing. And if you take that away, it’s almost like saying you have to be skilled at science or sports, and you’re not allowed to do these other things… It’s almost like saying that if you’re good at art, it doesn’t matter,” she said.
For her, cutting funding for SnB would mean taking away the community that these students have to rely on.
“Sock ‘n’ Buskin really helps me, get through the day,” Kalnitsky said, “Whether I’m part of a show or not, I have these people I can rely on.”
“Every aspect of what we do would be missed equally, and you know, it’s what we do, like to know that we don’t have the money, then things can’t run the same way. That’s it—there’s nothing else,” Williams added.
McGuire said if the funding was to be cut, the company could only last for a finite period of time and the quality of the shows would be affected. She said the company could likely do only three seasons without additional funding.
“For the foreseeable future, we can continue but we won’t be able to do it on the scale that we’re used to,” she said, “or with the quality or the community events that we’re used to having, which really makes the experience what it is, and so we have ways we can cut back, but it will be by sacrificing the quality and, really, the experience itself.”
Photo by Tim Austen
