We write this letter on behalf of all graduates of the BA Hons Performance Costume Degree programme at Edinburgh College of Art, on behalf of those currently enrolled, those aspiring to train here, and in support of the programme leader and incredible team of lecturers and technicians who deliver it.
We call on the University of Edinburgh Principal, Sir Peter Mathieson, Edinburgh College of Art Principal, Professor Juan Cruz, and Vice Principal, Professor Sarah Prescott, to reverse the planned closure immediately.
ECA pioneered degree level training in the craft of costume, and continue to deliver a world class programme. It offers a specialist curriculum of study in costume craft that equips students with the ability to enter industry as costume designers, makers, supervisors, standbys, breakdown and textiles artists, to name but a few. The course is integrated with the art college in its discipline and approach, and it covers both theory and individual artistic development alongside practical applied skills. It balances the discourse between art, academia and industry. This format places the degree on a unique footing compared to other costume courses in Scotland. Applications consistently, far exceed available places making it unclear how under enrolment can be cited as a major reason for closure. It is vital that the legacy the programme holds is recognised and retained as a centre of excellence.
The University decision to reduce an honours degree programme to a 20-credit elective within a fashion degree is regressive and disappointing. Fashion and costume are in some ways related in that they explore clothing as a medium for expression. However, there are more differences than similarities and it is hugely reductive to suggest fashion could replace a costume focused degree or that costume could be condensed into an elective that doesn’t even scrape the surface of what is taught over three years.
Costume craft is the ability to interpret scripts, capture character, to know history, understand historical pattern cutting, to construct and fit clothing to bodies of all shapes/ages/sizes, to work collaboratively with actors and directors, to consider elements such a millinery and embroidery and how to age and break down materials, to construct quick change garments, understand how costume is transposed on screen and under lighting effects, at a distance and close up, to work with materials that can communicate identity and time through surface texture and pattern, to be inventive with few resources, to create creatures and puppets and imagine people from other worlds, and to understand how bodies and materials move to tell stories. People who choose costume choose it with care; costume design is where psychology meets character development, identity and visual story telling.
Graduates continue to land prestigious roles across stage and screen, and the programme can proudly boast multiple Emmy and BAFTA award winners amongst its alumni. Graduates are working extensively in the Scottish film and Television industry, across the UK and internationally. Known titles include Downton Abbey, Outlander, Highlander, Bridgerton, DC Comics and Marvel franchise, The Barbie Movie, Game of Thrones, The Crown, House of the Dragon and River City. Graduates working in live performance arts are securing work with some of the UK’s top theatre companies including the RSC, English National Ballet, and Scottish Opera. It is a training that also leads into craft based industries which are an irreplaceable, valuable part of our Scottish heritage. It would be a huge loss to entry level training in television, film and theatre for Scotland and further a talent drain from our creative sector should those who would have studied here be forced to seek their training elsewhere. It is a vocational degree and a highly regarded qualification that individuals who have ambition to work in costume, in any of its many disciplines, seek to gain. The shortsighted closure of the creative arts degrees demonstrates an undervaluing of the creative industries and a lack of understanding of the depth of study the performance costume degree affords. It would be to fail to secure future creative talent and the impact of that will be far reaching and long lasting.
As costume graduates, creatives and industry professionals we all agree that we continue to be proud to reveal to any employer, producer, director or fellow costume creative that we are ECA alumni. We have benefitted from a world class programme and a degree that has afforded us the very best teaching, training and personal creative development. It has earned its status as one of Edinburgh University’s most celebrated programmes.
We urge you to let it stay that way for future generations.
Yours sincerely with hope,