Why do we always have to lose the humanities?
When I was seventeen I decided to study theatre at university. My high school drama teacher at the time said it would be tricky. In fact, from what I recall, he tried to warn me against it. My parents said so too, but were otherwise supportive of my pathway.
But here I am now.
Five years after I graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre.
It’s easy to say “don’t go into the arts, they’ll ruin your life” or “don’t go into the arts, you’ll be underpaid, badly treated, earning well under the average minimum wage for the country you live in and at the threat of harassment frighteningly often,” but unfortunately — sometimes theatre is the only thing getting you up in the morning.
I’m not that good an actor, I would say I’m depressingly average at it, but what I found through four years of studying directing, performance, writing and crewing is that my talents lie in other parts of the theatre world.
I’m an award-winning writer, decently good at improv, and have found my love within sound design, choreography, digital performance and tech operating. I’ve had my work in festivals across the country and across the world, seen some incredible performances, and found an industry I loved — despite all the gnarly bits.
That would not have happened without my university study — without four years of 8–12 hour uni days, of dealing with loss and exhaustion, but working with some of the most talented, cool, nicest people out there, learning new things and test driving new art forms.
Victoria University of Wellington is proposing up to 260 job cuts as a balm to soothe their proposed $30mil deficit for this year. Enrolment dropped 12% this year, and the money’s gotta be found somewhere.
Theatre is, unsurprisingly, one of the majors “to be reviewed”. This is alongside several music majors, several design majors, almost all of the languages the university offers, and a handful of majors not from the Humanities.
As an alumni, this is tragic.
And utterly unexpected.
Humanities have always found themselves on the chopping block first. Whether it’s critical cuts to programmes or staff or being constantly and physically attacked for being “woke” and pandering because they have the bare minimum of empathy, these subjects have always and will always be the first thing to go when times get tough.
Who needs screenwriters? We can just use ChatGPT!
Who needs the ability to analyse things for misinformation? Just believe everything you read!
Who needs art?
Who needs performance?
Who needs movies, television, music, design, fashion, history, languages, education, understanding of the world, empathy, joy?
We’re just fine without those things.
I don’t know about you, but it was the humanities that kept me sane through pandemic lockdowns, through breaking my leg, through multiple health scares, through grief and loss, through the worst parts of my life. It was the human connection that kept me going — the art, the music and films and performance and video games and reading, the people in the arts who surrounded me and held me up — not just the daily pills.
We are letting our world lose its colour from constant cuts like this. We’re losing great talent to other industries that they have to find work in to keep upright.
We’re cutting the heart from our lives.
But this does not need to be happening. The bleeding out of our humanities is not inevitable, but a conscious choice.
Constant underfunding in our universities by successive New Zealand governments is failing us. Underfunding and undersupport of the arts in this country is killing our best.
We are losing this battle because those that run this country want to.
Out of my 2017 undergraduate theatre class, only a few of them are working directly in theatre. Some are teachers, others incredible musicians, some are teching, a lot of them are at Wētā. The balance is about the same for my MFA graduating class. I believe I’m one of the only ones actively pursuing a career in theatre.
Our lives are our own, whether they’re defined by the degree we did or not. But the same could be said about any other degree. I’ve got friends who studied the arts and ended up in business. Those that went the other way. Mates in their 40s and 50s who did something utterly surprising at uni who’ve never used their degree a day in their lives.
But that’s what uni is for. Finding a place for you. Not just the training, not just the experience, but finding your people, your place, growing as a person, becoming an adult.
That’s the importance of the humanities as a study choice. “It… encourages one to grapple with complex moral issues ever-present in life. It encourages reflection and provides one with an appreciation and empathy for humanity.” They give us a place. They find us people. They help us understand the fullness of the world.
Studying humanities helps us understand who we are, and right now, we need that more than ever.
Theatre was the right choice for me, and I’m never going to say that it wasn’t. It’s given me so much more than the exorbitant tuition fees could have asked for; incredible friendships, wonderful experiences, people who I love and adore, who’ve made me better than I was.
Maybe it wasn’t the right choice for some of my classmates, but it was for me, and they deserved the opportunity to realise that for themselves.
We need specific, targeted support to save our arts communities, and we need it now.
Otherwise, what are we going to have left?
