@Theaterforme I am a Michigan mom and definitely happy to talk to you through PM’s or otherwise. There are also a couple of other Michigan parents also around who occasionally look in on CC. Watching the youtube video’s by Aline who graduated in 2017 definitely gives you a great window on Michigan. Also look up Senior Entrance MT’21 - these kids did a phenomenal job pulling off senior entrance during a pandemic when everyone thought it might be cancelled. It gives you another window onto current Michigan culture. The students are involved and care deeply about politics - you can see this reflected in Senior Entrance. One of the things that makes Michigan great is how educated the students are and how there is an emphasis on learning and being a fully developed thinking person and how that will then inform your acting and your career.
I agree with @BoogieMa that all universities have work to do. And Michigan does as well. But I never seen the tokenism you are describing above. Student’s of color play leads and are fully engaged in the program. The opportunities are incredible. Michael McElroy spent the last two years there developing new work which played on the mainstage, and my daughter loved being involved in his production of “Sonnets, Soliloquies, and Soul”. Check out the alumni and follow the Michigan MT Instagram…BIPOC Michigan students are all over Broadway. It’s a great program - if you get in, don’t even hesitate.
I don’t think Michigan is even on his radar. Cost is a concern for us but we are not going to qualify for need based aid. He is a tippy top student/test score kid, so the smaller private schools that give great academic merit aid are likely going to be the only options for him. But I just watched that MT’21 Entrance (and went all the way down the rabbit hole wasting 2 hours) and that was so incredibly cool! The class looks considerably more diverse than even 2 years earlier. Very interesting change in such a short amount of time!
@Theaterforme I saw on Elon U’s instagram that they have their first MT BFA grad nominated for a Tony award, Daniel J. Watts, who is Black.
Not trying to push Elon on you, mostly posting so that if you want to you can respond and get to your message number!!!
@Theaterforme from what I know our friends at Michigan (MT) did figure out the finances and aren’t unusually wealthy, although I have also heard there certainly are kids who are there. Also, if your son has good grades that does help. Most audition programs it’s more a minimum, but grades/scores help a lot on the merit side. The few schools with higher than avg academics it’s more about getting in vs merit since everyone is a high academic kid to be there. But many of the other schools it could mean substantial help, if your kid is above their avg.
@TS0104 You are the best. This thread has definitely opened my eyes to some schools I would have considered unfriendly or in unfriendly areas, Elon and UNCSA are what I would consider “could go either way” atmospheres. I have decided that I personally would like to go to Coastal Carolina!
@intheburbs He has very high stats. Which makes some schools really affordable. I am on the line as to whether I let him apply to schools that do not appear to be affordable (which tend to be schools that already have really high academic standards, which makes him not impressive). He is only a sophomore right now so we have some time and I think a lot of the racial stuff will shake out and change in the next year or two.
Hi @Theaterforme ,
I am not a MT parent, but I am a Black father of Black children who lives in NC. I don’t have a lot to say about the MT programs, but I can tell you about the campuses and cities where the NC schools are located.
My son and I unofficially toured UNCSA more from a music perspective. He plays multiple instruments and was also contemplating production and/or management, but was/is not interested in Theater, and we both wanted to see the school while we were in town. The students and employees we met were very kind and very diverse. The city of Winston-Salem is about 34% Black and 44% minority. Winston Salem is also home to The National Black Theater Festival, which over the years has welcomed guests like Denzel Washington, Debbie Morgan, Leslie Uggams and more. Students from UNCSA often perform at the festival: https://www.uncsa.edu/news/20170726-black-magic-play.aspx
The campus is not astoundingly diverse, but I think it qualifies as diverse. WSSU is only a 15-minute drive away, so your son could get the benefits of mingling at HBCU events without worrying about being overwhelmed 24/7 as someone who isn’t accustomed to being in such situations.
**UNC-Greensboro ** is incredibly diverse in both enrollment and employees. The city of Greensboro is also incredibly diverse, and was the home of the first lunch sit-ins during the civil rights movement - that building is kind of like a museum to the movement and event. The downtown is undergoing large-scale renewal, a new Performing Arts Center just opened (only a 5-minute drive from campus) that will bring traveling Broadway shows and concerts to downtown, and there is a great, respected HBCU (NC A&T) only 10 minutes away, so just like at UNCSA, he can mingle in HBCU events (homecoming, minority-themed speaking engagements, entertainment, etc) without being overwhelmed. UNC-G is generally regarded as the UNC university with a focus on the arts. Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops graduated from UNC-G and her sister is a professor there.
My niece is the latest of family members (and children of friends and neighbors) who attended UNC-G. My niece, like your son, grew up in a PW environment and was often the token in her friend groups growing up. At UNC-G, she found the perfect environment to immerse herself in a more diverse setting while earning her college degree. I’ve been on campus many times and it has a great feel about it. It’s in/near downtown Greensboro, but has a very campusy campus.
My son and I visited Elon several times. It is a very white campus in both enrollment and staff. However, it also struck us as very friendly and welcoming. We attended a minority students/applicants event and the current minority students were very frank about their experiences - but none had any horror stories. Mostly their issues (if they had any; some did not) were about coming from a primarily Black and/or low-income background and trying to fit in on a very white upper-middle-class campus. After several visits, a lot of research, and a couple of conversations with Black employees, I would have felt very comfortable if my son had attended Elon.
The town of Elon is very small and not diverse. However Elon is about midway between Greensboro (20 min) and Durham (35 min), two very diverse cities that are each home to HBCUs. I’ll admit that proximity might not matter much because he’ll probably spend most of his time on/near campus, but it may be a little comfort to know he isn’t completely removed from diversity. BTW, that Trump Caravan stunt in Elon was not a regular type occurrence in the city and certainly not on campus. It was an isolated incident by a handful of jerks. FWIW, as a non-MT parent, I was impressed with the MT department and Communications department at Elon.
Sorry I couldn’t be more help about in-depth MT knowledge. I hope this helped a little. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
Good luck!
I am another mother of a BIPOC MT student at Pace. I quoted @BoogieMa’s post in it’s entirety because she perfectly summed up my kid’s experience as well. My D says that even with everything going on, she still doesn’t want to be anywhere else and that this is still where she’s meant to be. She points out to me that student body itself is among the most diverse and it resides in a diverse city and those elements can only help the change happen. It has been a difficult year so far, no question. I am frustrated as hell that my D has to deal with all of this upheaval in her program and people she looked up to turning out to be the very opposite of what they claimed on top of a freaking pandemic. But I think @BoogieMa is right in that Pace is doing the work and the time will come when other programs have to face the music on this topic. I have hope that 2021 will be a brighter year in many, many respects.
Thank you both! EconPop, It didn’t even occur to me that I could seek advice from non MT parents. North Carolina is definitely off my not safe list (I was going to say “blacklist” but then realized that term was racist - erasing from my vocabulary). I think there is a balance with the general information you provided (which I sincerely appreciate) and how MT programs are run. For a black kid in a musical theater world where the racial implications of being black are changing rapidly, I feel like its extra important to make sure the black kids are getting the same education and roles as white kids in school. And I think you guys are right about Pace. The fact that they are in the news and dealing with their problems very well might mean they are the BEST school for black kids a year or two from now. Those schools we are hearing nothing about might be the ones who have bigger problems that no one would ever have the guts to talk about.
@Theaterforme We did audition for UNCG (and got accepted and was in our top 3), and will say they are wonderful. The head of the program is really kind, talented and working to build their MT program - he was brought in to do so and last year was just their second cohort. He music directed Wicked (tour and Broadway) and also recently Prince of Egypt in London. If your son wants a program where he gets a lot of performance opportunities they are geared to that, with a lot of shows every semester and you can take dance classes at your level. They recently have worked to feature more BIPOC new work and will continue to do so. We also felt the campus was one of the more diverse we visited, whereas some others were not and felt uncomfortable for that reason. My kid was so driven initially they felt they could tolerate any environment, but once we visited some more it became clear that would not be the case. The MT cohort is small, like 8 or so per year but they work with the Acting cohort as well so not too small and you’ll see diversity in the ranks, it is neither the best or worst in that regard. Definitely consider them!
Elon U MT Dept did an all-Black cabaret earlier this month, here is an article about it: https://www.elon.edu/u/news/2020/10/07/the-moment-elons-first-all-black-cabaret-streams-this-weekend/ @ElontheMoment on Instagram.
I agree that checking in with the Black students/community in general at a school, about the campus/school as a whole and the community that it is in, will be helpful.
Plus the MT classes are so small, you’d have a very small number of people to get feedback from! Good point too that times are changing…although, I would imagine that on-campus or in-dept changes can occur much faster than changes within the local community as a whole.
@Theaterforme my daughter is a freshman in MT at UNCG. I was a little apprehensive to send her to NC as a young black woman in the current climate, but our experience has been wonderful so far. They really promote a culture of care there and she is thriving in the supportive, nurturing, environment. It truly is like a family. My daughter definitely feels seen and valued there. 4 of the 8 MT freshmen are black, including my daughter. The program is doing a lot of work around diversity and centering marginalized voices in American Theater. Happy to answer any questions you have about the program and to share what we learned going through this process a year ago.
@TS0104 That show looks amazing! So sad I missed it!
Hey @Theaterforme… I don’t know much about the Howard MT program (besides seeing the linked article below when I was doing general research on Howard a few years ago), but I currently have 2 kids who currently attend Howard. My son has had it worse than being a “token” because he has spent his entire life never fitting in anywhere, despite having top academic credentials. He has always hidden in the shadows, but I have seen an unbelievable change in him since he took online courses this summer with his scholarship cohort before starting his freshman year at Howard. It is very early for my son, but I can already say with some certainty that Howard University and its students have changed his life, without even stepping foot on campus.
If Howard has what your son is looking for from an artistic perspective (I only saw a music theatre concentration which I have linked below), please give it a closer look because it may provide an amazing experience unlike any other school could provide. But you are right to be very careful as I too believe that “fit” is such an important factor. Good luck with your search.
https://magazine.howard.edu/categories/features/artistic-influence
https://theatrearts.howard.edu/concentrations/musical-theatre
My students both have full ride merit scholarships to Howard and I have seen a lot of their scholarships over the years. In the past, a great GPA/Standardized Test score was the ticket (3.75 GPA and 1500 SAT/34 ACT range for Presidential Scholarship), but they also have need based scholarships and I would assume scholarships based on your student’s talent. If you have specific questions, I can probably find out the answers for you.
@Theaterforme I am happy to chat with you via pm anytime. I check in here every couple of weeks, now that we are past the senior year application gauntlet! Looks like you’re getting great advice from other parents as well.
@BoogieMa I will definitely PM you when we get closer. We have at least a year. Perhaps the info will be unneeded if the fool doesn’t start taking school seriously!
I am putting this link about rankings and the damage to BIPOC folks here in case others get drawn to this thread.
https://www.onstageblog.com/editorials/2020/9/3/college-theatre-programs-rankings-failed-bipoc-students?fbclid=IwAR2_jPjU9Unr_NU3Kee309mfgAaS5VR9YyWIQKpkOT0omxHI88JqSToqYfg