Lack of post-secondary music programs next year concerns educators, musicianas in northeastern Ontario
CBC
Musicians and music teachers in northeastern Ontario say a lack of post-secondary music education is going to reverberate through the region, but the music scene will survive.
Facing tough financial decisions, colleges and universities have discontinued or temporarily paused taking in students, leaving no options to start a musical degree next year in the northeast.
Options started to narrow in 2021, when Laurentian University cut its music program and sold its instruments during its insolvency.
The following year, Cambrian College stopped accepting new students to its music program due to low enrolment, and recently confirmed it has no plans to bring it back.
Last month, Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie said it would not admit new students to its program for one year, while considering the program's future.
Colleges and universities have said they've had to make these difficult decisions because of financial pressure created by ongoing tuition freezes and a sudden decline in international students.
People like former Cambrian music professor Jamie Arrowsmith dealt firsthand with the decline of post-secondary music education in northeastern Ontario.
"I'm disappointed, but maybe not necessarily surprised to see that these programs are dwindling, or being suspended or scaled back," he said.
Arrowsmith grew up in Sudbury in a musical family and went abroad for his post-secondary education, then returned home to work at Cambrian.
It's an option that future musicians who leave the city won't have if they want to come back home, he said.
"It means primarily that students who are coming up through the schools, coming up through community programs who are interested in pursuing music in any kind of career path are going to have to leave our region," he said.
"And that means we have to work twice as hard to attract them."
Arrowsmith also said that performing and teaching aren't the only career paths for music graduates.
"People who work in music retail have a leg up when it comes to finding a job and a good job, a job that will last, and that will be meaningful and valuable to customers if they have some background and knowledge," he said.
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