Applications for our SQA qualification courses are currently open! Megan Fraser, our new Arts Practitioner and former Higher Drama student, is here to tell you why you should study at Eden Court.
Higher Drama was the beginning of my journey into a life in performing arts. Like many other Highland schools, my secondary school didn’t teach Drama but I knew I wanted to be an actor, so this felt like a pretty significant gap in my education. However, when I found out that I could gain a Higher Drama qualification at Eden Court, I was ecstatic!
Our courses in Drama, Dance and Film are a wonderful opportunity for young people interested in working in the arts to develop their creative skills and obtain the qualifications needed for their career.
These courses offer students the chance to build a solid foundation before specialising in a chosen field. Many students from my Higher Drama class alone went on to work successfully in set design, stage management, facilitation, performing and directing. For me, the course inspired a love for classical text and textual analysis, which remains evident in my career today. I've even gone on to work professionally with many of my cohort!
A huge part of studying at Eden Court is the sense of community that comes with it. Since the classes are open to people from across the Highlands, it was my first opportunity to meet like-minded peers who wanted to work professionally in the arts. With that also came my first chance to establish a sense of what a Highland identity is or could be. Examining that identity so early on proved invaluable in an industry where community, collaboration and networking are so important.
For me, the most impactful benefit of studying at Eden Court was the sense of respect and professionalism I gained at sixteen from studying in a working theatre every week - it felt like my first step into the professional theatre world. It was a commitment that required focus and energy but, being outwith school, I felt empowered with a sense of agency.
Following my studies at Eden Court, I ended up graduating from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2021 with a Masters in Contemporary and Classical Text. Since then, I have worked with some fantastic companies and gained so much from working across disciplines and genres. I have had the pleasure of being challenged in my work, continuing my evolution as an actor, which all began at Eden Court.
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