Skip to content

What can be done to save Nelson’s KSA?

What a shame that Kootenay School of the Arts is having enrollment problems. But it shouldn’t come as too big a surprise.
22172westernstarIMG_0955
The Kootenay School of the Arts will only offer one-year programs come the fall.

What a shame that Kootenay School of the Arts is having enrollment problems. But it shouldn’t come as too big a surprise.

When KSA was a proper three year art school, a graduate was well prepared to go into the workforce as a potter or fabric artist or metalsmith or whatever. Now after completing the two year program the student is still just that, a student needing to go somewhere else to complete his/hers education. Which begs the question, why come to KSA in the first place? Selkirk College might as well just close the door by only offering one year programs.

I went to KSA in the 1970s. What a fabulous vibrant school it was then. Full of all kinds of students, open 24/7 and vibrating with creativity and productivity. In 2002 my daughter graduated from the clay program when KSA still offered three year programs. By the time she graduated she had made lots of pots and had the skills to begin working as a potter. Even then KSA was open 24/7, full of students, vibrant and filled with enthusiasm.

So I guess the question now is: what, if anything, are we going to do about it?

MLA Michelle Mungall’s unenthusiastic response was certainly disappointing when she says: “This is happening all over. They’re not the first college to issue pink slips and look at program reductions.” I would like to know if local and provincial politicians are prepared to support KSA as a proper art school.

Lance D. Hall,Stillpoint Pottery