Capilano University ends popular music program
Capilano University is closing its popular Community Music School to focus on credit programs for undergraduate students, according to the university’s outgoing president Kris Bulcroft.
Bulcroft said about 16 part-time instructors and 250 students, mainly children, will be affected. The closure takes effect in September.
Bulcroft said it wasn’t about money because the program generates revenue for the university.
“To put it succinctly, we have to decide what we do really well, continue to do what we do really well, and build out those signature programs that will continue to bring students to us and spend the taxpayers’ money wisely in terms of the programs that students really need for credentialing,” she said.
“It was a break-even program. We weren’t losing money, but we weren’t making a lot of money. What it was costing us was a lot of time. It took a great deal of effort to schedule the courses. It also took some opportunity costs from Cap.”
Bulcroft said students in the university’s expanding jazz and musical theatre programs found it difficult to find practice space because of the footprint of the music school.
She said programs such as the university’s popular summer adventure camps aren’t affected by the music school’s closure.
Bulcroft is retiring as president in July. New president J. Paul Dangerfield takes over Oct. 1.
But Justin O’Donohue, a teacher in the music school, said the closure was “devastating on many levels."
“It’s a large part of my income, but that’s the least part of my concerns,” said O’Donohue, who is also a private music instructor and performer. “I’m just devastated for the children. I have personal relationships with families and children for five years. I know families who planned on putting younger siblings in (the school).”
O’Donohue said he will continue to teach his unique Kodaly Orff music program for preschoolers until regularly scheduled programming ends June 26.
“I would say, if this isn’t the ultimate definition of what we do really well, I don’t know what is,” he said. “It is the best program of its kind on the North Shore, hands down, and arguably in the Lower Mainland.”
Half of the school’s programming takes place off campus. When music students are being taught on Saturdays, most of the instructional space at the university isn’t being occupied by undergraduate students.
“It’s a jewel of a program. It should be a point of pride for the university,” he said. “It’s lose-lose for everybody — and worst of all for the children.”