Goodbye to the only public performing arts high school in Gràcia

BarcelonaThe Vila de Gràcia Institute in Barcelona will have to discontinue its performing arts baccalaureate program starting next year. The Education Consortium informed them of this just before Christmas, and if the closure of this baccalaureate program goes ahead, the Gràcia district will be left without any public options for studying performing arts. For this reason, the school community has organized a protest this week to demand that the Consortium reconsider. The school is the only one in the entire district that offers the performing arts baccalaureate program publicly, and the institute regrets the neglect of this project, which they say is "well-established and has a strong presence and social impact in the neighborhood." Furthermore, Vila de Gràcia is one of the few schools that maintains a student-to-teacher ratio of 16 per class, and they argue that its closure would represent a decline in the quality of education.

The Barcelona Education Consortium justifies the reduction in places for the performing arts baccalaureate program by citing a "need to adjust supply to demand" due to an excess of vacancies in the city. Although the closure of the program at the Gràcia center is planned for next year, they assure that first-year students will be able to complete their second year at the same center with full guarantees. Furthermore, they state that other centers will also work with smaller groups in some subjects, but this does not seem to be an optimal solution for those at Vila de Gràcia.

"Private offerings mean we have to dig deeper into our pockets"

"It frightens us that art faces so many obstacles despite being something so wonderful." This is the main sentiment of the affected students, who gathered in Plaça de Sant Miquel, in front of their high school. Their mouths gagged with black tape, they lamented the decision to close their program and asserted that "many classmates will stop pursuing the performing arts baccalaureate because there are few options accessible to everyone." Both they and the teachers are calling for public access to this type of education to be prioritized: "At a time when we are talking about the need to care for students emotionally, the performing arts become a fundamental tool," explains Elisenda Jorro, principal of Vila de Gràcia. In fact, they maintain that the Consortium's justifications for closing the baccalaureate program are insufficient, and Jorro believes that the privatization of artistic disciplines is being prioritized: "Private options mean they have to dig deep into their pockets to have the same thing they have here."

One of the main concerns of the school community is the class sizes—which they consider excessive—offered at other schools where the performing arts baccalaureate program is available. "The closest public school would be the Institut Maragall, but they have 30 or more students per class, and that makes it impossible to work effectively," explains the headmistress. Jordi Pérez, a performing arts teacher at the school, corroborates this statement based on his experience: "With 33 students in a play, some people end up playing a rock or a tree, but little else. It's impossible to do anything with even a minimum level of quality," he says. The students explain that having small groups "creates a lot of cohesion," and the environment helps them "loosen up and express themselves through art." "It affects us to know that future students won't have that opportunity," they lament.

The school has forged a connection with the neighborhood by collaborating with numerous local arts organizations. "Gràcia has always been a very artistic neighborhood, full of music and theater. It's very serious that the training opportunities for artists who come here are being withdrawn," says one of the students. She also believes that the cross-curricular nature of culture should be taken into account: "In their free time, everyone chooses to watch a movie or go to the theater. Why is art always being cut? It makes us better people and has the same value as any other subject." Next Monday, the city's Education Consortium and representatives from the Institut Vila de Gràcia will meet to share their perspectives, and the school is optimistic and hopes to find "a little room for maneuver" that will guarantee "not having to close down."