ArtsEd Announces Further Inquiry into 'Toxic Culture' Allegations
Barrister appointed following press reports about abuse
Arts Educational School on Bath Road
December 19, 2023
The ArtsEd School on Bath Road in Chiswick has announced that it is to launch another review of allegations and wider governance.
The move follows the emergence of new complaints following recent press reports about a ‘toxic culture’ at the school.
The Board of Trustees has instructed Ghazaleh Rezaie, a barrister from 12 Kings Bench Walk Chambers to conduct the investigation.
In a statement the ArtsEd says, “These are serious allegations and do not reflect our values or the organisation we want to be.”
It continues, “While it is up to Ms Rezaie to agree and finalise the Terms of Reference, we are keen that this investigation is as broad and inclusive as possible, and that people have the opportunity to make their voice heard. We are determined to establish a clear account of the events and identify lessons to be learned based on the findings.”
A previous investigation in 2021, also led by a barrister, found that the school had a ‘sexualised environment’ and that favouritism and bullying was rife with incidents reported dating back to 2009.
The report by Rebecca Tuck KC resulted in the resignation of the school’s principal Chris Tucking and the Board of Trustees implemented a range of safe-guarding measures including enhanced intimacy training and the firming up of complaints’ procedures.
An article written by Jake Kanter in the entertainment magazine Deadline this November, alleged that the changes had failed to end what he described as a ‘toxic’ culture within the school. He says he conducted a five-month investigation into the institution and based his article on written testimony of students and former staff as well as internal emails he had been shown.
It was claimed that the new Principal, Julie Spencer, who had been promoted from being the head of the School of Acting to implement the new procedures, could be ‘an erratic and occasionally intimidating leader’ who, according to some students, had created a culture of fear.
The ArtsEd responded to the article by saying, “Many of the complaints raised relate to historic matters that occurred prior to the Rebecca Tuck KC review in 2021. While we have been unequivocal in accepting the cultural and leadership failings that were identified in the Tuck review, we have also made considerable progress to put things right in the last two years.”
With regard to Ms Spencer, the school said that the changes she was required to implement in the school’s processes had brought her into conflict with some long-serving employees. One alleged case of bullying from this year was subject to an independent legal review which the school said found no evident of bullying or a toxic culture. The school attributes the apparently high turnover of senior staff since Ms Spencer’s appointment to the school’s ‘robust response’ to the Tuck review.
Julie Spencer was appointed Principal of the ArtsEd in 2021. Picture: ArtsEd
The Deadline article says that the majority of people they spoke to did not give evidence to the Tuck inquiry so their allegations are new.
According to Deadline most of the previous allegations of sexual misconduct at the school were made against Andrew Wright, an Olivier Award-nominated West End musical choreographer who worked at the Arts Ed on a freelance basis. Wright has been uncontactable since the allegations emerged in 2021 apparently abandoning what had been, up to that point, a successful career in musical theatre.
Ms Spencer, who had been at the ArtsEd only since 2019 and had not been associated with the School of Musical Theatre from which most of the abuse allegations had originated from, was seen as the best candidate to bring the institution into a new era.
However, Steven Kavuma, who led the ArtsEd’s foundation course, which was based off-campus at The Lyric Theatre, said that he raised concerns about student welfare twice before leaving last December.
He told Deadline, “I witnessed first-hand bullying towards students and teachers. I tried to challenge it within the school, but the principal would isolate you.
“I don’t think it is a safe environment to train. If students don’t feel comfortable challenging that within that school, if they feel fearful… I just don’t think that’s healthy at all. Some students felt like they had to be watching their backs constantly, they felt intimidated.”
ArtsEd says it has no record of Mr Kavuma making any complaints to HR.
Leanne Nagle, the front-of-house manager for ArtsEd’s theatre until 2021, claimed that Ms Spencer was forced to apologise to her in the presence of an HR representative after an incident in November 2019 in which two audience members had been admitted late to a production. On her departure from the ArtsEd, Ms Nagle says she wrote a letter to the trustees in which she complained about Ms Spencer’s behaviour, but the school says this was never received.
Deadline says that other concerns were raised about Ms Spencer’s appointment in 2021 which were reviewed by the trustees resulting in her agreeing to a personal action plan.
Issues have reportedly continued at the school this year with students holding lightening strikes over the issue of the use of discriminatory language.
It is not known if the additional complaints outlined in the Deadline article are the reason for the latest inquiry being launched or if new issues have been raised.
An independent email address has been set up for anybody that wants to contribute to Ms Rezaie’s investigation. enquiries@independent-investigation.com and the school is encouraging anybody, including all staff, students, parents and alumni to raise concerns they may have.
The investigation is to begin as soon as possible with interviews and evidence gathering in January 2024.
The schools says that it hopes this “plan demonstrates how serious we are about holding the institution to account and how we should be determined at all times, no matter how difficult, to judge ourselves against the highest standards.”
Value Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |