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It’s because academic institutions create a binary of right or wrong and thus cultivate an artist community of competition. Actors with BFA’s are taught that the only way to be successful is to rely on technique that requires us to be in our heads at all times (-,: https://twitter.com/kuhoo_verma/status/1305262381107417088
To be clear: technique is absolutely important. Being graded on your technique, though, is soul crushing and takes away from the student’s capacity to actually feel uninhibited and willing/able to make mistakes without fear or judgement.
Not to mention BFA programs are basically like throwing a bunch of toddlers into a room with the worst stage parents you could possibly imagine (aka the professors).
The literature and tools I learned in my BFA program are priceless - the experience of feeling stuck in a community that only cared about me as an artist and not as a human being was utterly destructive and sent me spiraling for four years.
Not to mention I spent the whole time being concerned about what grade I would earn/how judgement was being passed on me (thx professors who itemized favoritism to cultivate unhealthy work standards!) to actually understand what I was learning. I understand my craft better now.
Anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk. My BFA is a mere fraction of the actor I am still learning to become. My career, if anything, was put into a box by professors who were more concerned with my brand than the person behind it.
