UArts closure leaves the future of Pig Iron School’s MFA program uncertain

In the midst of the announcement of the sudden closure of the University of the Arts, Philadelphia’s Pig Iron School has been one of the many groups left scrambling. UArts and Pig Iron offer a joint master’s of fine arts degree, in addition to a certificate program in devised theater, but now 35 students enrolled in the MFA program must find alternative options to complete their education.

The Olde Kensington-based nonprofit Pig Iron Theatre Company was founded in 1995 to promote physical theater education and train students in dramatic storytelling through physical movement. In 2015, the company partnered with UArts to expand its certificate program and add a 2½-year-long MFA option. Students take classes primarily at Pig Iron, but pay tuition and receive degrees from UArts. The theater school covers program expenses up front and UArts reimburses it on a quarterly basis.

At the moment, UArts still owes Pig Iron about $300,000 for the last two quarters, according to Quinn Bauriedel, co-artistic director and cofounder of Pig Iron’s theater and school.

“That’s a considerable portion of our budget, so it’s hard to fathom what we would do if we had to wait three years for that to all get sorted out,” said Bauriedel, who oversees the organization’s budget, which typically ranges from $1.3 to $1.8 million. “It would really create a particular kind of crisis for us if we don’t get that reimbursement. We’re a small nonprofit who have done a great job for 29 years, but we’ve never faced something quite like this.”

Bauriedel said that Pig Iron is exploring various options at the moment, from seeking a new institutional partner to potentially reviving the original certificate program Pig Iron offered before partnering with UArts. If the organization can raise the funds to cover the certificate program, it will be offered as an alternative for the cohort of 14 MFA students who were expected to begin in fall 2024.

Finding another accredited institution would also be the most sustainable path forward for MFA students. “We are actively looking for a new institutional partner, a stable one, one that will believe in us and the program that we’ve created and the impact that it’s having,” said Bauriedel. “That’s not something that you can just snap your fingers and make happen.”

The program, he said, is very unique, “which makes it a hard transition to just suggest, ‘Why don’t you take some courses and get some credits somewhere else?’ These students came to this program to work directly with the Pig Iron faculty.”

Third-year MFA students Graham Cook, 27, and Tenara Calem, 31, learned about the closure news on May 31 from The Inquirer, hours after they had received email notices from Nelnet, the student loan service, prompting them to pay their bills to cover the upcoming fall 2024 semester.

“I just remember laughing [when I learned the news] because it was so incredulous and so cartoonishly villainous,” said Calem, an improv teacher who lives in Germantown. “UArts’ challenges financially and administratively were extremely evident to me as a student in just the piecemeal lack of support for students. That being said, this is a huge shock, primarily in the way that the closure has been handled. It tanked whatever confidence I had in the UArts board of trustees and president.”

Both Cook and Calem were set to graduate in December, after completing their final semester, which includes a civic project focused on community engagement and the opportunity to teach undergraduate students at UArts. They were both signed up to attend a town hall meeting on Monday that was meant to address student and faculty concerns before UArts canceled the Zoom meeting abruptly.

“The university is keeping us tremendously in the dark. We have been given absolutely no resources, no anything, no direction. Any resources we’ve been given, I have seen from students creating infographics and slide shows over Instagram of how to download all the things from your email, how to get a copy of your transcripts,” said Cook, who lives in West Philly and works part time as a caregiver and produce vendor at Rittenhouse Farmers Market.

UArts has said that it will arrange transfer pathways for students to complete their degrees at other local institutions, including Temple University (which is now exploring a potential merger with UArts) and Drexel University. It’s unclear whether any financial aid or scholarships will be matched in this transition. Cook said he would be happy with either Temple or Drexel, as long as Pig Iron can retain the freedom to teach its unique pedagogy.

The students are yet to hear from UArts about next steps. The last few days, they said, have been painful and infuriating.

“I feel so taken advantage of as a student and as a consumer. I can’t help but feel like somebody has my money and is running to the bank laughing at me,” said Calem. “Nothing about the UArts leadership’s behavior changes my perception that I’m being laughed at, that I’m never going to get my money’s worth.”