allyb wrote:This sounds great for those who are the best of the best but for those in ASH now who may not get into the academy it seems like a bait and switch.
Would you consider another tier? Teachers of 301 are now the gatekeepers for people to get into 401. Then those who do get into 401 can continue to ASH. That way at least those in ASH aren't back with all levels. If you thought that everyone benefits by playing w/ all levels all the time you wouldn't have created the Academy.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Our Advanced Study program had gotten bigger and bigger. And it's goal was to offer very high level classes, but the only way to do that was via teacher selected classes. Sometimes teachers had to select 16 names from a list of 200 plus students. It wasn't sustainable.
The Academy replaces Adv Study in terms of that goal. The 2 year time limit helps us rotate people in or out and make sure we are always serving the best. Keep in mind this isn't a 20 person program. While I don't know the exact size, it should be easier to get into the Academy then onto Lloyd Night. But it will be tougher than the current Adv Study.
Advanced Study's new purpose is to offer classes to people who want to take more classes. That's a simple goal, but they classes will be aimed at teaching forms, working skills, doing things that aren't as likely to be as dependent on having a consistent level of students. Our 401 classes currently get a wide range of students, but I think they serve everyone pretty well. Our Adv Study will aim to do that.
Adding a 301 gatekeeper or keeping Adv Study as something you need to apply for would just force people to retake 301 or 401 over and over again. That's a complaint we are seeing. Those 401 students will gain more from taking a variety of classes. And being encouraged to work outside of our school (they are no longer forced to take our classes just to get into a program).
I don't love the idea of adding more barriers to people. We are making a new barrier and removing an old one.
I hope that Adv Study classes are still good. They will be different from current ones. If they aren't good we will continue to work to make them better.
I also am sorry this feels like a "bait and switch" - our classes come with no guarantee about house team status and no guarantee with what you will do after 401. Our goal is simply to give you the tools and lessons to get better at improv. I hope we are BETTER suited for that now.
I think a bait and switch would be, after 401, you need to take 501 and 601 before getting into Adv Study. You started 101 thinking it was a 4 level course, and now it's 6. Instead we are trying to make those 4 levels as strong as possible. We are trying to make what you do after stronger by creating two products instead of one trying to do 2 things.
I hope this answers your question!