New Act for Student Theatre: Mermaids Becomes a Society as Performing Arts Network Launches

The Mermaids Performing Arts Fund is transitioning from being a part of the Students’ Association subcommittee network to a society following the creation of the new Performing Arts Network. 

The Students’ Association has renamed its subcommittees “networks,” or “groups of students bound by a common identity that campaign for issues relevant to their community,” as described on the YourUnion website. While Mermaids has been “societised” according to Outgoing Mermaids President and Students’ Association Performing Arts Officer Bella Hirst, a new Performing Arts Network (PAN) has been developed to focus specifically on student theatre representation, led by incoming Performing Arts Officer Lucy Turner.

This decision was a part of a wider restructuring within the Students’ Association Networks that aimed to separate representational and activity-based student groups. 

Hirst was closely involved in discussions surrounding the restructuring, working alongside President of Student Opportunities Robert ‘RoMo’ Moran.

In an interview with The Saint, Hirst said the change stems from Union reforms, specifically the Democracy Review and subsequent Change Programme, which examined how other student unions across the UK structure their committees. She explained that many unions operate under a more “representational” model, with committees dedicated to advocating for various student groups. 

By contrast, the St Andrews Student Union previously consisted of a wider range of committee types, with some being representational, such as Saints LGBT+ and BAME Students’ Network, and others being activity-focused, like STAR: St Andrews Radio and St Andrews Union Debating Society.

Hirst noted that Mermaids’ primary function as a theatre-producing group meant that it was not fully suited to the Union’s evolving representational structure: “Mermaids, being a group that focuses primarily on putting on shows, isn’t always representational, and so the new structure wasn’t quite aligning.” 

She said that PAN aims to address this gap by providing a dedicated platform for advocacy within student theatre, which Hirst felt was crucial to maintain even after Mermaids “societised,” particularly in the absence of a theatre degree at the University of St Andrews.

“RoMo and I had a lot of chats about how student theatre could still fit into this new structure,” said Hirst. “I firmly believe that student theatre needs a voice, and I believe that it needs that kind of advocacy, and it needs that place to be able to connect with the Union and the University so that we can make the shows that we keep on making, especially because St Andrews doesn’t have an academic theatre programme.”

According to Hirst, a constitution with various job descriptions is underway, and PAN will seek to appoint these new roles shortly, including a Storage Officer and Wellbeing Officer. 

Responsibility for communal resources — like sets and props storage shared by Mermaids, Musical Theatre Society, and Gilbert and Sullivan Society — will transfer from Mermaids to PAN. 

Hirst stressed that Mermaids’ core activities will remain largely unchanged.

“A lot of what Mermaids functionally does isn’t going to change that much,” she said. “We’re still going to be putting on our shows, still doing Fringe, still doing Christmas Ball, still doing all the fabulous things that we’ve gotten to do.”

She also highlighted the benefits of separating representational responsibilities from the society’s production work, commenting that balancing two leadership roles alongside Mermaid’s extensive production schedule created a significant workload.  

“Being able to split that workload a bit will make the jobs less strenuous for the people that hold them, and also, by nature, make people better able to do those jobs,” Hirst said.

While many societies charge their members semesterly or yearly dues, Hirst confirmed that Mermaids will remain free to join, maintaining its accessibility.

“Something I was very, very keen on when the concept was first introduced is, I love that Mermaids is accessible and free, and I want to keep it that way,” she said.

Unlike many subcommittees that rely on Union funding, according to the society, Mermaids is “entirely financially self-sustaining” through productions and events, predominantly Christmas Ball,” said Hirst. “Our financial situation won’t be changing.”

As the Students’ Association’s new structure takes greater shape in the coming academic year, PAN and Mermaids are expected to play distinct but complementary roles within the student theatre community, with one focusing on representation and the other on production.

The Saint reached out to the Union for comment, but at the time of publication, no response was received.

Photo Provided by the University of St Andrews