Hi. I'm Léna, and I need your help!

I've been accepted to study MA Environmental Architecture at the Royal College of Art, which is a course I've dreamed of doing. Their offer comes at a pivotal moment, representing a real shift in my practice, moving from philosophies of art and filmmaking, to actionable, infrastructural responsibility and care for our environment.

The deposit fee stands between me and that opportunity. I've tried everything: I've worked with the school's HR department asking for alternatives, but they can't offer any flexibility. I can't afford to pay this deposit myself. I've lived with financial precarity for years, and it's been a constant constraint on what I can do, due to my skillset being built up as a freelancer, living below the threshold month-to-month here in Portugal.

But this course changes that, only if I can get there. An MA from the RCA will give me the networks, the methodologies, the credibility to gain deeper knowledge and responsibility. Right now, I make independent documentaries (under intense time pressures and guilt due to having 3-4 jobs overlapping) and run small archival projects. With the qualification and networks the RCA's Environmental Architecture course offers, I can create something much bigger: collaborative documentary work that mobilises people around environmental action, funded opportunities, research initiatives that push policy change, work that demands institutional accountability.

The deposit fee is the only thing stopping me.

If you can contribute, I'm deeply grateful. If you can share this, that helps too.

Thank you!