Help Kat Go To Grad School!

Kat Haan is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hi!

My name is Kat Haan. I am a Los Angeles based theatre maker and I am currently trying to raise money so that I will be able to afford to attend graduate school at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in the fall.

Most of you who know me are familiar with my work as a Stage Manager and sometime Producer/Assistant Director/Board Op./Etc… Over the past seven years I have worked on the production side with amazing theatre companies around Los Angeles. I got to make art that I love with people who have become like family to me. I have been so fortunate to get to work on productions that I am truly proud of, but through it all I have missed having the opportunity to perform.

I achieved my Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre at Occidental College where the focus of my training was acting. Since studying abroad in London in 2006 it has been my dream to return to the UK to get my Master's Degree in Acting. Through a combination of circumstances (and maybe a little bit of fear) my dreams were put on hold. But this past year has been a truly transformative one for me and I am now ready to own my dreams and dive into the unknown.

Since making the decision to pursue this path I have been fully committed to making this dream a reality. Last summer I spent my free time filling out audition forms, preparing statements of purpose and in the fall began working with amazing teachers and friends on my audition pieces. I flew myself to New York and San Francisco for auditions, missing work and giving up whatever (admittedly meager) social life I had previously had. There were many adventures and misadventures along the way but I made it through. The day I received my acceptance to the Masters in Acting Program at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland was one of the proudest of my life.

But now I have to figure out how to pay for it... The conversion from dollars to pounds does not work in this American girl's favor and in order to get a student visa I have to be able to show that I have all of the funds to cover the full year tuition plus living expenses. I have filled out the FAFSA but will not know the amount of that loan until June. I have been researching scholarship and grant opportunities, but it is slim pickins out there. Apparently international arts organizations don't like giving educational scholarships to the 30+ crowd :-(

I have never been very good at asking for help, but this is too important to me. So here I am, asking for help from you beautiful people. Any amount would be so greatly appreciated. I am planning to start a blog/email newsletter to chronicle my adventures in Scotland and share with any and all donors (you are free to opt out of this). And if you send me your address there may be a Scottish souvenir in your future…

Why Scotland? Grad school is expensive no matter where you go. It was important to me that my grad school experience not just be a world class education, but also an adventure taking me across an ocean and out of my comfort zone. During my time in London I had the opportunity to travel around the UK where I fell in the love with the culture and the people. Scotland is one country that I have never had the opportunity to visit and the chance to spend a year studying in Glasgow leaves me buzzing with excitement and nerves.

Here is a link to the program I will be attending: http://www.rcs.ac.uk/postgraduate/ma-classical-contemporary-text/