Watson Fellowship

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a lunch for a group of incoming freshman with merit scholarships. The two speakers focused (remarkably enough) on life after Rhodes. This was my second day of orientation and the administrators were already telling us to think about our careers after Rhodes. This didn't bother me too greatly as I am a forward thinking person, but at the same time, I did just spend a year filling out college applications and I find it mildly disturbing that the second day in college they're already advising us to plan for after undergraduate studies. The professors/deans informed us that we needed to begin planning for graduate school and fellowships etc. now. So I am.



The fellowship I found most intriguing was the Watson Fellowship. It's extremely difficult to get this particlar fellowship. What the scholarship entails is a very generous grant given to a student who wants to further study a particular subject. The only stipulation is that this student may not set foot in the US for a year. (This sounds like heaven, doesn't it?) Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to examine the possible decline of the arts audience globally? Before leaving, I could study Broadway audience statistics and compare them to West End statistics! I could chart age, numbers, and what subjects are most appealing to audiences. For example, musical theatre in France is entirely different. La Comedie Musicale is barely known (outside of Lion King/Beauty and the Beast translations.) I had the pleasure of travelling to Paris this summer, where I saw Cabaret in french. It was completely different. There is no fear of an audience finding t too risque/politically incorrect/raunchy. It never would have done well in America (that presentation at least.) WHat kind of productions are popular in Russia? Translations of big budget broadway shows? Local productions? What about Italy? Can all classes afford to attend? Do all classes want to attend? Australia? What about a study across english speaking countries? Anyway, I could study the numbers and speak to individual people (in English/French countries, anyway) and attempt to find what works, what doesn't, and then search for possible solutions or methods of improvement. What do you think?