Dear Mathew Johnson, David Louis Puttick, and Nathaniel Suter,

Dear Catalyst Administration,

We are writing in regards to the current condition of our school building, specifically the ground level, including the film tech, theater, cinema, and what was formerly known as The Void. We prefer not to wait until the student reps meeting in November, as these concerns are urgent. A recently posted promise for “updates” (19 October) on Moodle is insufficient at this time.

First off, we appreciate the changes being made to improve Catalyst's facilities, layout, and resources, as it attempts to provide us with “world-class spaces” (12 September) for our education. Having access to our own theater and cinema will play a critical role in our artistic growth. The recent completion of the postboxes has already enhanced our school experience once again.

From what we've heard, many of the factors regarding the school renovation are beyond Catalyst's immediate control, and have more to do with the relationship between the school and the Funkhaus owners, Uwe Fabich and Holger Jakisch. But as of now, there is little transparency with the community in terms of the construction progress—and as tuition-paying students who are directly impacted by the construction, we believe we have the right to more comprehensive information, as well as a material recognition of our heavily compromised school experience.

While the construction difficulties, as mentioned above, appear to be beyond Catalyst's control, students should not be forced to bear the brunt of this delay. Until we are able to attend a school in which we are getting the full worth of our tuition, we request a refund, also retroactively from 18 September 2023 onward, in the amount of 15% per month until the work is complete and all school facilities are available for us to use. It is unfair that the current students are paying for facilities and resources that we cannot make use of—especially since we all have few tutor-student contact hours to begin with.

As of now, we are paying full tuition for a *partial* school experience, despite what we've been promised. In a 12 September email from Nathaniel Suter:

"You might occasionally hear some construction noise, but rest assured, your learning environment and access to bookable spaces will not be affected."

Sadly, this has not been the case. Current deficiencies listed below:

* construction noise pollution during school hours is frequent and specifically disruptive to anyone working with sound or voice (virtually everyone in the school)

* no kitchen area apart from the "kitchenette" on the first floor, far from many ground-floor classrooms (and there are also no tables)

* no interior hangout or meeting area, and it’s cold outside

* postboxes were only bookable as of last week, one month after school began

* no initial recording studio access for SA students (who have missed out on voice auditions because they had been unable to access recording studios or booths for editing their reels)

* limited access to other facilities (Macs, booths, classrooms) due to lack of ground-floor classrooms / school overcrowding

* sub-par, unfinished, as-of-now low-quality learning spaces (Theater, Fashion Circus) – some specifics:

- Fashion Circus in particular has poor internet connection, and we've often had to tether to our mobile phones in order to watch films and presentations

- terrible sound insulation in the Theater results in noise spillover from Film Studio or Ensemble

- acoustics in the replacement rooms of such poor quality that students have seriously struggled to follow lessons

Communication with students regarding the progress here has been sporadic. We have received only the following updates regarding the school construction:

• 24 Apr 2023, from David Louis Puttick: an email promising that the construction would take place over the summer (not over the autumn):

• 11 September 2023, a direct email to Miranda Siegel after she specifically asked about when the construction would be completed: "December, but I can't make any promises!"

• 12 Sep 2023, from Nathaniel Suter: (quoted above)

• 19 October 2023, from Mathew Johnson: “we will promptly update you” / “we are now just a few weeks away”

Hopefully, these promises will be fulfilled. However, this will not make up for the time in which our education has been compromised.

In light of all of the current school deficiencies, we find our request for a 15% refund—as mentioned, also retroactively since 18 September—to be warranted.

We request a detailed response and a meeting as soon as possible.

With best regards,

The Ad-Hoc Student Union

Miranda Siegel, Jost Weinberger, Rhys Williams, Salomé Topuria, Rachel Leong, Zhi Yi Ong, Ilja van Ravels, Hanna-Mirtel Paas, Michaela “Oim” Schwarzenauer, Antonia Dipner, Kaito Sashihara, Dilinna Ike, Nairon Santos de Morais, Alice-Oracle Ollor

This petition has the support of the following members of the Catalyst community: