A Broadway actor turned arts educator will be honoured alongside students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in its autumn graduation and fellowship ceremony.

American educationalist Eric Booth, often referred to as the ‘the father of the teaching artist profession’, will receive an Honorary Doctorate on Thursday 31 October for his contribution to arts education.

A former Broadway actor who played 23 Shakespearean roles, he co-founded the International Teaching Artist Collaborative in 2012 and was on the faculties of Juilliard – co-founding the teaching artist and mentoring programmes – Tanglewood, The Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center Education.

He was a founding director of the Leonard Bernstein Center. He’s a consultant for many arts organisations, including seven of the ten largest orchestras in the US.

In 2015, he was presented with the US’s highest award in arts education and was named one of the 25 most influential people in the arts.

Eric Booth said: “My career has been dedicated to building up the usually overlooked field of teaching artists, also called participatory or community artists; I think they are ‘the sleeping giant of social change.’

“To be honoured by RCS, one of the world’s most respected training grounds for 21^st-century artists, has meaning for more than merely one grateful individual – it is a clarion recognition that helps awaken this global force for good.”

Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said: “We’re looking forward to celebrating our graduating students, who head off into the world from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with our fullest support and our warmest congratulations.

“We will also recognise the essential and far-reaching contribution made by Eric Booth to the world of arts education. In transferring his talent from the stage to the schoolroom, Eric’s example is one that we should all strive to follow in furthering education in the arts and its accessibility.”

Dr Karen McAulay will receive a Fellowship from RCS following 36 years of service as the institution’s performing arts librarian between June 1988 and July 2024. Since retiring from the library, she has a new part-time role as postdoctoral research fellow.

Karen studied for a PhD at the University of Glasgow in her ‘spare time’, graduating in 2009. Her research combines musicology with cultural, library and book history.

Karen was awarded the first Honorary Ketelbey Fellowship in Late Modern History at the University of St Andrews’ School of History, between September-December 2023, and between January and June 2025 will be an IASH (Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities) Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

Karen McAulay said: “I feel very proud and honoured to be made a Fellow of RCS. My late mother-in-law was from Glasgow; if she was thrilled when I got a job as a librarian in the place that she remembered as the Athenaeum, then her excitement would be truly off the scale today.

“I’ve always considered it a privilege to work for a Scottish national institution, and to witness its expansion and success over the years.”

Professor Sharkey added: “Karen has been a credit to RCS for the past 36 years, maintaining the high standard of our performing arts library for the benefit of our students while continually striving to enrich the world of the arts through her own research.”

The graduation ceremony will also see professorships awarded on three RCS staff members in recognition of their national and international standing and their contribution to RCS: Professor Lois Fitch – contribution to curriculum design and leadership; Professor Djordje Gajic – contribution to performance and pedagogy and Professor Steve Halfyard – contribution to research and innovation.

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Tune in to the graduation livestream on Thursday 31 October at 6pm