American leaving academic in workshop (6)
I believe the answer is:
studio
'workshop' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'american leaving academic' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for United States).
'leaving' suggests deleting specific letters.
'academic' becomes 'studious' (academic can mean studious or scholarly).
'studious' with 'us' removed is 'STUDIO'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for studio that I've seen before include "Elstree area" , "Film producer" , "Workroom of an artist or photographer" , "Film-making company" , "Artist's place of work" .)