Backstage: Tracy Brabin has been Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire since 2016 after a by-election triggered by the murder of Jo Cox. She considers herself part of “the exciting influx of Labour MPs in the last year, most of whom have done other jobs”. Tracy’s other job was as an actor, coming to the Labour Party after a 20 year career; breaking through in the 1989 comedy-drama “A Bit of a Do”, becoming a regular in “Coronation Street”, “Emmerdale” and “Eastenders” and later writing for “Tracey Beaker”, “Heartbeat” and “Shameless”. Last month the results of her and fellow MP Gloria de Piero’s inquiry into access and diversity in the acting industry were published, evidencing what many have known for some time: “There is a class-shaped hole in the industry”.
4 comments:
“As for low- or no-pay jobs, the only way we’ll see any change is to be collective, to say it’s not good enough.” THIS. This is important
Even though this article is written from the perspective of an actor from the UK, it is just as applicable to the United States. The interviewer mentions “low or no pay is often the only way into the industry.” The fact that most internships and many entry level jobs in American theatre don’t pay even close to minimum wage (which is itself a far cry from a living wage) and also often don’t allow for second jobs means that the only people who can take those jobs are from families who can financially support them. For example: there are nationally known, professional theatres in DC that don’t pay or provide housing to interns. In DC, that requires 10s of thousands of dollars of support.
This means we are looking at a rising generation of theatre professionals that has priced out middle to low income candidates. That’s bad news for both socioeconomic and racial diversity.
First of all I have to say that I think it's really cool that there is an MP who was a former actress and that she's becoming such an advocate for the arts. The issue about class becoming a barrier in the entertainment industry is something that we really don't talk about enough. The reality is that for the majority of people this is a very low paying industry and it requires you to put a lot into it. You can see this even just looking at the School of Drama. Tuition goes up every single year, and even with scholarships this can still be a huge barrier to attending for many people. Without training it can be even harder for artists to find work, which then makes it so artists from a wealthier background have an easier road to success. I think that in order to combat this drama schools and other educational organizations should make more of an effort to help students from all economic backgrounds succeed.
This article brings up a very important issue that is relevant to the UK but also apply's to the U.S. The Arts don't get money and less and less people are even getting exposed to it. Everyone watches television but that's about it. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) which is the second biggest education district in the U.S. keeps cutting funding for the arts every year. Some schools have been lucky enough to be close to an organization that volunteers its time to teach young students. Other students will have to go to an arts high school and most of those still cant do much or even teach art well to begin with due to that loss of funding altogether. Theatre also seems to be at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to arts because its much cheaper to buy a few supplies and teach students than it is to put on productions at schools. So to have someone in the UK who not only is in their government but is also advocating for arts and was in theatre is awe inspiring. We just need to take the hint that arts are actually very important and that we do need them. We also need people in our government to advocate for the arts. We need this because it is very true: if you want to do art, you really do need to have money. It is hard to get much in the beginning and for this goes for any art form. Some money needs to be lost to even produce the art in the first place whether its for supplies, to go to a school, or to just live until something happens.
In a recent comment, I talked about how the class divide in theatre starts very young because if you went into theatre professionally you probably did theatre in high school which means you went to at least a privileged enough high school that there was a theatre program. This article elaborates on how this class divide is perpetuated throughout the system. Tracy Brabin's point that one of the major barriers is the fact that for many actors at the beginning of their career, they are expected to work for little to no pay. This is possible if you have other people or institutions in your life that can help support. However, if you do have those options and also have to support your family, pay off debt or have other financial responsibilities, working a job that doesn't pay anything simply because it's your passion is just not an option. I am happy to see politicians like Brabin who come from both working-class and artistic backgrounds calling attention to these issues in our industry.
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