God, yes. I spend an hour in Excel figuring out how to make things fit better and think, “They’re paying me for this! How delightful!” There’s an elegance of a good spreadsheet that tickles me. That element of coming up with an idea, “It would be great if — insert blank” and you’re like, “Oh! I bet I could get it to do that!” Sometimes it takes some finagling to line the pieces up, but when you figure it out.
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In the School of Drama we are commonly exposed to the roles on a production, but this article gives some insight on the management of a venue. Tours are complicated to coordinate, so the communication with the venue is absolutely vital. When the management team of Hamilton came to Carnegie Mellon, they emphasized how essential it is to constantly communicate with each new location they are arriving to. The company manager discussed how he is not just working out logistics with the next stop, but also the many that follow. This article explains some of the details of a position that blends many of the aspects I love about management. While I definitely relate to the fondness for organization and spreadsheets, I am specifically drawn to figuring out schedules and problem solving. I can see how Joanna Obuzor’s (the operations manager) background in performing arts and technical theatre have both influenced and benefitted her career in arts management.
I love the tag line of this article that “there is an art to the administration of the arts” because theatre managers are artists. This is one of the truest statements of the article. I’m intrigued by the questions that were asked is the interviewer seems to be confused by the idea of a manager liking paperwork. I feel like this a very common thing across managers. It was interesting hearing how simply Obuzor puts her job as just managing venues. Knowing from what I’ve learned talking to operations managers that their job becomes very complicated. It was also very interesting how she talks about filling sinkholes. I feel like every manager talks about how they are there to put out fires. This is something universal I’ve found in learning about all types of managers. I have been very nice to read this article and really see the transferable skills that every manager needs.
I can relate to the love of spreadsheets, paperwork, and logistics described in this article. I had a few fun Excel projects at my internship last summer, and I loved just spending hours figuring out how to make an elegant spreadsheet. I feel like a lot of people assume that type of work is inherently interesting, but I don’t find that to be the case at all. I’ve never really seen myself working in a roadhouse in any capacity, I’ve always wanted to work somewhere that produces scenery, but reading this article thinks that maybe one day if I’ve hit the point where I feel like I’m done with the fabrication end of things (which I don’t foresee happening for awhile) maybe an operations manager type position would make sense for me. This was definitely an interesting interview to read, and I would like to hear/read a longer version of it to get more details about Obuzor’s job.
This is a really sweet article. I love organization at times, but do not have the consistency I would need to stage manage. I love seeing people work when they just gain so much satisfaction from what they do. I feel it is very important to consider how you will feel doing the most time consuming parts of your job before you pick a profession. To be able to pass the seemingly gruesome parts of the day pleasantly is hard to come by. I feel it is also hard to hold onto that satisfaction, however. In highschool when I was a freshman, when I volunteered till 9 PM every day I could to do anything,to just work on the crew. I loved everything I could do, every task. I tried other departments, did filing, cleaning. I just had infinite energy when it came to being on the stage crew. I love the feeling of running a show, and want to keep learning and doing.
To manage the backstage of any form of art is a art, I think we can all agree on this one. The management aspect always involves deep understanding of the current specific time, place and people, and after figuring all these out, the real challenge of juggling starts. The article mentioned about paperwork, and the question put it as an unpleasant part of the management which I found hard to agree with. Paperwork is merely a method to construct a solid plan according to what we are facing. Anyone can choose their way of building a plan, memos and charts just happened to be most cheap and intuitive way to keep record and displaying a series of designated things. The other part I found interesting in management is that people tend to do the job then like it, probably the word management just carrying more weight than it should do.
I love the quotes she used: “There is an art to the administration of the arts”. I think this is one hundred percent true because there is an art to organization and efficiency. I think ant skill amounts to a talent, and being able to take control of a situation and produce a smooth working team. There is an art in anything you do because it there wasn’t than anyone can do it. She touched on the subject of it being comparable to any job. Like accountants, lawyers, dentists, everyone has a specific set of skills or talents that they need in order to be able to execute their jobs, just like operation managers or any manager for that matter. It takes a leader and confidence to be able to make sure your message gets across and especially to a wide number of people. Although operation manager is a very specific job, it entails for a wide number of responsibilities and obligations.
I've only ever done some management work, but I do like being organized and making excel sheets. I think that her job is really hard and it takes someone who is extremely organized and good at communication to be able to do it. I do not think I could do it. I mean, I am not the most organized person and sometimes I forget things or don't communicate as much as I need too and that is something I hope I get better at because you really need it in this industry. I think that it was super cool to get a look into operations management because it is not the most popular field and I really don't know anything about it. It seems kind of interesting but I also just simply am not the right person for this field. People who declare production management and stage management could probably do it though.
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