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Wednesday, February 02, 2022
‘If you’ve handled an opera director, you can handle a five-year-old’: creatives who changed jobs during the pandemic
Culture | The Guardian: A stone’s throw from London’s West End, the Groucho Club is exactly the sort of spot you’d expect to find a theatre producer holding court, surrounded by rumpled media types and within earshot of a Netflix exec or three.
8 comments:
Hadley
said...
I really enjoyed this article. I liked how it showed the different facets of a theatre professional. It is so easy to get sucked into the theatre world and you hear all the time that theatre is a "lifestyle" as well as a career. So it was a little bit refreshing to know that the professionals interviewed in this article were able to maintain side interests and hobbies that they could turn into back up careers. It is horrible that they had to turn to their plan Bs due to the impact of the pandemic, but it is god to know that they were able to have something to turn to. I know that not everyone is so lucky to be able to so successfully supplement their theatre income when covid shut down the industry, it is something that is very much on my mind as a theatre student in this pandemic world where our careers are so delicate. But seeing that these people were able to maintain hobbies outside of theatre is in itself impressive, but then to be able to turn those hobbies into second careers is even more so. And keeping in mind that the third interviewee Jonathan MacMillan is able to bounce back and forth between his higher paying software engineer career and his theatre career is definitely a boost in confidence that I will be able to keep some kind of theatre in my life and also keep enough money in the bank if things go south. I loved his quote at the end: "Staying in a job that isn’t working for you, working for free, working for credits on your résumé, not standing up for your rights, not having the guts to turn a job down, for fear you’ll never work again? That’s failure, right there."
I've seen a lot of people, whether I know them personally or online, change professions as a result of the pandemic. One of my biggest concerns of the pandemic regarding theatre was centered on how theatre artists would finically sustain themselves without a job. Luckily, theatre is a job that has a lot of interdisciplinary skills. Management can branch off into so many other industries, designers can move to other art forms, dramaturgs can work in other forms of research, and so on. Lately, this idea of being able to take the skills used in theatre and apply it to other careers is something I have been thinking about. As I continue my education at the school of drama, I am finding myself making a lot of important discoveries about how I want my future to look. I came in wanting to be management, but now I want to design. I used to want to be a part of production while it was live, but now I do not. To be honest, I do not want to do theatre anymore. I would like to work in theme park immersive design. I got worried I was wasting my time at CMU, but have realized that the skills I am learning here are the skills I need, and I truly believe I am in the right place.
16. The biggest thing that stood out to me through these articles was every featured artist's undeniable ability to market themselves. I think this skill, the ability to self-promote, is the greatest gift theatre provides to those who work in the industry. This is arguably one of the most important traits in the hiring process. Therefore, it is no wonder that theater artists are able to swiftly jump into a new position or even industry; if they so desire to or if they have to given a circumstance, such as the pandemic. The skills it takes to work in theater are so translatable across so many industries. I am always amazed to hear stories like the ones in the Guardian article. Some professions I would never initially connect to working in live entertainment, but then in less than ten seconds later I am able to think of at least ten skills that are parallels in both jobs. It provides a bit of a secure feeling, and I enjoy it.
Unfortunately, it does not surprise me to hear that a lot of theater professionals are leaving to pursue other careers. The quote about the industry often relying "on passion and goodwill" especially hit home for me. As I've been learning more about the entertainment industry (TV/film in particular), I actually keep hearing stories of people who either move from one department to a less taxing department, or else move out of the industry altogether. Their reasons for moving or leaving are identical to the ones in this article. The hours were too long, the rewards weren't that rewarding, and they found it difficult to move up or find recognition in their field.
I don't know what this means for the future of theater. I would be very happy if theater and film became less of a passion field where we overlook the "givens" of other jobs (specifically paid vacation and manageable working hours), but I don't know if that's ever going to happen. I fear that if the passionate step away now, others will come to take those rougher jobs because they have a passion for it and are willing to overlook the grimy details. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens after the pandemic, first and foremost.
This article really makes me rethink this industry. I’ve never questioned my interest or passion for theatre (otherwise I wouldn’t be here today), but hearing so many artists have left the industry– whether by choice or not – leaves me questioning my future. I think as sad as it is to hear so many great people change careers in this article, one thing that did come to my attention was their determination and certainty. Everyone in the article said that they don’t regret changing their career paths and that they don’t regret their times working in theatre, although no one seemed pleased with the long working hours and salary. I think their mindsets are worth learning from because we all have to make big decisions in life and to adjust our mindset to see the benefits instead of holding on to the past can sometimes be very crucial in moving forward.
I can’t lie: I completely decided to read this article because the title made me chuckle a little, and I was intrigued by what they were really talking about. That said, the contents of the article are really important to think about: the pandemic obviously hit the entertainment industry really hard. And Omicron feels like some sort of sick joke deja vu prank, flashing back to 2 years ago (though, less severe, and we are vaccinated now). But with that said, I do think it is important to think about the fact that so many of us study theater, work in entertainment, and almost always are thinking about alternative career options if something goes south. It is no secret that the hours are long and funky, sometimes the pay isn’t fabulous. I think this speaks to the efforts that need to be made to improve the working conditions for entertainment: hopefully we can all continue to work on that.
I quite enjoyed how candid the article was. It did not feel like it was mocking the people who chose to change their careers or the people who have decided to stay. It provided a point of view I don’t see discussed very often. Sometimes it feels like the only phrase I hear thrown around is somewhere along the line of “well, it is what it is”. Instead of trying to listen to one another’s concerns, the reaction seems to be to just throw it under the rug and trust that the people working around you are still going to come back the next day. I admire the strength of the people mentioned in the article to admit that they should pack up their things and start over elsewhere. Through my time at CMU I have considered that maybe this was not the right decision. Honestly, I still don’t know, but these stories were reassuring to hear that it is entirely possible and okay to start over.
I have never worked on an opera, but my high school director was very dramatic. I am sure like many other theater makers, I was nervous about going to college for stage management, whether or not I would be able to get a job, or if I would still be happy in the field in ten years. It is reassuring to know that with many other artists it’s perfectly okay to want a career change and it’s not impossible to do so. I agree with the criticism on the photo of a dancer being told she should retrain in cyber technology, artists should not be forced out of work. For those who want a career change, options are available. But for those who decide to stay, there needs to be a stronger safety net in place to provide them with resources. I’m afraid that COVID has caused a whole generation of artists to “retire” and that there will be impacts on future artists.
8 comments:
I really enjoyed this article. I liked how it showed the different facets of a theatre professional. It is so easy to get sucked into the theatre world and you hear all the time that theatre is a "lifestyle" as well as a career. So it was a little bit refreshing to know that the professionals interviewed in this article were able to maintain side interests and hobbies that they could turn into back up careers. It is horrible that they had to turn to their plan Bs due to the impact of the pandemic, but it is god to know that they were able to have something to turn to. I know that not everyone is so lucky to be able to so successfully supplement their theatre income when covid shut down the industry, it is something that is very much on my mind as a theatre student in this pandemic world where our careers are so delicate. But seeing that these people were able to maintain hobbies outside of theatre is in itself impressive, but then to be able to turn those hobbies into second careers is even more so. And keeping in mind that the third interviewee Jonathan MacMillan is able to bounce back and forth between his higher paying software engineer career and his theatre career is definitely a boost in confidence that I will be able to keep some kind of theatre in my life and also keep enough money in the bank if things go south. I loved his quote at the end: "Staying in a job that isn’t working for you, working for free, working for credits on your résumé, not standing up for your rights, not having the guts to turn a job down, for fear you’ll never work again? That’s failure, right there."
I've seen a lot of people, whether I know them personally or online, change professions as a result of the pandemic. One of my biggest concerns of the pandemic regarding theatre was centered on how theatre artists would finically sustain themselves without a job. Luckily, theatre is a job that has a lot of interdisciplinary skills. Management can branch off into so many other industries, designers can move to other art forms, dramaturgs can work in other forms of research, and so on. Lately, this idea of being able to take the skills used in theatre and apply it to other careers is something I have been thinking about. As I continue my education at the school of drama, I am finding myself making a lot of important discoveries about how I want my future to look. I came in wanting to be management, but now I want to design. I used to want to be a part of production while it was live, but now I do not. To be honest, I do not want to do theatre anymore. I would like to work in theme park immersive design. I got worried I was wasting my time at CMU, but have realized that the skills I am learning here are the skills I need, and I truly believe I am in the right place.
16. The biggest thing that stood out to me through these articles was every featured artist's undeniable ability to market themselves. I think this skill, the ability to self-promote, is the greatest gift theatre provides to those who work in the industry. This is arguably one of the most important traits in the hiring process. Therefore, it is no wonder that theater artists are able to swiftly jump into a new position or even industry; if they so desire to or if they have to given a circumstance, such as the pandemic. The skills it takes to work in theater are so translatable across so many industries. I am always amazed to hear stories like the ones in the Guardian article. Some professions I would never initially connect to working in live entertainment, but then in less than ten seconds later I am able to think of at least ten skills that are parallels in both jobs. It provides a bit of a secure feeling, and I enjoy it.
Unfortunately, it does not surprise me to hear that a lot of theater professionals are leaving to pursue other careers. The quote about the industry often relying "on passion and goodwill" especially hit home for me. As I've been learning more about the entertainment industry (TV/film in particular), I actually keep hearing stories of people who either move from one department to a less taxing department, or else move out of the industry altogether. Their reasons for moving or leaving are identical to the ones in this article. The hours were too long, the rewards weren't that rewarding, and they found it difficult to move up or find recognition in their field.
I don't know what this means for the future of theater. I would be very happy if theater and film became less of a passion field where we overlook the "givens" of other jobs (specifically paid vacation and manageable working hours), but I don't know if that's ever going to happen. I fear that if the passionate step away now, others will come to take those rougher jobs because they have a passion for it and are willing to overlook the grimy details. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens after the pandemic, first and foremost.
This article really makes me rethink this industry. I’ve never questioned my interest or passion for theatre (otherwise I wouldn’t be here today), but hearing so many artists have left the industry– whether by choice or not – leaves me questioning my future. I think as sad as it is to hear so many great people change careers in this article, one thing that did come to my attention was their determination and certainty. Everyone in the article said that they don’t regret changing their career paths and that they don’t regret their times working in theatre, although no one seemed pleased with the long working hours and salary. I think their mindsets are worth learning from because we all have to make big decisions in life and to adjust our mindset to see the benefits instead of holding on to the past can sometimes be very crucial in moving forward.
I can’t lie: I completely decided to read this article because the title made me chuckle a little, and I was intrigued by what they were really talking about. That said, the contents of the article are really important to think about: the pandemic obviously hit the entertainment industry really hard. And Omicron feels like some sort of sick joke deja vu prank, flashing back to 2 years ago (though, less severe, and we are vaccinated now). But with that said, I do think it is important to think about the fact that so many of us study theater, work in entertainment, and almost always are thinking about alternative career options if something goes south. It is no secret that the hours are long and funky, sometimes the pay isn’t fabulous. I think this speaks to the efforts that need to be made to improve the working conditions for entertainment: hopefully we can all continue to work on that.
I quite enjoyed how candid the article was. It did not feel like it was mocking the people who chose to change their careers or the people who have decided to stay. It provided a point of view I don’t see discussed very often. Sometimes it feels like the only phrase I hear thrown around is somewhere along the line of “well, it is what it is”. Instead of trying to listen to one another’s concerns, the reaction seems to be to just throw it under the rug and trust that the people working around you are still going to come back the next day. I admire the strength of the people mentioned in the article to admit that they should pack up their things and start over elsewhere. Through my time at CMU I have considered that maybe this was not the right decision. Honestly, I still don’t know, but these stories were reassuring to hear that it is entirely possible and okay to start over.
I have never worked on an opera, but my high school director was very dramatic. I am sure like many other theater makers, I was nervous about going to college for stage management, whether or not I would be able to get a job, or if I would still be happy in the field in ten years. It is reassuring to know that with many other artists it’s perfectly okay to want a career change and it’s not impossible to do so. I agree with the criticism on the photo of a dancer being told she should retrain in cyber technology, artists should not be forced out of work. For those who want a career change, options are available. But for those who decide to stay, there needs to be a stronger safety net in place to provide them with resources. I’m afraid that COVID has caused a whole generation of artists to “retire” and that there will be impacts on future artists.
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