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Wednesday, September 14, 2022
How one Berkeley company plans to house traveling artists amid soaring Bay Area housing crisis
Datebook: Across the breezeway from Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s new Medak Center, fuchsia light from the set of the new musical “Goddess” streamed through an open loading bay door, like a portal to Narnia.
7 comments:
Gaby F
said...
This is really cool! For many, myself included, having a company offer housing arrangements could be the difference between applying to work there or not. As mentioned in the article, what usually happens is that a theater would rent out rooms or building and then have some of their companies stay there. Building something on-site means that the renting part of it is out. Company management would no longer have to worry about daily transport; the creative teams wouldn’t have to worry about being far from the theater; it really is a win-win here. There is the argument of “oh but what about keeping a distance from your workplace” but I think that is pretty minor. The investment sure is big but I’m sure it makes a lot of sense financially on the long run and in helping establish Berkely Rep as a reliable creating force once the project is finished.
It’s really nice for this company to do everything they can to help with housing. These days, housing is wholly unaffordable, and for a career that can be as unstable as theatre, it’s hard to keep up. So the thought that they are making an effort to make it possible for theatre artists to continue to survive and have somewhere to live without worrying, not to mention the short commute to work. The expense is worrisome which is why fixed costs are important; something that is barely affordable now can only get less and less affordable with time. The whole housing crisis situation is pretty bleak, but this provides a little bit of hope that art and artists will find a way. The classroom and studio workshop space are also a nice touch! The effort that goes in to also make this a nice place to live for the people who will have to live there is somewhat inspiring.
Becoming self-sufficient in regards to housing would definitely help out a theater company. Equity requires transportation be paid for and provided by the theater company any time actors are housed more than a half mile from the theater and/or rehearsal space. The cost of the building and its maintenance may be more than the savings they would incur, but it is definitely better to know the costs than to have prices raise year after year as rent increases. Summer stocks that operate out of college campuses also tend to have savings, although the pandemic has even made those relationships tenuous as universities across the country are not hitting the same mark that they used to. I hope covid has mostly altered housing in theater companies for the better. For instance, this summer I had to share a suite, but I had my own bedroom. In previous years, there would have been 4 people to a suite, which would have been pretty miserable in my opinion.
Housing housing housing housing! Housing truly makes or breaks so many artists’ situations. I really admire the effort of Susie Medak. Housing is a big barrier to so many artists being able to create work and theatre in the industry. Susie Medak saw this as a financial issue for her company as they were losing a lot of money to hotels and housing options that were not always ideal for the artist that resided in them. To fix the financial issue she made a big investment in artists’ success by proposing and getting the project going of creating their own housing. I hope more companies take note of this and get inspired. I also hope the housing rate they offer to those they rent it out to are fair for the visiting artists of the other companies as not every company will pay for the artists’ housing. More companies should consider this option of housing or look into more affordable housing for their company members as this opens the door to inclusion and equitable applications when housing is not a barrier.
This is a huge deal! Especially in the Bay Area, where costs are almost unbelievably high for people coming from outside of the area, provided housing is a must. Not only will it help them to keep costs (relatively) static as opposed to always rising with the times, but it would also help them to draw in more younger artists as well, or at least those who might not have the resources to work in the Bay Area on their own. I know for my part, I would struggle to stay in the Bay Area for even a couple days, much less the weeks I might be staying if I was to work on one of these shows. Also, this would be a great source of additional revenue, because this space could easily be used by other theatre companies, other groups, or even potentially just rented out piece by piece at different times of the year. I know that other theatre companies have dedicated housing units, but none that I know of match the scale or costs that Berkeley Rep has made here. However, I would also hazard to say that none have the potential to reach new levels of benefit for the company either.
Now this is a really cool initiative. Housing is so expensive, especially in metropolitan areas (and California is notoriously expensive for rent) so theater companies easing that burden is so important, and something that I hope becomes a larger trend. I appreciate how thoughtful they were with how they picked the location. Although this is not likely to expand quickly given how many resources it takes for a theater company to do this - I hope programs like this expand in the future. It makes creating art so much more accessible without the prohibitive costs of housing in the city. Although as another commenter mentioned, there could be some cons with not being able to fully step away from the work or from collaborators, I think that the pros outweigh the cons. I’m sure Berkeley Rep will thrive in the coming years - given its ability to provide stability for the artists it employs and works with.
I’m so excited that the Medak Center will be opening soon, I remember when they first broke ground and all the talk of how useful this building was going to be. Both in convenience for the artists and in how it’ll cut down on housing costs for the theatre. As someone who has done the 40-minute bus ride to a theatre (housing provided by the theatre), it would be nice to live close to where I work. When I worked for ACT, my housing was anywhere from a 5 minute to a 20-minute walk down Market Street to any of the buildings I needed to be at. It was super beneficial. I wasn’t spending a ton of time commuting. I think the one problem I foresee, for the fellows, is how often are they going to be able to get away from the Medak Center. Living where you work can prevent you from being able to shut off from work, because you never leave the building.
7 comments:
This is really cool! For many, myself included, having a company offer housing arrangements could be the difference between applying to work there or not. As mentioned in the article, what usually happens is that a theater would rent out rooms or building and then have some of their companies stay there. Building something on-site means that the renting part of it is out. Company management would no longer have to worry about daily transport; the creative teams wouldn’t have to worry about being far from the theater; it really is a win-win here. There is the argument of “oh but what about keeping a distance from your workplace” but I think that is pretty minor. The investment sure is big but I’m sure it makes a lot of sense financially on the long run and in helping establish Berkely Rep as a reliable creating force once the project is finished.
It’s really nice for this company to do everything they can to help with housing. These days, housing is wholly unaffordable, and for a career that can be as unstable as theatre, it’s hard to keep up. So the thought that they are making an effort to make it possible for theatre artists to continue to survive and have somewhere to live without worrying, not to mention the short commute to work. The expense is worrisome which is why fixed costs are important; something that is barely affordable now can only get less and less affordable with time. The whole housing crisis situation is pretty bleak, but this provides a little bit of hope that art and artists will find a way. The classroom and studio workshop space are also a nice touch! The effort that goes in to also make this a nice place to live for the people who will have to live there is somewhat inspiring.
Becoming self-sufficient in regards to housing would definitely help out a theater company. Equity requires transportation be paid for and provided by the theater company any time actors are housed more than a half mile from the theater and/or rehearsal space. The cost of the building and its maintenance may be more than the savings they would incur, but it is definitely better to know the costs than to have prices raise year after year as rent increases. Summer stocks that operate out of college campuses also tend to have savings, although the pandemic has even made those relationships tenuous as universities across the country are not hitting the same mark that they used to. I hope covid has mostly altered housing in theater companies for the better. For instance, this summer I had to share a suite, but I had my own bedroom. In previous years, there would have been 4 people to a suite, which would have been pretty miserable in my opinion.
Housing housing housing housing! Housing truly makes or breaks so many artists’ situations. I really admire the effort of Susie Medak. Housing is a big barrier to so many artists being able to create work and theatre in the industry. Susie Medak saw this as a financial issue for her company as they were losing a lot of money to hotels and housing options that were not always ideal for the artist that resided in them. To fix the financial issue she made a big investment in artists’ success by proposing and getting the project going of creating their own housing. I hope more companies take note of this and get inspired. I also hope the housing rate they offer to those they rent it out to are fair for the visiting artists of the other companies as not every company will pay for the artists’ housing. More companies should consider this option of housing or look into more affordable housing for their company members as this opens the door to inclusion and equitable applications when housing is not a barrier.
This is a huge deal! Especially in the Bay Area, where costs are almost unbelievably high for people coming from outside of the area, provided housing is a must. Not only will it help them to keep costs (relatively) static as opposed to always rising with the times, but it would also help them to draw in more younger artists as well, or at least those who might not have the resources to work in the Bay Area on their own. I know for my part, I would struggle to stay in the Bay Area for even a couple days, much less the weeks I might be staying if I was to work on one of these shows. Also, this would be a great source of additional revenue, because this space could easily be used by other theatre companies, other groups, or even potentially just rented out piece by piece at different times of the year. I know that other theatre companies have dedicated housing units, but none that I know of match the scale or costs that Berkeley Rep has made here. However, I would also hazard to say that none have the potential to reach new levels of benefit for the company either.
Now this is a really cool initiative. Housing is so expensive, especially in metropolitan areas (and California is notoriously expensive for rent) so theater companies easing that burden is so important, and something that I hope becomes a larger trend. I appreciate how thoughtful they were with how they picked the location. Although this is not likely to expand quickly given how many resources it takes for a theater company to do this - I hope programs like this expand in the future. It makes creating art so much more accessible without the prohibitive costs of housing in the city. Although as another commenter mentioned, there could be some cons with not being able to fully step away from the work or from collaborators, I think that the pros outweigh the cons. I’m sure Berkeley Rep will thrive in the coming years - given its ability to provide stability for the artists it employs and works with.
I’m so excited that the Medak Center will be opening soon, I remember when they first broke ground and all the talk of how useful this building was going to be. Both in convenience for the artists and in how it’ll cut down on housing costs for the theatre. As someone who has done the 40-minute bus ride to a theatre (housing provided by the theatre), it would be nice to live close to where I work. When I worked for ACT, my housing was anywhere from a 5 minute to a 20-minute walk down Market Street to any of the buildings I needed to be at. It was super beneficial. I wasn’t spending a ton of time commuting. I think the one problem I foresee, for the fellows, is how often are they going to be able to get away from the Medak Center. Living where you work can prevent you from being able to shut off from work, because you never leave the building.
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