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Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Free babysitting on Broadway? A nonprofit helps parents get to the theater
NPR: An arts non-profit has a big goal: to bring occasional free babysitting to every arts institution in the country. This weekend, PAAL, the Parent Artist Advocacy League for Performing Arts and Media, is trying the concept out on Broadway for the first time.
6 comments:
Reigh Wilson
said...
I think it is a fantastic idea to have a company in place to help parents both on and off stage. I have always wondered what it would be like to be a parent while performing on Broadway, as much of your schedule is outside of school and child care hours. I think it is best to create child care facilities that have that specific hour schedule in mind, and help out the parents to make sure they do not have to sacrifice a family or an artistic career. I also very much appreciate the addition of allowing audience members to drop kids off while seeing the shows so that they can still go to theatrical performances that may not be age appropriate, and do not have to worry about the children. I hope that, as this organization suggests, they are able to expand to more cities, states, and a variety of arts so that the arts can be more accessible as well as childcare.
I’ve thought about babysitting for theatre workers, but not for the audience. It’s like we just assume that the audience is responsible for figuring their own kids out, but when we start thinking FOR the audience, that’s what helps us fill more seats. I support the idea of having a Broadway babysitting centre, but there are some questions that came to mind. I just feel like if I were a parent, there are so many qualities and criteria that I’d love the caregiver to have: maybe I would want to visit the facilities first, or maybe I want to watch the caregivers and the babies interact. There are just so many health and safety logistics that need to be covered because they concern the well-being of the children. I wonder how this ‘project’ will be implemented in other cities. It’s also a complicated dilemma why child care is so expensive.
I think that this is a great idea and I'm surprised that it hasn't been created before. It is mostly a win-win situation - parents get to experience the joy of seeing a show, and theaters get more people buying their tickets. Overall, almost anything that increases the number of people in the audience is a good thing. As the article says "this benefits everyone." Getting child care is definitely one of the largest obstacles for parents trying to see a show, and this program makes that much easier both financially and effort-wise. Parents with young children are also some of the primary audiences for many Broadway shows. Overall, I think that this is a very good program that should be expanded. Despite this, it still needs to be something that is well-regulated. Leaving a child for several hours at a time when you may not be able to access your phone is definitely a scary thing, so I think it is important that these organizations are clear about their locations, activities, etc. so that they gain trust.
When I first saw this headline it caught my attention right away because I have never thought about anything like this before. As I got to thinking more about the topic, I realized that my parents started taking me to Broadway shows when I was eleven or twelve, but before that, they would hire a babysitter every time they went to see a show. I think the fact that they will give babysitting services while parents are at auditions for shows is also fantastic and that they give grants for fertility costs. Everyone can only imagine what it is like for parents to have to take care of a young child while trying to go to auditions and get jobs so they can support that kid, and seeing this type of support in the theater community is inspiring and I am surprised it is only getting implemented now.
I found this article so refreshing and exciting to read. Having worked in childcare and children’s theater for most of my jobs, engaging children in the arts is so important. While the PAAL Broadway Babysitters primarily gets more parents exposed to the arts, it also allows for parents to have a greater artistic understanding to bring back to their children. The concept of being a theater artist and parent is one I think a lot of us young professionals have grappled with. While I do not plan on having children any time soon, it is difficult to think about entering into a career that is not always the most welcoming to parents. The Parent Artist Advocacy League seems like a wonderful organization that is doing necessary work. I wish this article would have gone more into the financials of how this partnership worked; is the cost of the babysitters covered by PAAL or Here Lies Love? While funding isn’t everything, in our industry with such tight margins, I’m very inquisitive about how this business model worked.
I am a huge fan of free childcare. Parents need resources like this to live their lives. I think that it is something that should be implemented in almost every area of our society. Babysitting is expensive, really expensive and just like stated in the article, paying for childcare on top of whatever thing the parents actually want to do isn’t feasible for many parents. I understand that providing free childcare will take extra resources to fund but I think that the benefits that will come from more people coming to shows will outweigh these costs. I have never understood our country's opposition to providing families with resources to make their lives easier. We want people to spend money, so we need to give them the opportunity to do so. If everyone is staying home because they can’t find a babysitter that is a more of a loss than providing the care yourself. I hope more companies implement ideas like this. I really believe in the good it will do.
6 comments:
I think it is a fantastic idea to have a company in place to help parents both on and off stage. I have always wondered what it would be like to be a parent while performing on Broadway, as much of your schedule is outside of school and child care hours. I think it is best to create child care facilities that have that specific hour schedule in mind, and help out the parents to make sure they do not have to sacrifice a family or an artistic career. I also very much appreciate the addition of allowing audience members to drop kids off while seeing the shows so that they can still go to theatrical performances that may not be age appropriate, and do not have to worry about the children. I hope that, as this organization suggests, they are able to expand to more cities, states, and a variety of arts so that the arts can be more accessible as well as childcare.
I’ve thought about babysitting for theatre workers, but not for the audience. It’s like we just assume that the audience is responsible for figuring their own kids out, but when we start thinking FOR the audience, that’s what helps us fill more seats. I support the idea of having a Broadway babysitting centre, but there are some questions that came to mind. I just feel like if I were a parent, there are so many qualities and criteria that I’d love the caregiver to have: maybe I would want to visit the facilities first, or maybe I want to watch the caregivers and the babies interact. There are just so many health and safety logistics that need to be covered because they concern the well-being of the children. I wonder how this ‘project’ will be implemented in other cities. It’s also a complicated dilemma why child care is so expensive.
I think that this is a great idea and I'm surprised that it hasn't been created before. It is mostly a win-win situation - parents get to experience the joy of seeing a show, and theaters get more people buying their tickets. Overall, almost anything that increases the number of people in the audience is a good thing. As the article says "this benefits everyone." Getting child care is definitely one of the largest obstacles for parents trying to see a show, and this program makes that much easier both financially and effort-wise. Parents with young children are also some of the primary audiences for many Broadway shows. Overall, I think that this is a very good program that should be expanded. Despite this, it still needs to be something that is well-regulated. Leaving a child for several hours at a time when you may not be able to access your phone is definitely a scary thing, so I think it is important that these organizations are clear about their locations, activities, etc. so that they gain trust.
When I first saw this headline it caught my attention right away because I have never thought about anything like this before. As I got to thinking more about the topic, I realized that my parents started taking me to Broadway shows when I was eleven or twelve, but before that, they would hire a babysitter every time they went to see a show. I think the fact that they will give babysitting services while parents are at auditions for shows is also fantastic and that they give grants for fertility costs. Everyone can only imagine what it is like for parents to have to take care of a young child while trying to go to auditions and get jobs so they can support that kid, and seeing this type of support in the theater community is inspiring and I am surprised it is only getting implemented now.
I found this article so refreshing and exciting to read. Having worked in childcare and children’s theater for most of my jobs, engaging children in the arts is so important. While the PAAL Broadway Babysitters primarily gets more parents exposed to the arts, it also allows for parents to have a greater artistic understanding to bring back to their children. The concept of being a theater artist and parent is one I think a lot of us young professionals have grappled with. While I do not plan on having children any time soon, it is difficult to think about entering into a career that is not always the most welcoming to parents. The Parent Artist Advocacy League seems like a wonderful organization that is doing necessary work. I wish this article would have gone more into the financials of how this partnership worked; is the cost of the babysitters covered by PAAL or Here Lies Love? While funding isn’t everything, in our industry with such tight margins, I’m very inquisitive about how this business model worked.
I am a huge fan of free childcare. Parents need resources like this to live their lives. I think that it is something that should be implemented in almost every area of our society. Babysitting is expensive, really expensive and just like stated in the article, paying for childcare on top of whatever thing the parents actually want to do isn’t feasible for many parents. I understand that providing free childcare will take extra resources to fund but I think that the benefits that will come from more people coming to shows will outweigh these costs. I have never understood our country's opposition to providing families with resources to make their lives easier. We want people to spend money, so we need to give them the opportunity to do so. If everyone is staying home because they can’t find a babysitter that is a more of a loss than providing the care yourself. I hope more companies implement ideas like this. I really believe in the good it will do.
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