I’m writing in response to Rosie Brownlow-Calkin’s excellent article, “Unfinished Business,” in which she documents a list of best practices for training programs to better serve students entering the perpetually developing industry of theatremaking. I especially appreciated her inclusion of the value of continued mentorship from faculty; I believe that we have a dearth of true artistic mentorship in the industry right now, and we will benefit from any encouragement in this regard.
In addition to her valuable list of current practices, I wanted to suggest one additional way training programs might better prepare their students for a life in the arts: I think training programs should require students to develop a survival job skill.
To include this in an artistic training program might sound off-base, or even jaded, but I speak from 10 years experience in pursuing a professional acting career. We all know that the vast majority of actors (and theatremakers of all types) will depend on income from other work. According to the Actors Equity Association’s 2023-24 Annual Report, there were 271,562 work weeks that season, completed by AEA’s 47,717 active members. That works out to a discouraging (and oversimplified) average of 5.7 work works per active member. Nowhere close to a livable income. To speak from my own experience, even in a recent Off-Broadway contract, my fellow actors were also realtors and office workers.
With the reality of the industry as it is, working other jobs is an inextricable part of pursuing a life in the arts. Shouldn’t a training program include some formal mention of those needed skills, as well as artistic training?
I don’t mean to suggest significant resource investment, but having at least a class meeting or two within an industry prep course would help students jump-start their thinking about that part of their lives. I was fortunate to get some good guidance from a friend before my big post-graduation move to New York City, and as a result I had a tutoring job lined up when I arrived. Had I not had this guidance, I am certain that my adjustment would have been much rockier. I think this is one small way that training programs can further set up their students for success in a life in the arts.
Neil Redfield
New York City
