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Students and Novice Stage Managers / Mentorship Program *** FIRST STEPS ***
« on: Mar 26, 2011, 07:36 pm »
ADMIN NOTE: all three slots have been filled. See below. - PSMK
For a couple of years we have discussed some sort of mentorship program on the SM Network.
Setting up and running an official mentorship program is huge undertaking, especially without any sort of experience to build upon. Does an online mentorship program for stage management work? What is the time commitment? What sort expectations can one expect from the program?
Yet, many of us feel strongly that indeed a mentorship program is something that is important, especially in this field - that is truly an apprenticeship type career. Although we can learn stage management from the class room, and we learn a lot by doing, we learn much from the generations above us - mentorship is part of the business.
Any sort of online mentorship is going to require a huge amount of personalization and customization. Let’s be honest . . . just dealing with time zones is going to be a hassle, now try to deal with trying to find an hour to chat during two overlapping tech weeks. I am not sure a cookie cutter approach is going to work with this. At best, I think we can set up a list of people who are interested in being mentors and people are interested in being mentees. (And lastly people are interested in being manatees - which perhaps should be on a different internet board all together)
So, after some conversation, there is a feeling we just need to take a stab at it - and I am going to take the first step and I am officially volunteering myself to being a mentor . . . and this is what I am offering:
I am willing to take on up to three mentees.
One in early career (a couple of years out of college)
One in college
One in high school
I am willing to look over resume, offer career advice, talk about your current show, shoot the breeze about the lifestyle with the job - either in person or online - an hour a week, in person or on line. We would have to be flexible, of course, give that I am in production, and I am hoping that you are in production as well. This is not a substitution for classroom education or learning by doing. This will not lead to my hiring you. This will not lead to my being a recommendation for you. But, it will lead to a personal relationship between two stage managers - which in itself can not be a bad thing.
You should probably look over my resume (located at http://www.stagemanager.net/stagemanager.net/Resume.html), and perhaps look over some of my post to get a sense of my attitude toward the job. Basically, I have 12 years experience in top tier regional theatre, and have recently relocated to New York and finding my way, straddling NYC non-profit and the commercial world. If you are interested, drop me a note about why you think the two of us would hit it off. I doubt there will be a huge application process - if I feel like we will hit it off, and I think I can make our schedules work - then we will attempt this. (If you are under 18, I may want to drop a line to your parents to make sure they know I am NOT an internet stalker . . . . )
Thoughts? Ideas? Comments? Concerns?
After six months, there are couple people on the boards who will sort of "sit down and meet with us" and talk about what we think was good about we did, what we think we can do to improve it - and how we think we can roll it our on a bigger level - or if we even should roll it out.
If you want to respond to the idea as whole, respond on the board.
If you are interested in apply to be my mentee - private me.
ADMIN NOTE: Matthew did get the go ahead from both me and Bwoodbury before moving ahead on this. - PSMK
For a couple of years we have discussed some sort of mentorship program on the SM Network.
Setting up and running an official mentorship program is huge undertaking, especially without any sort of experience to build upon. Does an online mentorship program for stage management work? What is the time commitment? What sort expectations can one expect from the program?
Yet, many of us feel strongly that indeed a mentorship program is something that is important, especially in this field - that is truly an apprenticeship type career. Although we can learn stage management from the class room, and we learn a lot by doing, we learn much from the generations above us - mentorship is part of the business.
Any sort of online mentorship is going to require a huge amount of personalization and customization. Let’s be honest . . . just dealing with time zones is going to be a hassle, now try to deal with trying to find an hour to chat during two overlapping tech weeks. I am not sure a cookie cutter approach is going to work with this. At best, I think we can set up a list of people who are interested in being mentors and people are interested in being mentees. (And lastly people are interested in being manatees - which perhaps should be on a different internet board all together)
So, after some conversation, there is a feeling we just need to take a stab at it - and I am going to take the first step and I am officially volunteering myself to being a mentor . . . and this is what I am offering:
I am willing to take on up to three mentees.
One in early career (a couple of years out of college)
One in college
One in high school
I am willing to look over resume, offer career advice, talk about your current show, shoot the breeze about the lifestyle with the job - either in person or online - an hour a week, in person or on line. We would have to be flexible, of course, give that I am in production, and I am hoping that you are in production as well. This is not a substitution for classroom education or learning by doing. This will not lead to my hiring you. This will not lead to my being a recommendation for you. But, it will lead to a personal relationship between two stage managers - which in itself can not be a bad thing.
You should probably look over my resume (located at http://www.stagemanager.net/stagemanager.net/Resume.html), and perhaps look over some of my post to get a sense of my attitude toward the job. Basically, I have 12 years experience in top tier regional theatre, and have recently relocated to New York and finding my way, straddling NYC non-profit and the commercial world. If you are interested, drop me a note about why you think the two of us would hit it off. I doubt there will be a huge application process - if I feel like we will hit it off, and I think I can make our schedules work - then we will attempt this. (If you are under 18, I may want to drop a line to your parents to make sure they know I am NOT an internet stalker . . . . )
Thoughts? Ideas? Comments? Concerns?
After six months, there are couple people on the boards who will sort of "sit down and meet with us" and talk about what we think was good about we did, what we think we can do to improve it - and how we think we can roll it our on a bigger level - or if we even should roll it out.
If you want to respond to the idea as whole, respond on the board.
If you are interested in apply to be my mentee - private me.
ADMIN NOTE: Matthew did get the go ahead from both me and Bwoodbury before moving ahead on this. - PSMK