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Messages - David_McGraw

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1
The Green Room / Stage Manager Survey...Go!
« on: Nov 04, 2019, 08:20 pm »
The seventh edition of the biennial study of American stage managers is now open!  This national survey tracks training and employment trends along with rehearsal and performance practices.
In the 2017 survey, 1,775 stage managers participated. The SM Network has supported this survey since its inception in 2006.
This survey is open to anyone who has served as stage manager or assistant stage manager on at least three productions (circus, dance, opera, theatre, etc.) in the United States (or a tour that originated in the US). There are separate lines of questions for veteran stage managers and people who are just starting their careers. 
 
This online survey should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. Results will be published at http://smsurvey.info in February 2020.
Visit http://smsurvey.info to participate and to read the reports of previous surveys.

2
The Green Room / Stage Manager Survey 2017
« on: Nov 02, 2017, 10:32 am »
The sixth edition of the biennial study of American stage managers is now open!  This national survey tracks training and employment trends along with rehearsal and performance practices.  I was proud to partner with the University of Iowa for the first decade of the survey; the new academic partner is Elon University.

In the 2015 survey, 1,662 stage managers participated.  The 2017 edition of the survey includes new questions about communicating with your production team, traveling for work, and learning to read music.

This survey is open to anyone who has served as stage manager or assistant stage manager on at least three productions (circus, dance, opera, theatre, etc.) in the United States (or a tour that originated in the US). There are separate lines of questions for veteran stage managers and people who are just starting their careers. 
 
This online survey should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. Results will be published at http://smsurvey.info in February 2018.

To take the survey, please visit: https://elon.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1TjOB1nOXLlNRgV

3
The Green Room / 2015 Stage Manager Survey - Results!
« on: Jan 28, 2016, 08:57 am »
We would like to thank everyone who participated in the November survey: the 2015 Stage Manager Survey surpassed all goals with 1,662 participants!  The survey report is now available at http://smsurvey.info.  As always, the report is free and you are welcome to share it with friends and colleagues.  And, if you have never participated in the survey, sign up on our website to get news about the 2017 survey!

4
College and Graduate Studies / URTA Grad School Interviews
« on: Dec 18, 2015, 02:11 pm »
I just learned that URTA (www.urta.com) will waive the late fee for Stage Management candidates who want to interview for graduate programs at the New York City interviews on January 30th.  While they have a full slate of candidates for the Chicago interviews, they have lower than expected numbers for NYC and they want to make sure the graduate programs see enough qualified candidates.

If you want to apply, contact Sara Falconer at auditions@urta.com and mention that you heard about the late application waiver for NYC.

5
The Green Room / 2015 Stage Manager Survey - Now Active!
« on: Nov 01, 2015, 06:27 pm »
The stage management program at the University of Iowa is conducting its biennial survey of stage managers.  This national survey tracks training and employment trends along with rehearsal and performance practices.  In the 2013 survey, 878 stage managers participated.  The 2015 edition of the survey includes new questions about salaries, negotiations, and work/life balance.

Anyone who has stage managed theatrical productions in the United States (or a tour that originated in the US) is encouraged to participate. There will be separate lines of questions for veteran stage managers and people who are just starting their careers. 
 
This online survey should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

https://uiowa.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5avzASNoen0AKVv

Thank you.

6
College and Graduate Studies / Re: Is college a necessity?
« on: Oct 30, 2015, 01:25 am »
Disclaimer: I lead a graduate program in stage management.

I agree with KMC that you should do the math.  But know that graduate programs vary quite a bit in cost.  For instance, at my MFA program at the University of Iowa, anyone who is admitted into our program receives a full tuition scholarship and a graduate assistantship for all three years.  This policy was vital for my decision to teach at Iowa: I don't want stage managers starting/returning to their careers with so much debt that they are limited in the types of shows that they can afford to take.  The trade-off is that I only accept 2-3 students a year.  If you want a program of 12-18 graduate students, or one located in a major metropolitan area, you are likely to pay more.  Or you might be able to earn almost regular wages from a university if you are willing to attend a tiny program, but you might be functioning more as staff than student.

MFA programs vary so much that you should examine the range of specialities and, more importantly, the alumnae/i to see if a specific graduate school will help you on your career path.

7
So many great questions!  The hardest part of this survey is keeping it to a length that doesn't jeopardize participation due to survey fatigue.  We utilize a lot of question logic formulas so that you might have several "surface" questions that then generate additional questions based on your initial response. 

KMC: We do use some great numbers crunching that shows the statistical significance of our findings.  But we also set the bar fairly high as to how many participants need to be part of a subgroup (for instance stage managers over age 65) before we can report on that group with any confidence.

I am sorry that the survey does not include non-US stage managers, but so many questions deal with US-specific employment practices, union rules, SM/ASM terminology, training programs, and financial systems.  But we would be happy to partner with you to conduct a survey in your country.

Counting down to launch!

8
Ruth: We tried a themed survey in 2011 on technology, but we were concerned that it skewed some of the feedback.  We heard from several individuals who were either not particularly interested in new technologies or who believed that they were not as engaged in new technology that they would be skipping the survey since they didn't feel it applied to them.  And we don't want the survey to just sample people who have a very strong opinion either for or against any particular topic.

Having written that explanation, I can say that we are looking to expand some of the demographic questions now that the survey is reaching such a large sampling of American stage managers.  We are seeing many studies done on discrimination and wage inequalities based on gender, sexual orientation, and race with the arts and entertainment industries (see Meg's post for one example).  So we are trying to learn more about all stage managers so that we can begin to study the extent to which some stage managers face discrimination. But large sections of the survey will continue to be about the day-to-day duties of a stage manager.



Post Merge: Oct 15, 2015, 02:31 pm
Lexie,

Great questions!  It may be tough to get specific about the pay scales since many stage managers work for large and small companies in a single year.  We are testing questions with "On average" and "On your most recent show" to see how it affects the responses to financial questions.  But the freelance question is very promising....

Post Merge: Oct 15, 2015, 02:36 pm
Meg: We may need to slice the data a few different ways.  For instance, in an Equity theatre, how much wage inequality exists if the majority of stage manager are earning union minimum?  Then again, it would be a great question to ask all Equity stage manager how often they earn above the minimum - this might encourage more stage managers to negotiate! 

In order to get meaningful data for those stage managers who don't work under union contracts, we need to get enough participants at the same stage in their careers and working at a similar size theatre company.  We will see how our beta testers do with these parsing questions next week.


9
The biennial Stage Manager Survey launches on November 1st and we are finalizing new questions to ask in this edition of the survey.  What question do you want to pose to hundreds of stage managers?  Most questions are multiple-choice to keep the overall survey short - besides, the SMNetwork is a far better forum to have a discussion.

If you haven't taken the survey in the past, you can join our mailing list at http://smsurvey.info or follow the link we will post on this Discussion Board on November 1st!

10
Great!  Thanks for sharing, Nina!

11
Employment / Re: WHAT NOT TO PUT ON YOUR RESUME . . .
« on: Dec 22, 2014, 01:00 am »
In terms of fonts/monograms/wordmarks, it all comes down to how much risk you want to take.  You can take no risk and use a single standard font and no one should find your resume format unacceptable, but it will be unremarkable.  You can take some risk - a little color on your name, a different font for just your name - and someone will find it annoying but it also might catch someone else's eye among the dozens of applications.  I know some stage managers who take a lot of risk in how they present themselves, but they also don't fit the mold of a "regular" stage manager.  At least one remarked that she isn't interested in working at theatres "who are seeking a Times New Roman stage manager."  She knows she has a limited market, but she consciously promotes herself that way and lives with the consequences.

So weigh the risk of how much attention you want your format to draw against how much negative attention you may receive.

As it goes with everything else we do in theatre: know your audience.

12
I have been in a discussion about how a resume might appear differently for someone stage managing in theatre, dance, or opera.  Other than listing that particular genre first and with prominence, do others notice any differences?

And would someone working in television or film create a different style resume (other than job title differences such as 2nd Assistant Director)?

13
The Green Room / Re: Perhaps a moment of silence . . .
« on: Mar 07, 2014, 11:10 am »
Dark days are ahead.

14
The Hardline / Re: Going Equity 'Young'
« on: Feb 09, 2014, 07:15 pm »
Let us know if you would like any cross-referenced questions from the survey report.  For instance, if you compare the age of survey takers with the age at which they joined Equity:

For 151 survey takers in their 30s who are members of Equity
2% joined before turning 21
55% joined at age 21-25
32% joined at age 26-30
11% joined at age 31-40

Whereas for the 71 survey takers in their 50s who are members of Equity
4% joined before turning 21
46% joined at age 21-25
31% joined at age 26-30
11% joined at age 31-40
6% joined at age 41-50
2% joined at age 51-60

Of course, more stage managers in their 30s might join the union in their 40s or 50s.  But we can't claim that stage managers used to join the union at a younger age, at least within this sample of stage managers.

15
The Green Room / Re: 2013 Univ of Iowa survey is live!
« on: Feb 07, 2014, 03:51 pm »
The full survey report is now available!  We received responses form 878 American stage managers so there is a lot of great data and plenty of items worthy of discussion threads.  The full report can be downloaded at http://smsurvey.info

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