links and news

[labricoleuse]

First, the good news:

The New Zealand Hat and Hair Awards were just held on November 29th! The article has a photo of the winning entry, and the event's website has a lot of photos of the past two years' worth. What with this and the World of Wearable Art awards, NZ is certainly the place to be for wearable artwork! Amazing stuff.


...but, there's bad news, too.

I feel i'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the economic casualties in the American regional theatre community of the past few days.

• California: San Jose's American Musical Theatre closing and declaring bankruptcy.
  The final decision to cease operations was made at a board meeting last week, and the employees were notified Wednesday. [You're reading that correctly: the AMT laid off their staff on the day before Thanksgiving. Personally, i'd have at least waited til Monday after, on principle.]
  
  
• West Virginia: Theatre West Virginia to close, an announcement that came just three days after their 2009 season programming announcement.
  [General Manager Gayle] Bowling said Tuesday the board of directors has given her two weeks to decide how to dispose of the company's assets, its offices in Mabscott and an amphitheater at Grandview Park. She expects total shutdown within a month.
  
  
• South Carolina: Charleston Stage cuts staff, salaries.
  Charleston Stage, the city’s largest theater company, announced today that it cut three full-time staffers from its payroll and issued a 6 percent pay cut for everybody else, including Julian Wiles, the company’s founder and director.
  
  
• Wisconsin: Madison Repertory Theatre to lay off half its staff.
  Positions they decided to cut: managing director, production manager, development officer, graphic designer, scenic painter, and props master.
  

My heartfelt sympathy goes out to all these folks, not only for the loss of their jobs at a particularly unfortunate time (midwinter/holidays), but in two cases for the dissolution of their theatres altogether as well. When a theatre goes under, it leaves a hole in the community that it serves.

They say things are going to get worse, in general, before they get better--i wonder how many more regional theatres will go under before it's all over?

Comments

[radcliffe.livejournal.com]

Oh my! Wonderful art!

I am so sorry to hear about the continued theatre closings. I have always thought that because so much great art comes out of times of trial, that art should be the thing that stays. Sigh.

[mischiefmydear.livejournal.com]

It's really disappointing to hear about the theater closings-- there goes my livelihood as well! It's difficult to hear about it, because art is always one of the great things that helps people through recessions-- it allows an escape and relief from real life.

[breathe-art.livejournal.com]

*sigh* And here I'd been been drooling over the stuff your students get to do, and wondering if I had enough to put together an application for an MFA at Chapel Hill...

[labricoleuse.livejournal.com]

I suppose whether these theatre closings influence your decision would depend on what you wanted to do with that MFA when you got out.

Regional theatre is only one arm of the industry, and one which in my observation most of our students don't go into, i presume due to its relative low stability and low salary grade. Our students typically go into other areas with their degree: Broadway/tours are a big one, and international opera/ballet, and film/TV, and academic theatre.

If you do go for it, good luck! We'd be glad to see your application, and our costume director always gives good feedback about applicants' portfolios (so, if you didn't have "enough stuff," she'd have great helpful suggestions for what to do to expand it is a useful way).