Ask My Friends - Living in NYC

Today we meet yet another fellow Nixian, Jessica Palmer. Jessica and I not only went to the same high school but we also both went to Webster University. She is such a sweet person and her talent and passion make her rise above many others. I asked Jessica to talk about living in NYC and what its like when you are just getting started.

“A few things I have learned since moving to NYC (2 years ago).
Time is of the essence, it reveals itself to you as an enemy or a best friend. Through prosperous and difficult times in the city I have learned that for myself I have to create my own every day STRUCTURE. Structure may come from a day job, a writing group you participate in, or a yoga class you take a few nights a week.You must create a life for yourself in the city in which you feel connected to the community that includes not only the theatre community but also communities such as those bozo yuppie types perusing used bookstores on the Upper West Side. There's plenty of room for you and your 5 roommates to join their book clubs!
Someone once spoke to my college acting class and said, "Be a TONKA truck." I interpreted that as "Do not limit yourself and your talent to any 'agreements.' “Yes, you have to absorb what you've read in college theatre textbooks, in books you've read about getting agents and so forth. However, absorb it, then stuff that information in the back of your closet with your poncho and break the rules, run people over. Who says you have to work "there" before working "here"?
Meet new people (then record their contact information in a database!), read lots of plays by getting a FREE library card, and go ahead... splurge on an AC unit for your apt. Augusts in NYC are brutal!
You may go through times where you lose a sense of your purpose, forget why you moved to the city in the first place. You have to put yourself first and take the time to regain your passion and ravenous need to be in the theatre. It's a holy place. But, it does not need tender loving care. It needs to have the door busted open by some hungry, crazed artist demanding to take it to the heavy side layer."

Networking – Staying in touch

I have told you before how important it is not to lose touch with people in your network. Once it goes beyond a year without contact, you are kind of out of the picture. I bring this up because a job opened up at a former theater of mine. And I got two calls about the job. They both wanted more information about the position and company, and, most importantly, they wanted me to put in a good word for them.

The first person that called is a friend. I see her out occasionally, and she is a nice person. She has been trying to break into this industry for a while, and I was happy to tell her all I knew about the position. I was happy to help her as much as I could.

The second person is an old coworker. We have not worked together in over 3 years, and we have had no contact since then. We weren’t even that close when we worked together. He started his call with, “Jared, it's so and so, and I was wondering how you are! Also, I heard about a job opening up where you work.” He didn’t even know I was no longer working there.
I am telling you all this just to show how important it is to stay in touch. I gave them both all the information that I could about the job, but for one I will go the extra step and put in a good word. Don’t lose your contacts. You never know when they could be working at a place you want to work or what you might need them for.

Job Market Part 1

Today one of my colleges noted that he was looking to fill a position with our company. Someone else said it should be an easy time to fill a job because so many people are looking. I know in the DC area many theatres have had to lay off staff to try and make their fiscal goals. So I wondered what kinds of jobs are out there right now.

I have personally found only two sights to be really useful when looking for work. First, Playbill.com has a great jobs page but is geared more toward NYC and commercial theatre whereas Artsearch (my other favorite) is geared more toward regional and educational theatre.

Yesterday I went through the Artsearch site and looked at the job data to see what kind of jobs were posted this month. I split them into 11 categories and the descriptions and results are below. There were 101 jobs posted on Artsearch for the month of April.

27 Technical – TD, ME, Shop Managers, Crews, ect. (costumes included)
18 Education – Education Department for a theatre or Faculty at a college
13 Interns – Any kind of Intern or Apprentice
9 Leadership – Artistic Directors, Managing Directors, General Managers
8 Sales / Marketing – includes Group Sales, Marketing, PR, Box Office
7 Management – Production Man, Stage Man, ASM, Company Man.
7 Other – Random jobs that did not fit anywhere else
5 Development – Development Staff and Directors
4 Design – Costume, Scene, Lighting, Sound Designers and Assistants
2 Business – Accounting, Bookkeepers
1 Artistic – Directors, Choreographers

Are they posting jobs you are qualified for? Should you be learning more about the technical or educational fields? People ask why I am always looking at job postings if I am happy in my job, which I am. The reason is to know what’s out there and be aware of tends. Plus I like to be helpful and if I see a job that is right for someone I know I pass along that information. Being aware of the job market in my industry makes me an asset to my friends and to my network.

When I have more time I will do a bigger analysis of the jobs by expanding the time frame. Again this is from one site and that site caters more toward Educational and Regional Theatres.