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tristanrobin
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bullet Posted: 12/05/06 at 7:44am
Originally posted by teridtiger

Where does one look for grants specifically offering money to pay stipends?


Start with your state Council on the Arts. They (usually) do not give grants for operating expenses - and are rigid about their monies going to either artists' salaries or capital improvements.

Then hit up the medium sized corporations in your area - let the words "education," "community involvement," "artistic growth," and "artistic integrity" pepper your request for salary underwriting. First a letter, with a follow-up appointment to discuss in person.

Good luck!

And don't forget - you're NOT asking for the world - most theatres could operate for five years on the monies donated and lavished on the average high school football team for one season.
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bullet Posted: 12/11/06 at 1:08pm

I'm all about stipends, but with the theatre just breaking even, it becomes increaseingly difficult to justify that expense (considering how had it is for some people to even make budgeting shows a priority, how would you even get to the point of stipend expenses).

An idea might be to take each show's net income and allocate a percentage to cover gas expenses.  It's an incentive for producers to not use their entire budget on things (i.e. crack down on directors who spend without much thought).

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bullet Posted: 3/02/07 at 12:55am
This is a tricky issue that is often debated I'm sure. I have been part of CT's that pay stipends and those that don't. As a choreographer and dance professional, I couldn't do a show for nothing because too often people think it's something I SHOULD do for nothing. Maybe it's because dance is often regarded as a hobby not a career anywhere other than large cities, but a dancer spends most of their life training and often a good choreographer/teacher becomes so through experience. Unfortunately, professionals that work for free often undermine those who are trying to work and do what they love for a living. Few other professions outside of the arts would be expected to go without pay. With that said, it is certainly possible to pull off good amateur theatre with non-professional production staff that volunteer. But, there will be a difference more often than not in quality. An orchestra of high school students for example may be good enough and pull of an excellent show, but that won't make them sound like professionals. There are some amazingly talented amateurs out there and for those all-volunteer organizations that's perfect. But a CT should never expect or ask people who make their living through dance or music, etc. to go without pay and personally I don't think a professional should work for no pay. Anyway, to pay or not to pay, I think an organization just has to decide what's best for itself. I agree paying some and not others can be a slippery slope.
Speaking of which, I also want to add that sometimes it annoys me that at some CTs a director who has no professional credits (and is sometimes not even very experienced in stage direction) will get paid twice as much as a hired choreographer or even music director - people who could not do what they do without years of training. I hope it doesn't just seem like sour grapes, but it just doesn't seem right. I hope I haven't offended anyone - it's a sticky topic.
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bullet Posted: 3/02/07 at 12:50pm
Originally posted by dancingbarefoot

But a CT should never expect or ask people who make their living through dance or music, etc. to go without pay and personally I don't think a professional should work for no pay. .
 
Exactly right, dancingbarefoot! For me, this is the crux of the matter. None of the directors, actors, or crew at my theater earn a living doing theater. Our theater lives take place outside of regular work hours, which are, for each and every one of us, spent doing something else that's not remotely involved with theater. During the day, we're computer programmers, state employees, teachers, business people, sanitation workers or what have you, and we get paid for doing those jobs. It's only during our free time that we're actors, directors and crew.
 
Our 5-show season almost always consists of straight plays rather than musicals. However, our annual summer fundraiser is a musical-type event, and we don't have musicians showing up at auditions begging for a chance to play. Unlike our other theater jobs, there's no room for learn-as-you-go music directors or musicians ("OK, who wants to volunteer to learn the trumpet?"), which means we need people who already have those skills, and the ones who have the required skills and are willing to work with us are professionals. Our music director, an absolute genius who works miracles with non-professional singers, is a music teacher at a local school who also moonlights playing paid gigs around the state, including the occasional event at the governor's mansion. Our drummer is also a professional who gets paid for playing elsewhere. When they work for us, we pay them, just like anybody else who hires them. 
 
We pay nobody else for their work on our fundraiser. Delaware Unleashed is a musical-comedy revue where we parody life in our beloved little state in song, and Mike and I, along with our friend and co-conspirator Bruce Leister, spend hundreds of hours over several months preparing for it every year. We write lyrics for some thirty-odd songs, work out the comedy bits, jokes and patter, sweat over the order and structure of the thing, and run it from auditions to closing night. We're not paid one red cent for it. Money is an important part of it, yes, as it is for every show, but only in so far as it's about raising money for our theater. If we took money out of it for ourselves, that would mean that much less for the theater to operate on, and since we do the show in the first place to raise money for our theater so we can continue doing more shows, getting paid would defeat the purpose.
 
We don't get paid in a financial sense, but we DO get paid. Our payment is the joy we receive when three close friends are given the incredible opportunity to work together in a creative endeavor to put together a wackball of a show that we love. We experience the personal thrill and satisfaction of seeing our audience grow beyond our theater's capacity (year before last, we sold out all six performances in under an hour, and last summer, people showed up at the theater at 5 am. equipped with lawn chairs, blankets and snacks, and waited in line for hours to get tickets!)  My theater pays me back tenfold by giving me opportunities that I receive nowhere else. And just like I don't look to my day job to give me standing ovations when I write a particularly brilliant report, or allow me to take a bow after running a good meeting, I don't look to my theater to hand me a paycheck.
 
Originally posted by dancingbarefoot

...it is certainly possible to pull off good amateur theatre with non-professional production staff that volunteer. But, there will be a difference more often than not in quality.
 
 Yikes! Shocked  There are many, many people involved in all aspects of community theater production who have the talent, the experience and, in more cases than you'd think, the training to work as professionals, but don't. Many who might have pursued a professional career in the arts (but weren't interested in teaching) were faced with the reality of the decidedly low pay and uncertain employment opportunities of the professional artist -- not to mention family pressure to pursue a more "reasonable" career path! The majority opt instead for more financially stable careers. Others lacked the opportunity to be involved in theater production when they were younger and only discovered their talents and abilities later in life, when family and financial obligations, as well as community ties, make giving everything up to go professional something that's not even worthy of consideration. Many community theaters working with "non-professional production staff that volunteer" produce outstanding shows that are definitely better than just "good amateur theater"!
Chris Polo
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bullet Posted: 3/02/07 at 9:38pm
Some interesting points!
But to me even having had a foot on each side of the wire fence most of the  time, which can definitely make the eyes water, depending on the height & type of fence ‘It’ is!
I have found over the years, the only difference being, is that of the almighty dollar!
Working with proeatre especially, the attitude is to fix it by throwing gold bricks at the show, rather than using empirical knowledge or initiative in solving or resolving any hiccups!
I find a lot of times even with those who are trained as artificers, a definite lacking in what should be the basics of their game & general logistics of theatre.
Pro’s are not always best suited to work in a comeatre, as they are used to passing off aspects to others, beyond their intimated &/or perceived contractual demarcation lines. Leaving very grey areas for some one else to fix or that become neglected. Then bitch because they have to cover it, which of course feeds their ‘Munchausen’ affliction no end. Giving the old ego a few extra strokes, when they miraculously fix it rather easily?
I suppose I have noticed this more with paid Techies & Directors, than with most Twirlies or Muso’s, as they tend to be more disciplined!

      Joe
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bullet Posted: 3/02/07 at 11:08pm

Well, I apologize ahead of time:  this topic presses a couple of my buttons, so here’s another Kibitzer Dissertation! 

As the variety of responses to this topic suggests, there may be as many precedents in paying for services as there are community theatres.  I have developed an enormously ambivalent position on the issue of paid positions in community theatres.  Having been a paid, full-time managing director of two community theatres, part of my ambivalence has to do with my own personal guilty feelings about getting paid to do those jobs.  But that aside, I believe the fundamental nature of community theatre is inextricably linked to its volunteer-based roots. 

The essence of community theatre is captured in the idealism of the rallying cry, “Hey kids, let’s do a show!” The very spirit of that exclamation is antithetical to a professional settting.  It’s all about the love of the art.  A love so deep and so committed that just doing it is its own reward.  Ask almost anyone who started in community theatre and successfully crossed over to the professional side.  It became a job.  The spirit was lost – or at least transformed into something altogether different.  

I take exception to the myth that money buys quality.  I have seen shows directed by “professional” directors that were just horrible and I have seen shows directed by “amateur” directors that reached impeccable artistic achievement and I have seen everything in between.  I think the trap we get into is confusing the word “amateur” with the word “amateurish”.  A few years ago I wasted over $255 for tickets so my family and I could see a “professional” production of “A Chorus Line” at a major professional theatre in Philadelphia.  It was one of the most amateurish productions I have ever seen.  I sat there and KNEW that we had far more talented “amateur” performers at our community theatre.  So much for stereotypes. 

When I hear the term “professional” in association with community theatre, it cues a rant on one of my most emotional pet peeves.  One of the things that completely undermines the entire intent and spirit of community theatre is the desire to be “professional”.  (Quite frankly, as much as I love the originators and coordinators of this site, I am deeply offended by their tag line at the opening of the site:  “The Home Of Professional Amateurs”.)  I saw an old display once that referred to that community theatre as a “professional community theatre.”  That is a contradiction in terms and spelled out very clearly to me why that theatre had been having so many artistic as well as participation problems.  Let me make no bones about this:  We ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL and our intention is NOT to create a PROFESSIONAL PRODUCT.  That doesn’t mean that at times our audiences experience what they consider a professional result.  I would never argue this point when an audience member would liken a show to a professional version they had seen.  It’s the old adage that you can argue facts, not perceptions.  But I also understood that what they were really saying is they had an artistic experience that significantly surpassed their expectations.  The audience can call it anything they want; as participants and managers (paid or volunteer), however, we need to know who and what we are if we are to be successful.  Mission contradiction can be deadly. 

At a Pennsylvania Association of Community Theatres conference a few years ago, Gary Cohen was brought in as a keynote speaker.  Mr. Cohen is (or was at that time – I don’t know if he still is or not!) producing director for Plays-in-the-Park in Edison, New Jersey.  He described his theatre and its incredible budget.  It seemed to me that the only people NOT paid were the actors.  Although his talk was enormously entertaining, I was disturbed to think of his theatre as a real community theatre.  This is one extreme.  Then there are theatres that pay no one, never have, and never will.  I don’t know that there is a pat answer to this issue except to say that if a theatre is thinking about paying people, know two things:

1.       Pay one person once, you are setting a precedent and will very likely be paying people to do this (these) job(s) forever.

2.      Know precisely what you expect to accomplish by having a paid person do whatever it was (a) volunteer(s) were (was) previously doing.

The second of these is too often a knee-jerk solution to the problem of not having enough volunteers.  I’m now going to insult a lot of people.  The reason why there aren’t enough volunteers is because there has not been enough commitment to a system of ongoing volunteer recruitment and/or training. 

I’ll put this provocative statement into a broader context.  It reflects what I deeply believe is the most basic vision/mission/purpose of community theatre: 

We provide a comprehensive, soup-to-nuts experience in all phases of the production and presentation of theatrical entertainment for members of the community. 

And I mean ALL.  There is no job that cannot be done by a volunteer.  Some community theatres have chosen to pay people to do certain things, while others remain fully volunteer.  I have seen exceptional productions under both systems.  But no matter where a community theatre falls in its scope of paid vs. volunteer participants, without volunteers you are not a community theatre.  That means you must always be in a recruitment mode.  

With this in mind, here’s my last thought on this rant:  when you pay someone to do something, you are taking that opportunity away from a volunteer.  In other words, as soon as you write the check, you’re undermining community theatre’s most basic function! 

"Security is a kind of death." - Tennessee Williams
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Gaafa
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bullet Posted: 3/03/07 at 12:04am
G’donya Kibitzer!
That’s a fairdinkum point on ongoing volunteer recruitment & training.
Instead we tend to use & abuse what we have, until they bitterly pull the pin & go else where.
Instead of gaining more of our most reusable resource - people!
I believe we find it much easier to knock members, rather than nurture & afford shared training.
Simple basic workshops works wonders & can eventually address thinking about forking out a stipend!

      Joe
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Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
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to a full house}

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bullet Posted: 3/03/07 at 4:22pm
Bravo, Kibitzer!  My feelings exactly on building and training a volunteer base so that you don't get stuck with the "Nobody knows how to do this but me, so pay me" mindset. (For my rant, see my earlier post.) And your differentiation between 'amateur" and "amateurish" was right on!
 
Welcome to the Board, and keep those posts coming!
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bullet Posted: 3/03/07 at 10:52pm
I have probably related this before?
I wasn’t actually a member of this particular group, but was asked if I could help with the electric’s at their theatre.
They were refurbishing it & held up because they needed to shift the Mains Power switchboard & relocate it.
I did & also rewired the venue which was over 100 years old & every bloke & his dog had had a go over the years, by bodgying up extra circuits & adding band aid repairs & modifications.
The Architect, who was a member, had quotes of $20 000 & more to do the work.
So dummy here, being semi retired at the time, said yes I’ll do it at no cost.
Working every night I did it on my own within a month, although I requested that they hold all rehearsals & productions while I was doing it, needless to say that didn’t happen.
When I had it up & running, I was then berated & admonished for not becoming a member & paying up the $20 fee. Which was demanded immediately or else I couldn’t participate in the theatre productions or use the facilities, like having coffee or tea, also I would not be covered by their volunteer insurance?
After ensuring the theatre was electrically safe, I smiled while packing up my tools & walked out, not to return!
I didn’t bother returning any of their phone calls or grovelling emails, for about 6 months, until I got a call one Saturday night, that the main fuse had blown & they had no power on the stage for their production.
Being an idiot I fronted up within half an hour & reset the breaker. After removing the faulty lamp & then advised the SM they had the power back & could do the performance.
Quietly got into the car & hit the road.
It took another 2 months or so before I received a letter of thank you, with an offer of a complimentary ticket for the next production - amazingly I never did take up the  offer.
{in this State all electrical work has to be performed by a qualified licensed electrician, under the Electrical Act}
I feel they missed the point completely!

      Joe
Western Gondawandaland
turn right @ Perth.
Hear the light & see the sound.
Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"}
May you always play
to a full house}

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bullet Posted: 5/04/07 at 3:49pm
Well, I guess we are generous.  For anyone who wants to contact me directly, I can share a small, informal survey with you that I did of community theaters (8) in the greater Minneapolis area 2 yrs ago.  We bumped our salaries about 20% after that, and are above the middle of the pack, but by no means the highest.  We currently pay a total of about $5-6000 in salaries and stipends for a full length musical, broken down as follows:
- Director $1200-$1500
- Orchestra Dir $500
- Vocal Director $500
- Rehearsal Pianist $400
- Choreographer $400-600
- Technical Director $700-$800
- Costumer $300-400
Various stipends of $25-$100 to producer, lights, sound, box office, etc.
We do not pay actors.  We have a stipend program for musicians, who earn $500 after they have participated in 5 shows with us, then it starts again.  This creates loyalty, and compensates musicians for care of their instruments, etc.  We pay mileage to musicians only when necessary.
 
The payments are less about "a fair hourly rate" (which it is not).  It is more about showing appreciation for efforts, and has worked well for us.
 
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