CONTEXT – Professional Practice Essay

Professional Practise In the Performing Arts and Entertainment Industry

Emily Gordon

Industry Week: 07/01/19- 11/01/19

Industry week has provided me with a major amount of details, information and skills based on our desired profession of performing arts. Receiving chats and workshops from the following: Sophie Allen, Robert Andrews, Bridie Horne, Tim Westerman, Tim Welton, Hannah Schofield, Alex Ray, Danny Iwaszko, Claire Bostock, Lynn Whitehead and Birgitta Kenyon has filled me with a range of extremely beneficial information regarding my desired pathway within performing arts as well as a range of others which all contribute and fit together.

Pathways in this area of study are a lot larger than people expect, jobs are constantly being offered on and off stage, helping to join together and create the supportive and competitive community that is performing and production arts.

To fill our desires of being successful within this particular industry it is key that we are entering this profession with as many skills and positive characteristics as possible which are going to help us to gradually progress and improve. We are hoping to enter the entertainment industry, therefore, our skill set and characteristics need to be varied yet very specific so that we constantly making progress and providing a well presented name for ourselves as a performer.

•  Time Management

Time management is very important in this profession, it is key that you are always on time and can manage your tasks so that every deadline is met and completed. This gives you the opportunities to be used again as it shows that you are widely reliable and committed to your job, setting up a positive name for yourself. This can also effect your levels of preparation as well as many other required skills, this provides a good and high level foundation for your characteristics as a performer or production arts member.

An example of this within playwrighting is that you may have to meet a deadline for one of your written plays and if you do not reach this, the performance, auditions and development of the whole production will effect the whole team who are putting this on.

• Organisational skills

Organisational skills have many links to every profession and skill within our desired future pathway. It is truly important that we are on top of what we are doing, organised and well prepared for what we have coming up. This sets us up on a better platform for providing a better performance or completing a better job as we are aware of every aspect and have managed everything well.

Community Theatre is very dependant on the leaders organisational skills. It is key that you are aware of who you are teaching and running a class for so that you can adapt your activities to fit the task.

• Excellent presentation

How you present yourself anywhere within performing arts is key. You need to be showing that you are ready for where you are and that you are aware of what you are going for and dressed appropriately.

This is key for auditions and workshops in particular, first impressions are crucial in this industry and you need to be making and setting yourself up correctly.

• A passion for your desired profession

It is very important that you want a future in the industry you are training in, this provides the fun and love for what you do and gives you the energy and desire to want to do this.

When furthering your career, an example of this is leading onto running your own small business,  it’s important that you want to make a difference and have the passion yourself as well as for others.

• High preparation at all times

Preparation levels are crucial in this profession. You need to be on top of what you are doing and ready to meet any deadlines as well as timings.

This is very important for any pathway. However, using the example of being a technician and film work, having high preparation skills sets you up to have your creative deadlines met to develop the production or performance so that they have all their required props or set.

• Outgoing, always putting yourself forward

Within performing arts, jobs can be very hard to find and reach at times. It is important that down any pathway you put yourself and your ideas forward so that business’, directors, producers or playwrights know that this is what you want.

Every single one of the listed characterises are crucial to someone hoping to progress in their professional practise of performing arts. However, there are always more things that someone can offer to stand out and make a positive name and impact for themselves in the community. Additionally, there are many varied types of employment within performing arts which we have developed our knowledge of this week from our sessions as well as completed research. Whether you are hoping to progress performing or production it is very important that you carry these traits at all times to improve your name, employability and skill set to offer to the vast community.

Extended list:

• Decisive
• Muscle memory
• Well- Mannered and thoughtful
• Supportive
• Consistent
• Open mindset
• Teamwork
• Listening skills
• Hard Worker
• Versatile
• Leadership
• Creative / inventive
• Determined
• Light hearted
• Dedicated

The performing arts industry is very wide and has many jobs to offer. However, they can contrast majorly and an example of this would be a Freelance Technician and a dancer/performer. Each of these two professions hold different responsibilities and can lead to many different things when progression begins.

Beginning with performing specifically as a musical theatre performer or dancer, I know from my taken research and helpful sessions throughout the week more about how this plays out in the real industry. The job of someone on stage, performing to a live audience and performing as a dancer) is to provide entertainment and tell a story through a given performance. Specifically, referencing dancer and performer Sophie Allen who performs in the musical theatre profession, currently travelling on cruise ships and performing as a Disney princess withholds many responsibilities. From a group discussion and workshop, I learnt that she needs to train as a specific character when landing a role, an example of this is training and developing her characteristics and mannerisms for the Disney princess Cinderella. She holds the responsibilities of: being a highly respectable role model, reliable, on time, consistently positive and in the correct character at all times. This has many opportunities to lead to, this career could fall onto further Disney related work on cruise lines or a wider range of dance and musical theatre work due to a degree in performing arts from a drama school (specifically BIRD).

Contrastingly, working as a technician in production arts is very different and challenging in other ways to being a live musical theatre performer. As a musical theatre student myself, my knowledge in production arts and technician work is significantly lower than other areas of study. Receiving a chat from Tim Westerman on freelancing and technical work gave me more required information on this. Their main job is done backstage, they provide the performers with all of their structure and equipment to put on a show.  Their responsibilities lay within lighting design, set, props, mics, safety and order. They ensure that all the technology that is required to help the show run smoothly is in place and will have a positive impact on the performance. This work is very vast and can develop to a lot in the future for anyone in this profession. Due to the required skills and responsibilities they hold eg. Reliable, on top of what they are doing, focused, attention to detail and more. In a sense, it can be seen that they are in the place to hold everything together for the show as it could not run without every aspect backstage and onstage in place. Therefore, this profession on the whole can divide into many things and lead to many individual jobs in the next stages of anyone’s career.

To conclude, I learnt a vast amount this week and developed my knowledge in various and contrasting areas within the performing arts profession. It is crucial that you are equipped with the right skills and mindset to progress and have a high understanding of how the community works and everything fits together.