<p>I just had a very sobering meeting with an acting professor at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. </p>
<p>First let me note that CCM in my opinion is one of the best schools of its kind in the US. They certainly are on par with any of the top conservatories and have some of the best musicians and program in musical theater, ballet,composition and voice in the US.</p>
<p>Now for the problem. I struck up a very nice conversation with a professor of acting there. What she said was very sobering and is something that all musical theater and acting prospective students better take to heart.</p>
<p>She noted that because of the bleak economy and due to the tremendous costs of producing plays, many playrights are being asked to write plays that take 5 cast members of less in order to cut costs. This is in addition to fewer plays being produced.</p>
<p>This has several implications. First if means that there will be much fewer job opportunities of both musical theater majors and for actors on broadway.</p>
<p>More importantly,however, is that she just attended a symposium of conservatory representatives. The speakers noted that all musical theater and drama programs should ethically not graduate students who the school feels doesn't have a strong chance of making it in theater. As such you can expect most musical theater programs and drama programs to have a greater amount of cuts than in the past!</p>
<p>I just wanted to give everyone a "heads up" about this situation.</p>
<p>If there has EVER been a good time to guarantee jobs for acting and musical theatre majors in the history of the world it has certainly not been in my lifetime. </p>
<p>Historically, during bad economic times, musicals have thrived. Think of the depression. It was a golden era of musicals. People wanted more and bigger entertainment to escape.</p>
<p>But then a ticket to a show in 1929 was probably not $135.00. It was more like 1.35.</p>
<p>Your point is taken, but if anyone is going to college to attend a Musical Theatre program expecting that it is not going to be difficult to get a job when they get out should not be going into it anyway.</p>
<p>There have been fewer and fewer jobs on Broadway consistently since the 1950's.
There were hundred of shows opening each season in the 40's. </p>
<p>As far as the plays go, I am a playwright. Small size casts have been the norm for quite a while. Many, many theatres have restrictions on submissions that limit the cast size they will consider. It's a fact of life writers have dealt with for years. And yet, there are larger cast plays still being produced. So, you can never tell. It's a theatre by theatre, producer by producer thing.</p>
<p>Belts will certainly be tightened and it will affect the type of show a theatre can produce but it's nothing new for actors to face. And, as far as the conservatories and schools go, ethically they should graduate the students they take into their programs. We are paying for quality training - not clairvoyancy.</p>
<p>I highly doubt that this will discourage anyone from auditioning for theatre and/or musical theatre.. and if it does I doubt that theatre schools are reducing the number of students they take so in the end it won't change anything to the number of kids who join these programs...</p>
<p>Plus someone applying now won't graduate till 2013... Lots can and will change between now and then...</p>
<p>I agree. Having been intimately associated with the elite classical ballet training "scene" for many years, I can tell you that times are tough for ballet companies. Yet the number of training programs via company schools, conservatories, university level BFA ballet programs,etc are putting out more and more dancers competing for less an less numbers of company trainee or apprenticeship positions. And to make matters worse, companies frequently bypass the company trained talent for a dancer trained abroad. </p>
<p>For many company schools and conservatories, the students and their tuition pay the bills, help provide additional salaries for company dancers and company dance mistresses/masters and piano accompaniests. There are companies who NEED the tuition from the company affiliated school and summer intensive programs just to keep their ballet company afloat and able to perform. They just don't need the school dancers :(. </p>
<p>Yet these schools and summer intensives and university programs have expanded. There is a cottage industry now in training classical ballet dancers, dancers who will never find a paying job. But the dancers continue to audition in large numbers......</p>
<p>Ok, why don't we all just go out and engage in more panicked sell offs, tell our kids to drop out of their programs to go to tech school and then stick our heads in the oven. </p>
<p>C'mon, nobody goes into performing arts, we don't support our kids' aspirations to do so, because of some belief that it provides job security. This area has always been fraught with great financial risk but those who go into this field do so because of the great passion which they have for their art which on balance is more important than the risk. Over the past couple of decades, in my professional endeavors, I have seen performing arts companies (ballet, opera, theater, orchestral) go from the brink of bankruptcy and extinction to become stable and thriving. Now is not the first time these challenges have been faced, including an economy that seems devastated, and there is no reason to think that over time the current challenges can not again be met. It will take resilience, perseverance, creativity, planning and at times sacrifice but isn't that what was needed to begin with, going into this whole process, before the events of the last several months.</p>
<p>As to schools and cuts, I doubt that schools that do not subscribe to a "cut" philosophy, which have a "no cut" educational philosophy and values (and many of the finest programs out there are of this approach) are suddenly going to adopt a cut system. Maybe those which are already cut schools to begin with will do so even more but there are many, many very fine nationally recognized programs that don't have cut systems because of their fundamental educational philosophy.</p>
<p>Just because Henny Penny says the sky is falling doesn't mean it really is, that is unless you are Chicken Little.</p>
<p>Sometimes it's smarter to take a long view of history rather than the immediate "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" (thanks, Michael) view noted above.</p>
<p>Thanks for the bulletin, Taxguy. I'm sure this is the coming trend. CCM has always been a bit funny about their program in terms of retaining kids they do not think are good enough to be out there. As a parent who feels the market will tell, I never agreed with their dept philosophy. More folks auditioning out there who have not been trained in a BFA program or any college program, than who have, so it's not like the degree is essential.</p>
<p>I second Michael above. It is bad enough to be walking around right now in this gloom and doom environment. No doubt times are hard, harder than most of us ever expected but to crush a dream would definitely not be the right answer. I am a past owner and current consultant to a major Performing Arts training center in South Florida. The school opened in 1979 and this semesters enrollment is astounding. People still recognize the importance of such a healthy hobby (or in some cases hopeful career) for their kids and have not, atleast as of yet, taken them out of their after school arts classes. In addition our adult classes are booming. Adults need SOMETHING to feel good about right now and they are still willing to take a dance, music or acting class to "let off steam". If I were to put a positive spin on this I would say how lucky we are to have passionate children who still have big dreams, goals and ambitions. So many kids are lost and right now feel hopeless. Who knows what is going to happen next month, year, etc, but to have something to feel this great about is priceless. With all that said, we have discussed the economics with our D and she is aware, in the mind of a 17 year old, that times are tough and sacrifices need to be made. BTW, a BFA degree can lead to many other jobs that these students haven't even contemplated. It gives them skills in responsibility and a tremendous ability to present themselves professionally as well as theatrically. If they strengthen their musicianship they have opportunities in private coaching and teaching that pays quite well. (Local teachers are up to $60-80/hr., not bad...) I do recognize the immediate problems (paying for college when funds are at an all time low) but let's give these kids a fair chance.</p>
<p>The economic downturn will probably result in those students that are wavering between the performing arts and another more stable major and those students that simply "like singing on stage" from seeking a degree in the arts. And I don't think that is necessarly a bad thing. I would think the professors and classmates would rather work with students that share their steadfast love of the arts</p>
<p>Posting through the lens "reformed music major" turned special education teacher...and now parent of a dance and theatre kid...</p>
<p>In my experience, very few people go into the arts to get rich. Watching my kiddo, like sunnyflorida's, move through classical ballet training KNOWING that less than 2% of the ballet dancers who are "company ready" will ever be paid to dance professionally...yet also knowing that performing is "it" for her...sure, as a parent, it's scary. </p>
<p>However, as others have said, if she never dances another step, never sings again, she will take skills with her into other professions. My music training (I was conservatory trained) has, I believe, helped make me a more creative, interesting special educator. </p>
<p>Discourage my kid from looking at this less-than-secure career path? Nope. (Then again, just what IS a secure job anymore?) Our motto has always been dance hard, sing and act your heart out, keep your grades up...and keep your mind (and your options) open.</p>
<p>I work in a generally more stable job area, teacher training, and evry year we tell the incoming freshman and their parents that there are few if any social studies teaching positions available. We tell the students this in the meetings with advisors their sophomore year and again when they are finally accepted into the secondary education program. Yet every year social studies has the most applicants and accepts the most students. Math and Science (my areas) and where there are more jobs than applicants never even come close to meeting its quots.</p>
<p>As a program we have dicussed limiting the number of SS applicants in order to increase their chances of getting a job when they finish. BUT thus far we still admit the maximum number the program can accommadate and socials studies still has the highest rejection rate. Are we bahaving ethically? Who knows, because evertime I meet a kid and think they will never make it in a classroom, there they do. If we could predict the future, iy would be amazing. But I feel that our education program, and all the BFAs we have talked to, make it pretty clear that the job at the end is not set. I am not sure there is more a university program can do then explain the realities and then give kids the best possible training they can and ket the jobs fall where they may.</p>
<p>I don't know of very many careers where talent alone gets the job. I've many times seen one person who on paper had more experience or a better degree lose out to someone else because of other qualities. I've even seen it in the college admittances. Factors such as work ethic, enthusiasm, drive and ease of working with others play into hiring decisions and with the large pool of talent available I think one could assume lacking these factors might inhibit even a triple threat getting employed. </p>
<p>If a college were to retain a student that didn't have the talent to get passing grades in their classes, that would be unethical. But I don't think it is the duty of the college to try to predict the eventual success of that student in their career. If a student wishes to pursue a BFA and can get passing grades in their classes including acting, singing and dancing they should be allowed to graduate. As a poster above said, there are no guarantees of employment in any career area.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse: Apparently CCM MT has revised their policies and they no longer CUT students based on performance on yearly evaluations. There ARE, however, consequences for not performing well, or not improving. As I understand it, the students who "fail" boards are not allowed to audition for shows for a period of time. This has been posted elsewhere on CC. And, my S, who is in the CCM Dramatic Performance program has confirmed that the policy has changed for MTs. Students who are considering CCM, or other MT programs, should ask questions about new policies!</p>
<p>Interesting that they have revised their policies after defending it so fiercely last year. i'm sure our MT forum here would be interested to hear this.</p>
<p>My D's at NYU. In the end, I see D's musical theatre training as an education. There are no guarantees where anyone will end up, and Stern graduates at NYU had the air knocked out of them more than the music majors last week.</p>
<p>D will be graduating with a BM degree. I know that she can always pursue teaching after obtaining a master's as one option. But there are so many other uses for the skills and talent she will pick up in her music theatre training. Besides education, the fields of pr, advertising and event planning come to mind. Plus all the theatre related / entertainment industry jobs like talent agent, casting director, production etc. Plus arts management-related jobs. </p>
<p>If there is a major down turn in the economy, it will effect careers in just about every industry. Would she like the chance to be on Braodway?..sure! But it should not be a realistic expectation for anyone. The odds are so against them in any economy.</p>
<p>It's important for any performer or artist to have a back up way of making money while they are between paying jobs, or not being paid at all for what they love to do! That's always been the case-even in good economic times.
If this economic downturn does turn out to be long-lasting, all fields of employment will be difficult. It might be harder mentally for graduates in pre-professional majors At least our kids have something to strive for that they love-great theatre will still be performed- even if it is produced by struggling artists with day jobs.</p>
<p>Folks, important point here is that this is NOT just endemic to CCM. Many of the top conservatories such as Yale, Dartmouth, and Juilliard are also considering cutting those who the schools feels won't make it in theater. This may well become the norm.</p>
<p>The professor at CCM noted tthat cuts generally stop by the end of the sophomore year UNLESS there are extreme circumstances such as drugs, illegal activities, the student simply stops trying etc. I don't know if this is the norm for most schools.</p>
<p>On September 23, 2008, CCM announced that it was discontinuing its cut policy according to current students and their parents who post on this Board. Are you stating as a fact that CCM now intends not only to reverse itself but to apply a cut policy more vigorously and based on the criteria of whether it is concluded during a student's freshman or sophomore year that the student will make it professionally after graduation 2 or 3 years later? If so, can you name the member of the administration or faculty there who informed you of this?</p>
<p>It doesn't make sense to me that in an iffy economy, a college or conservatory would cut kids, losing money that they would otherwise get from tuition and fees, as well as future donations from alumni. Also, Juilliard drama did away with their cuts a few years ago, when a new head of program took over after Michael Kahn.</p>