Megan Jay gave a TEDtalk that I’m about to make required viewing for every singer in the program. It’s about the importance of one’s 20′s, that it’s not a throwaway decade, and that – even if you’re not sure what you want to do – it’s the time to explore, to invest in yourself.
If you’re a 20-something – heck, even if you’re a mumblemumble-something – check it out.
An opportunity for career changers
If you’re a performer hoping to figure out a path into another profession, I’d encourage you to take a look at an opportunity with my company. This Fellowship is paid, and allows you to cycle through several departments to learn a wide array of skills. It’s a way to take that passion for music, and parlay it into an off-stage career. For additional info contact our Education department. It’s a great opportunity!
I’ve come across two promising articles that have made hairline cracks in my craggy artistic administrator’s heart.
This one, touting the skills learned in MFA studies as much as those in MBA studies made me smile. Even if realistically it’s years away, it’s still a turn in an interesting and gratifying direction. (I’m imagining all those suits signing up for drawing class or piano lessons – that’s a picture I could learn to love!)
And this one, touting the benefits of creative leadership over authoritative leadership, speaks the truth. (I know, because I’m fortunate to work for and with an amazingly creative leader.)
Maybe I’m just picking and choosing articles that resonate with me, regarding creativity and the workplace, but even if that’s true there seem to be many more of those articles than there were even a year ago.
Change is, indeed, good.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCWdCKPtnYE&w=420&h=315%5D
You’re a college student. You’re enrolled in a performance degree program, but are having some second thoughts – maybe your audition season was sparse on returns, maybe you’re trying to reconcile the hours alone in a practice room with your naturally gregarious nature, maybe your soul is Turandot but your larynx is Despina.
Question: What to do?
Answer: Try something else on for size. If you’re interested in the inner workings of arts non-profits, it’s a great time to get an internship. (Ours just happens to be ranked by BusinessWeek and the Princeton Review. We’re kind of a big deal.)
Here’s the thing, though: internships aren’t easy to get, and the best ones are not actually easy at all.
Internships are competitive. There are lots of basic articles about polishing your application materials (no stream of consciousness, please make sure that your cover letter is addressed to the company to whom you’re sending the materials, know what we might find if we google your name, etc.) As someone who pours through stacks of applications every spring, I can tell you that having clean materials and a specific voice is really important.I can also tell you that we really want to know who you are, because we need to know that you’ll fit into our wonderfully quirky family. (It’s a double-edged sword in the best way – because if we’re irritating to you during a 20-minute skype interview? Well, it’sa gonna be a loooong summer. For everyone.)
(Oh, and did I mention that we could’ve used you yesterday, so go ahead and take 5 minutes to get settled in and then we’re off to the races.)
Once you land one, chances are quite good that we’ll ask you to do something more than get us coffee. (We drink enough of the stuff that it’s usually close-at-hand-at-all times.) Your job duties may fluctuate between moving chairs, negotiating schedules between multiple artistic teams, and getting gussied up to talk with a board member or a major donor, sometimes all in one day.Our interns are part of our team, with the responsibilities, the long hours, the too-tired-to-function-so-we-get-the-giggles camaraderie that occupy our busy summers. We’re here to help – heck, many of us started as interns ourselves – but we’re not here to do your job. We need you, and we count on you.
Ready to get your hands dirty? Ready to learn something new that will keep you in the arts (without having to get in the woodshed nearly as often)? Here are the positions that we have open. Friday is the deadline – proofread before you hit send!
Ticket Services
Planning and Initiatives
Accounting
Information Services
Wolf Trap Opera Company
Technical Theatre
Costuming
Scenic/Prop Painting
Stage Management
Admininistrative
Directing
Programming and Production
Communications and Marketing
Photography
Marketing
Ad Sales/Group Sales
Graphic Design
Web Communications
Creative Copywriting
PR
Multimedia
Development
Special Events
Major Gifts
Annual Fund
Education
Do you recognize yourself in this?
I certainly recognize myself.
I’m so very happy that Hanne Blank wrote this.
How loud is your inner censor? Mine has a megaphone and an amplifier system that he can turn up at-will. It’s annoying, mostly because he tends to use it when I’m trying to generate ideas.
Here’s the thing: you can’t create and critique at the same time. We’ve all been onstage, singing a 4 minute tune, and become mentally obsessed with the flub/crack/phlegm at 00:30. If you can’t put the censor, the critic back in the box, the whole song is a wash: if you can, your audience might just forget about the incident at 00:30.
The best ideas come when you’re in the shower, on the subway, when your thinking is less ordered, more nebulous.
This post from the NYT corroborates my point from a totally different industry. While the article is mostly about interviewing and Mr. Leong’s insatiable curiosity, it hits on a key point:
I think there’s one rule of thumb in creativity: when you’re brainstorming, you have to suspend disbelief. That’s a key ingredient. There’s time enough to challenge it and poke holes, but not at the time of generation.
Suspending disbelief. Playing the “Yes. And…” game. Ideate without worrying about the outcome.
I think there’s another word for all that – I think the word is play.
Get out there and play, my friends. Happy Friday!
If you love working with singers and are both flexible and detail-oriented, there’s an amazing opportunity at Opera America for an Artistic Services Manager. Click here for the job description, and note that the application date is February 11, 2013 for best consideration.
Good luck!
The folks that I spend most of my days with are great examples of this word Humbition that’s been floating around. They’ve spent a lot of time and energy getting to the top of their field – they know a lot, have done a lot, but they are gracious when they’ve been struck with good fortune. I like this quote from IBM’s Jane Harper, via Portfolio Careers:
Humbition is one part humility and one part ambition. We notice that by far the lion’s share of world-changing luminaries are humble people. They focus on the work, not themselves. They seek success–they are ambitious–but they are humbled when it arrives. They know that much of that success was luck, timing, and a thousand factors out of their personal control. They feel lucky, not all powerful… So be ambitious. Be a leader. But do not belittle others in your pursuit of your ambitions. Raise them up instead.
And, from the Leading Blog -
Humility isn’t about the lack of ambition, but acknowledging the luck, the good fortune, and the contributions of others to your success. It is the humility that comes with a habit of respect for others. Stephen Hall calls it the “gift of perspective.” It is indeed. Humility is all about perspective.
But this might be my favorite depiction of ambition…and why the “hum” in humbition makes that last panel a good place to be. (thanks to Grant Snider for another great illustration!)
I’ve recently stumbled across three articles that are swimming around my head in a interesting manner.
This is the first. That’d be a heck of a pie chart! But now, as I look back at the ways in which I’ve spend the approximately 32,000 hours (!) I’ve likely worked, it’s still difficult to characterize much of what I’ve “done.” And, as I let this blog languish and stall on other, non-professional writing projects, I’m reminded that I need to work a few hours a week on the things that make my heart sing.
This is the second. I read it in the print edition, and found it fascinating, mostly because one of the traits they illustrate concerns living in the moment, not projecting…and it sounds a lot like mindfulness, doesn’t it? Here’s a quote:
“I think the problem is that people spend so much time worrying about what might happen, what might go wrong, that they completely lose sight of the present. They completely overlook the fact that, actually, right now, everything’s perfectly fine.
“So the trick, whenever possible, I propose, is to stop your brain from running on ahead of you.”
(Now, if you read that in Yoga Journal? O Magazine? It’d be easy to turn into a mantra of sorts. But the context makes it a bit stickier for me to wrap my head around, somehow.)
This is the third. There’s an clear analogy here for a performing career; the Eagle Scout level of preparedness needed, the brutal slog of little money and an expensive vocation, the uncertainty surrounding each occasion, the crazy desire to fly. The luck that accompanies the right day, the right waft of air, the right conditions for an epic flight.
Happy Monday, all. Hope the week is great.
It’s the beginning of December.
If you’re a singer, you’re likely in (or have recently been in) New York, at Nola or Opera America or any number of other venues. Your binder is organized and you’ve made sure that the accompanist can see the bass clef on the bottom stave clearly. Your résumés are proofed and copied and pristine. You have several versions of your rep list, for good days, ok days, and i-shoulda-maybe-cancelled days. You have an audition outfit that makes you feel sparkly and special. You have a pre-show ritual that allows you to perform (i.e. have a positive, expansive experience) rather than audition (i.e. be judged, which triggers the fight-or-flight response in even the best folks). You run into people you know and love, people you know and don’t love, people who are stronger at intimidating or distracting others in the hallway than at auditioning.
You also have ways in which you reward yourself for putting yourself out there, in the face of rejection, over and over and over again.
You’re looking for a job. Something that will pay you to do what you love. You’ve worked diligently, paid your dues. It’s time.
For some of you? It is, in fact, time! And you’ll wrap up the audition season with a contract or two, refreshed energy, renewed contacts…
For others? Talented, driven, dues-paying others? You could end up empty-handed.
This article is from the theater world, but it still applies. Consider this a gentle reminder that the whole process is mostly out of your hands. If you’re cool with that? I am your fan, and am in awe of your generosity, resilience and persistence.
If you’re not? Stay tuned, as we’ll have some more articles and profiles heading your way over the holidays and beyond!
If you’re interested in what I’ve been doing this fall, you can check out my colleague/friend/audition-tour-compadre’s writing here and here. And if you just need some inspiration? Check here and here and here
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