Group items tagged

Word on the street is that they are thinking of removing the arts from the schooling system… I'm sorry. WHAT?! Do my ears decieve me? JUST because it isn't considered 'academic'…? I'll tell you now, anyone who has trained in the arts knows just how important it is and how you can learn things even more useful than Pythagorus … Life skills!

As a person who has had a long stage career as a performer AND a producer/director, I could spend time advising you on all of the things one should do to further their career in theatre. I'm not going to do that. While it may seem like I'm focusing on the negative, it is this humble writers opinion that it's more important to know what NOT to do. A vast majority of actors, singers, dancers, comedians, variety artists, technicians, and stage managers make one or many of these 6 mistakes far too often during their careers, and sometimes unknowingly hurt their chances at booking work. Employers talk to one another, and sometimes one bad reference is all it takes for you to lose the job. And you'll never know why you didn't book it. By avoiding these critical mistakes, you can set yourself apart from all of your contemporaries. While talent and craft is important, the most gifted performer can make themselves completely un-hirable by committing these career sins:

"Hi! My name is Ari, Cyberman is just my nickname! I guess that i should tell you something about me! 49yo, single, never married, no kids, epileptic, i have a dear pet a cat named Lumikki, SnowWhite in english. Please behave in my chatroom or you will get banned for long time! About my project. I want to share my life with every viewer, you can follow my daily life, you can watch and hear what we are doing. Stream will be always on. i will shut my cameras and mute sound if i go to shower, when i have important visitors or when i make import phonecall and so on. You can support my lifestyle by making a donation or monthly payment by using Paypal. You can cancel monthly payment when ever you want to!"

The basic marshmallow challenge (detailed instructions here) is an ideal exercise to sharpen collaboration skills. It's works because it's so simple: groups of four are given 18 minutes to build the tallest free standing building they can with 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti, one yard of masking tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The time limit is important - it forces students to collaborate quickly. The competition aspect is also important - this pushes groups to work at their best.

"But not all kinds of audience analysis are evil. It's an important but often-overlooked practice for any organization. When I ask an NGO "who are you trying to engage with?", the answer is often simply "everybody" or "you know, the people on our list". There’s an inclination to think “everybody will obviously be interested in our cause!” In reality, the more you refine who you want to talk to, the easier it is to reach them. Consider these two sample audiences:"