Each section of the workshop yielded interesting and helpful information. Below, I share some observations on each of the activities as well as some larger takeaways from the event.
MIND-MAPPING “INDUSTRY” Exercise:
- Students had quite a balanced view, attributing both positive and negative terms
- Students understand that the “industry” is not monolithic and contains multiple and overlapping structures/communities
- Students are aware of things like nepotism and other attributes that make the professional world unfair
- However, students seem to think personal attributes (hard work) and resilience will allow them to overcome obstacles
INTERVIEW WITH FUTURE SELF Exercise:
- Students have a vast array of interests across media and roles
- Most students are interested in film and other new media platforms (gaming)
- Students see a connection between acting for stage training and these future roles
- Students (with two exceptions) could not identify an artist-collaborator that they would like to collaborate with
SKILLS NEEDED Exercise:
- Students identified “hard” skills they need (ie, acting specific skills) such as voice, movement, accent work, scene study, audition techniques, etc.
- Students were less able to articulate “soft” skills – beyond “communication” and “fundraising”
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS:
Tbe workshop confirmed my things I suspected about the students’ hopes, but also offered some revelations and some consolations. One of the challenges in the course offering and description which was revealed by this workshop was the sheer range of media (theatre, film, gaming, performance art) and roles (stage actor, film actor, stage director, film director, producer, artistic director, screenwriter, curator, voice actor, etc.) that students wish to engage in. This is an extremely tall order for a minimal staff to deliver, as each of these media and roles require specialist training. The students themselves are quite unfocused in their desires, asking for everything from horseback riding and Shakespeare to working with AI and robots and acting for screen to fundraising and networking.
My primary takeaway then is as a staff both in terms of course content, marketing, assessment, and professionalization activities, we need to develop a vocabulary of skills and approaches that are more abstracted than associated with traditional actor training. In this regard, I found the concept of “portfolio careers” by Lackhurst et al. (2019) which thinks about preparing students to enjoy a life in the creative industries in which acting is only one of their primary salary-earning activities to be a helpful framework with which to re-think aspects of our course.
