I'm not trying to be abrasive when saying this, if you want to be a lawyer don't waste your time with a degree in make believe. A friend of mine who I went to undergrad with eventually went to law school. He has a degree in make believe just like me, when he got married he understood that to make his family life sustainable the life he was living in the non profit arts world was unsustainable.
I'm not sure if you have been seeing all the articles about how
regional theatre is in an economic tailspin. I came into my career during the 07/08 recession and this is very similar. It is also compounded by, again not to sound abrasive, gen x and younger don't care about
theatre. The numbers show they will spend money to go see a T Swift concert or go to Meow Wolfe. Shakespeare and Opera are not priorities for this age group. Boomers are starting to die so the attendance of
regional theatre is plummeting. I'm not going to harp on Broadway, everyone here has made the same
point I would have made. Though I would say, mathematically you have a better chance of walking on the moon one day than being a Broadway designer. Compounding
regional theatre also, corporations are no longer donating to the arts. Coming out of the pandemic they are directing their donations towards medical research. That is how they see themselves making the world a better place, not through donations to the non profit arts sector.
Have you thought about working in themed entertainment, corporate entertainment, for a manufacturer,
theatre consulting, architectural lighting design, a theatrical contractor, experiential entertainment design? The list does go on and on.
I had two really good chats with two friends of mine this week, one working at a major opera company and another working in a major
regional theatre. Both of them were talking to me about how they are now going to pivot out of
regional theatre and into something I mentioned above. They both agreed that things are not going to get better and, this will be a controversial statement, all the DEI talk that has been going over the past few years in
regional theatre is literally just that, talk.
I would harp on what has been said previously, DO NOT GO INTO A TON OF STUDENT LOAD DEBT FOR THIS !!!! There are people who do that, they are called Medical Doctors and Lawyers, no one with any title in our industry should be going into the kind of debt those professions go into for their education.
Also, something to think about, over the past twenty years I have navigated my career one thing has always been consistent. I have always herd UNCSA referred to as University of North Carolina School of The Attitudes. Just something for you to think about.
I am more than happy to take any and all criticism for this post. Also, if you have any questions regarding the other parts of the entertainment industry I mentioned above please feel free to message me. I have quite a
bit of professional experience in that.