Factors
affecting jobs in the performing arts industry
The following report will highlight and discuss issues
surrounding employment and opportunities within the Creative Industries. I have
carried out research into gender, politics, class, ethnicity and age related
discrimination. I have been shocked by my findings.
Older
women are disappearing from TV due to combination of ageism and sexism, warns
Harriet Harman
In this article written by Catherine Wylie, it tells us
how much older women are affected within the performing arts industry due to
ageism and sexism. Harriet Harman who is a labour MP, works as part of a
committee known as the Older Women's Commission. This committee is run by the
labour party and it helps to gain equality for women over the age of 50. It
especially tries to working with the women nowadays as the roles and health of
older women has grown significantly. Research within this committee has shown
that when women who are working within the performing arts industry especially,
and reach the age of 50, their “days become numbered”. A study conducted by the
committee showed that although the majority of the population in the UK of over
50’s is women at 53.1%, the majority of the TV presented which are aged 50 and
over is mostly men at 82%. This leaves only 18% are women. More research saw
that only 7% of people involved with working in TV on and off screen, are
women. Harriet also said that these figures which have come from many major
broadcasters, show that ageism and sexism do not hit men in the same way as
they do to women.
Miriam O’Reilly raised some questions about why there
aren’t many women in the business over the age of 50. She started to question
this after she won an employment tribunal against the BBC. Was this due to
people not employing women over 50 or women leaving the business when they get
to this age. She had interviews with several broadcasters and from this she
said “they are committed to the fair representation of older women” however,
this does not match the figures that have been conducted from the research.
James
McAvoy: Dominance of Rich-Kid Actors in the U.K. Is "Damaging for
Society"
In this news story conducted by Hollywood Reporter, it
expresses James’ opinion on rich children within the performing arts industry.
However, he clearer states that he does not have anything against actors who
went to drama school, but he believes that there should be less successful
actors coming from drama schools. He thinks this because it does not represent
how Britain is today. He is worried that people from all social classes are not
getting the same opportunities. Within the performing arts industry it is
advertised as if you have to be elite to become a successful actor normally
meaning that you must go to drama school however, this is not always the case.
A debate was set up with the British acting circle where
Julie Walter who played Mamma Mial in Billy Elliot expressed her opinion about
how aspiring actors within the working class sector were not able to afford
drama school. This has been proven to the decrease their chance if being able
to become a successful actor.
Arts
Emergency
Arts emergency is an organisation that helps young people
get into university courses within the arts such as drama, music, theatre,
politics, humanities, etc. However, due to the high rising costs of university
courses and degrees, many young people opt out of university and don’t even
consider it purely because they are unable to afford it. This leads them to
forcefully apply for a job but because they have no higher education
qualifications, they are unable to find a job because the arts community is
very competitive. Therefore the organisation’s main aim is to help
disadvantaged young people so they can have the same chance at getting into
university than anyone else. They believe that although these young people and
their families may not be able to afford a university course, there are
certainly ways around it and this should not stop the young person having a
potential career in the arts industry.
All of the young people that are part of Arts Emergency
are aged between 16 and 19 years old all of which are in further education. Arts
emergency have several schemes which aim to help disadvantaged young people who
are least likely to be able to pay for their education but will benefit from it
the most. The main scheme in which the organisation runs is their mentoring
scheme. Each individual is given a mentor which they are then able to talk to
about their options, research into higher education courses and set reachable
targets. The programme only lasts for a year but when they ‘graduate’, they
still offer support if they need it. Another scheme that is run by Arts
Emergency is networking. This enables young disadvantaged people to connect and
talk about their aspirations. The volunteers who run the project have all come
from TV, theatre, music, etc. so have a great understanding of what is needed
to get into university or higher education courses. These volunteers also visit
colleges to give talks and workshops about keeping your options open for higher
education in the arts sector. These workshops aim to educate, inspire and
inform people that they are able to aim high. The also work with young people
and their families to educate them about the opportunities that there are in
higher education. Young people that come from a poorer background may have
parents who have no experience of the performing arts industry. This means that
the parents of the young person may be very against the idea of their child
going to university to study a course in the arts when they don’t know what it
will entail. Arts Emergency therefore work with the parents, alongside the
young person, to educate them that arts courses are extremely beneficial
especially for their child who may be disadvantaged.
One of the main factors that effects employment in the
performing arts industry is the amount of funding cuts and the high rising
prices of university degrees and higher education courses. Arts emergency is an
organisation that aims to reduce the effect that the high rising university
costs will have on potential young people aspiring to go to university to study
a course in the arts. Nowadays, to get into the performing arts industry, it is
quite likely that you need a qualification at degree level but if young people
are not able to access this, then there is a limited chance that they will be
able to pursue a career in drama, music or dance.
Letitia
Wright interview
The interview can be found here (11:30): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w5y0l
Letitia’s first main role in a production was in a film
called ‘The Urban Hymn’. The film is set in 2011 in the time at which riots
broke out in Britain. The film is based around 2 girls and their very strong
friendship and support for each other.
She started acting when she was about 15 years old in
secondary school. Once she had finished secondary school, she watched a lot of
films during the summer holidays. Watching all of these films taught her that
she needed to be persistent with her future career. She knew that she
definitely wanted to go into the performing arts industry so she produced some
basic headshots and sent these to several agents looking for work. Although
Letitia was a very talented actor and started to think more seriously about her
career, her mum wasn’t sure on the career choices that she was making. This is
because Letitia’s mum had come from an educational background and acting wasn’t
in her culture. This meant that she had to give her daughter a chance and trust
her because at first she did not want her daughter going into the performing
arts industry.
When Letitia got her first interest from an agent, she
was asked to recite a monologue. Instead of looking for a monologue and
learning it, she created a monologue herself and performed it in front of the
agent. Both the agent and her mum were gobsmacked and the agent decided to sign
her later that day.
When she was 17, she went for an audition where, on the
advert it was specified for a young white female actor. However, Letitia made
the executive decision to go to the audition even though she was black because
she just wanted to show people her talent. The people running the auditions
said they wanted to give her a chance of playing the role so gave her the job.
Letitia also mentioned about how she believes that there should be more
ethnicities and diversity involved in the performing arts industry.
She lastly went on to talk about the many projects that
she has been involved with lately including a second serious of a show called
‘Humans’.
In conclusion, Letitia’s journey into the acting industry
was not as straight forward as many other individuals. Letitia had many factors
in which she had to overcome before going into the performing arts industry.
Such factors are that her mum did not want her to go into acting because it’s
not in her culture as she had come from a very educational background and she
was in an ethnic minority. Another major factor that she had to overcome was
that she did not go to drama school meaning that she had no major acting
experience. Unlike most aspiring actors who were the same age as Letitia at the
time, Letitia had no nepotistic advantages meaning that she had no connections
within the industry to give her a leg up.
Andrew
Lloyd Webber warns of diversity crisis in British theatre
A report that was conducted by Andrew Lloyd Webber
recently expresses his opinion on the topic of black actors within theatre.
The report mainly focuses on how the theatre industry
will start to suffer if the amount of black actors does increase soon. In his
report he used the term “hideously white” in regards to the amount of white
actors that there currently are in the performing arts industry. He made a
point of saying that it is not only the lack of black actors, but also the lack
of black people who are part of the backstage crew and technical team. Andrew
Lloyd Webber went on to say “I passionately believe that the stage needs to
reflect the diversity of the UK population or it risks becoming sidelined.”
There needs to be more black people involved in the Creative industry.
Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that if there isn’t a change
to this situation now, then it can have massive effects on how the industry
runs in the future. There will gradually become less and less black actors
applying for drama school because they feel like they are in a minority. Less
black people enrolling intro drama school means that there will be less
appearing within productions. This can also have an effect on the audience.
Black people play an important part in the audience numbers and the less people
there is in the audience of a production, the less money that is made.
I believe that there needs to be a change within the
performing arts industry in regards to the equality for black and white people.
Black actors are currently in a minority and white actors are the majority.
Directors need to start accepting black actors even if the character has been
specified to be played by a white actor. This will then mean that the audiences
for performances will remain constant and theatre will carry on as normal.
Theatres
under threat from £3.3bn funding cuts
Local authorities are being forced to cut their funding
due to funding cuts from the Government. This has led to an estimated cut of
£3.3 billion funding from local theatres. According to the Local Government
Association, the funding situation is not going to get much better in years to
come either as it will continue to decline. The funding cuts may lead theatres
across the UK to be under serious threat as the cuts decrease. Some local
authorities across the UK have stopped their funding for the arts already such
as Westminster County Council.
There are arguments that funding for the arts should be,
in fact increased rather than decreased. A statement from a recent interview
with David Brownlee said that there should be at least one theatre company in
every local area that is funded by the local authority. The local theatre is a
place where the work created by and within the community can be presented and
the local people can come and see what has been achieved. If the theatre has
cuts and isn’t able to run, the projects created by the local community will be
no longer and the local people will not be able to get involved in the arts.
Charlotte Jones who is the chief executive of the
Independent Theatre Council stated that local theatres that are supporting by
the local authority are helped hugely by the funding. She said that not many
people realise how much these theatres are being supported with the funding and
if this gets cut, the theatres will begin to suffer.
Darren Henley who is the chief executive of Arts Council
England said that a strong connection between the local authority and the
theatre is absolutely key.
In conclusion, from the research that I have carried out
throughout this term, I have found that there are many different factors that
affect employment within the performing arts industry such as ageism, sexism,
funding cuts and ethnicity. I am shocked at the research that I have found. I believe
that there needs to be more diversity within the creative industry. At the
moment, the majority of actors within theatres are male middle-class white
actors who are middle-aged. This needs to be minimized so that female actors,
older and younger actors and actors from other ethnicities have the same chance
as getting a role in theatre as everyone else. There needs to be an equal
spread of actors from different backgrounds being selected for jobs in theatre.
The funding for local theatres should not be cut as this can have massive
effects on a local community as it can cause for the theatre to shut down as
the theatre is unable to put on any productions.
Charlotte,you have worked very hard to produce an enlightening, informative report. Well done.
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