Tag Archives: arts advocacy

Link Roundup! – 3/13/15

Link Roundups feature articles and bits of internet goodness that our dramaturgy team digs up. If you find something you want to send our way, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!

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Playwright Bess Wohl at the Abrons Arts Center Playhouse. Photo: Cassandra Giraldo for The Wall Street Journal

Playwright Bess Wohl at the Abrons Arts Center Playhouse. Photo: Cassandra Giraldo for The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has an article up about playwrights who write for film and television, examining the way it allows for a more sustainable income than theatre:

In the nonprofit theater, playwrights like Ms. Wohl earn income from grants, commissions and in some cases fees from regional and international productions of their work. Only for a small handful does this accumulate to a living wage.

In TV, on the other hand, a complex system of generous minimums is in place to determine compensation for writers, whose salaries and fees vary based on a variety of factors, including a show’s length and where it is being broadcast or streamed.

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The Guardian takes a look at childcare and parent-friendly practices in theatre with their article “Parents in the arts need to stage a childcare revolution”: 

Of course it’s not just women who are affected by such responsibilities. But perhaps one of the reasons that there are fewer female theatre directors sustaining longer-term careers is that it’s hard to juggle family and directing. Plenty of women set out to be directors, but then when children come along, it is far harder to keep going alongside caring responsibilities which still often fall primarily upon women…Maybe that explains why only 29% of directors in big theatres are female.

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Rock the Vote this Tuesday!

WBUR’s The Artery ran an article this week detailing the arts policies of gubernatorial candidates Martha Coakley and Charlie Baker. It’s a great read, and definitely worth checking out before you get to the polls on Tuesday — you can read it HERE.

Support for arts and culture in Massachusetts is not in danger. But it is by no means robust, according to Grogan. Boston Foundation studies have shown that Massachusetts lags behind other states in allocating critical resources—such as funds for arts education and capital improvements—to the arts sector. “There’s a need for strong and effective statewide advocacy,” he said, “because the arts are still an easy thing to cut.”

MASSCreative also detailed both candidates’ platforms if you want a bullet point rundown — here’s Coakley and here’s Baker.

Mass. Republican nominee for governor Charlie Baker, left, shakes hands with Democratic nominee Martha Coakley following a candidates forum (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Mass. Republican nominee for governor Charlie Baker, left, shakes hands with Democratic nominee Martha Coakley following a candidates forum (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

And while you’re reading up on arts policy, why not check out this Boston.com article for a run down of the ballot questions too!

Happy voting!