SMA is hosting the following seminar at ABTT Theatre Show
Anna-Maria Casson and Lauren Patman (TwoCan stage manage) are both SMA members and listed on the association's famous Freelist as a successful job sharing team working on West End and off-west end shows on a job share basis.
Anna and Lauren will be joined by Anna Ehnold-Danailov co- founder and co CEO of PIPA Parents and Carers in Performing Arts. PIPA supports initiatives to make theatre work more accessible for parents and carers, including family friendly work schedules and contracting innovations such as job sharing. Through its pioneering Best Practice Charter Programme, PiPA is committed to working with organisations to increase business resilience by working towards the 10 Charter points, attracting and retaining a more flexible and diverse workforce. Anna is a director and brings the experience of a working creative as well as that of the many employer partners of PIPA to the panel.
The SM’s and their industry employers and colleagues will lead a practical discussion on job sharing:
How to go about it, the positives and negatives, the value of job sharing to our industry and ourselves.
Lauren and Anna Maria will lay out how they work as job-share partners, how they split their workload, and how they hand over to ensure continuity, an approach which has proved to be financially largely cost-neutral to producers. They will share what comms. and simple tools they use to create a seamless and very positive effect on their shows through careful co-ordination, planning and excellent team work. PIPA will share further insights into how far this approach is typical of other theatres' experiences .
The event will include a discussion on the crucial part that good communications play in SM job sharing roles, with updates from Clear-Com on new technologies and comms equipment available and insights on how clear comms. can work for you in your work.
In particular Clear-Com's Ben Turnwell will introduce a new product which allows secure live streaming and sharing of the showcalling open circuit on shows: an innovation which could be invaluable for job sharers and for ASMs and DSMs learning the book on a show. At Broadway SM Symposium recently the New York audience heard a live feed of the DSM calling MJ The Musical at Prince Edward Theatre in London West End.
In this session we will learn the real benefits of having two SMs sharing a role, and how this enhances the pre-production and show running processes as well as the work- life balance and job satisfaction for the sharers and being cost neutral for producers and very well received by cast and crew.
They will outline the benefits of holding a senior role as a job share and provide evidence and testimonials, and we will hear from PIPA how that experience is being mirrored across the industry and how employers can facilitate and ensure that as many people (and shows) as possible can benefit.
There will be opportunity for questions and discussion throughout.
Check out this informative article in The Stage
