Task 3c: Sources of Information

The wide range of methods by which I use as well as other professionals to gather and organise our information is now more varied than ever, mainly due to the evolution of web-based technologies and resources. Five of the main sources I use to gather information come from the internet alone, but I have tried to include some alternate methods alongside them. They are as follows:

THE INTERNET

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Sources I use to search for jobs. The Stage (http://www.thestage.co.uk/recruitment/) is a written and online publication that I use as a means of searching for upcoming auditions and vacancies within the entertainment industry. According to figures I found online, over 300,000 people view the webpage monthly, so it is clearly a very well-known and popular way of doing so. There are a number of auditions that I have attended/applied for after seeing them online, some of which I was successful, others not so. There is also a Facebook group called FiveSixSevenEight that is a private group that a member has to invite you into (for anyone reading this who thinks they may benefit from being a part of it, I am more than happy to add you into it!) “Fivesixseveneight is a SECRET group, dedicated to sharing and caring with only the best of the best on the London scene, be it dancers, models, actors. ONLY PAID JOBS. Share the wealth and share the info. Together we are stronger.” Spotlight and CastingCallPro are also websites that keep be in the loop. It is important for me to realise how heavily I rely on the information that can be gained from this website, as without continue contracts of employment, I would not be able to inform my practice in this field.

BOOKS. As a part-time dram teacher at a stage school, I am constantly trying to find new and exciting materials to cover with my classes. Whilst the internet is also a great source for me to be able to do this, I am also a member of the library which has been of huge help in the past in terms of lesson preparation. I can walk into the library and browse to my heart’s content or head straight to a recommended text. I am then able to borrow anything I feel will be of value to me or my lessons and scan any pages I’d like to look at further. To a great extent I rely on being able to always find new subject information to help me in my code of practice. Yes the internet is also able to help me do this, but it is nice to have an alternative plan. The library is to the internet what actual networks are to virtual ones; it’s much nicer to meet people in person and have a chat!

…speaking of which! MEETING WITH OTHER PROFESSIONALS/colleagues on a regular basis is also a method that is invaluable to me in terms of informing my practice and what it is that I do. Whether these are people who I trained with at college, people I meet at auditions/on contracts of employment or teachers who I work with weekly, they are all relevant to the different types of work that I do. As ‘handy’ as the internet is to access, it is always preferable to me to be able to maintain my actual networks as well as giving attention to my virtual ones. ‘Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ is a mantra that I think sums up these types of relationships; we look out for one another. I inform my friends of any upcoming work that they may be interested in and in turn, they do the same for me. It works both ways.

My AGENT is another source of information that is helpful in the search and gaining of employment. As a performer, work can often be scarce and the contracts short-lived. It is therefore important to be able to utilise another tool in the search for work. It is the job of my agent to search for work and submit their clients for work they would likely be interested in. In return, they charge me a fee for their services and for representing me, but I think this is a fair amount and a worthwhile expenditure in being able to keep one step ahead in terms of looking for work in comparison to those who maybe do not have representation.

Finally, I extract information and gather experience from going to WATCH PERFORMANCES myself. Going to watch different types and levels of performance benefits not one but two areas of my current professional practice. Going to watch high quality and professional pieces of theatre inspire me as an actress and provide me with inspiration when performing myself. But on the other hand, going to watch productions that feature younger performers makes me aware of the standard of choreography out there, and what children of a similar age to those I teach have been able to work towards.

The wide variety of ways to source the vast amounts of information means that professionals including myself need to be able to find ways of organising the result of their research. I personally feel that I currently manage my sources of information quite well, so that I am able to return to them in the future if needs be. For example, I keep all correspondence I receive via email in separate folders for separate networks. All of the emails I receive from my agent go into a separate folder which makes it easier to check audition time/information on my phone when I am on the go, but also I can quickly access invoices when I am completing my online tax self-assessment. Regarding the extracts I find in books e.g. print-outs or scans, I file them all in a ring binder according to theme and which age group they may be appropriate to. This helps me if I were ever to be called on to cover a class. I believe I could improve my use of the above sources further by establishing a regular routine of checking various sites for auditions so that I miss fewer postings. A good time to do this would be to check each evening before going to bed, different evenings for different sites. This is something that I could work on.

In terms of copyright issues or confidentiality problems, the reality is that most internet sources have issues when it comes to confidentiality as I must always remain aware about posting any information that is personal to me, especially on public forums discussing auditions. Regarding the work I print out and source for my lessons, I avoid copyright issues by following a few simple steps; I never choose to work on a whole section of work with my students, but rather shorter extracts. They are never used for any profitable gain in performances or showcases, only as classroom activities and exercises and I ensure that I collect in all papers afterwards to be destroyed, aside from the one master copy I keep in my folder as a reference. At this point in the term, very few students, if any, have posted blogs for task 3C, so looking at the posts was fairly limited. I did however, take a look at individuals who were further along with the course than myself, e.g. Modules 2/3 to see what they had posted in the past. On the whole, their top 5 sources of information were very similar to myself as they seem to be the current and popular sources for young people in my profession.