[SML] Looking for feedback from you educational types...

[Steven Santos]

Putting together a letter to area schools that run technical theater
programs, and I could use some feedback from those who work in such
programs.

My questions are as follows:

1. Would this interest you?  Why/why not?
2. Does this sound like something useful for your school?
3. Would you take the step of going to the meeting?
4. Any other thoughts on it?

5. Feel free to help with grammar/spelling/etc :)

Here it is:

Bridging the gap between college and work is more important today than
it has ever been before, and this is a difficult position for any
school that teaches technical theater.  On the other side of the coin,
those companies that employ people in the field of technical theater
often struggle to find the right people with the right talents and
skills to fill the jobs that are available.

So how do we bridge this gap?  In a word, innovation.

_______, together with ___________, a not-for-profit education
corporation with a strong background in training technical theater,
are building the resources we believe are needed to help bridge this
gap in ways never before possible.

Our efforts are focused on a few basic areas; curriculum development,
internships, mentoring, job entry and support after they graduate.

Curriculum Development

The majority of students coming out of technical theater programs
today are not graduating equipped with the appropriate skills to
successfully obtain and keep work in the field of production.  To help
colleges develop and keep their programs current, our curriculum
experts can work with you and your staff to help make sure your
students get the skills they need to be successful in the field.

Through both _________ and ________, you can access a huge number of
industry trainers, certifications and courses to augment your
curriculum and programs.  Whether you want to get your students the
certifications they need to get the jobs, bring in a guest speaker on
a particular subject or bring in an expert to run a semester long
class on a subject you can’t teach in-house, we can help you do it.

Available certification programs include:

·        OSHA 10 certification for technical theater
·        Man Lift operator training
·        Fall Arrest training
·        Ladder Safety Training for the Entertainment Industry
·        And MANY more!

Internships

We have developed a new internship program for technical theater
programs that we think you will find exciting!  Our new and highly
flexible internship program will match your students one-on-one with
highly skilled union tradespeople that have been specially trained on
how to help students get the most out of the experience.  In
coordination with your program, we will place your students on actual
calls, doing in the real world exactly what they have just learned in
class with you, and refining those skills with some of the best
tradespeople in the industry.

Imagine the educational potential when your students learn a skill in
class, practice it a few times at school then get to actually get to
do it in a real show, where some of the top industry production
professionals work with them and help the refine it!

After every intern call, we collect evaluations from both the students
and the pros they worked with.  This system allows us to provide you
with specific feedback on individual students, as well as on your
program in general, with the goal of helping each student and program
to better succeed.

Mentoring

The internship can be used by programs of almost any size, but it is
designed for technical theater students in certificate or degree
programs.   As we all know, many great technical theater people also
come out of small colleges without a large technical theater program.
These students are often left to fend for themselves and figure it all
out as they go, a process that is usually less than ideal, especially
when they enter the professional world.  Our mentoring program is
designed to connect these ‘loan wolf’ students with highly skilled
tradespeople that can help them to learn and master the trade.

After the internship

Ask any college student what the scariest part of leaving school is
and they will tell you it’s finding a job in the field when they
graduate.  Our program holds a number of benefits for students trying
to enter the work force after the internship.

·        Access to Union Over-Hire lists.  For students in full-time
degree or certificate programs, they will be given the opportunity to
join the coveted over-hire lists for _______ and a special sign-up
date just for those that have done the intern program.  This is not a
guarantee of a job, but a first step that can help open a great many
doors.

·        Assistance with Job Placement.  The Unions are not the only
places to work in technical theater.  A great many companies in the
area employ people in technical theater jobs, and we know just about
all of them.  Our network of people can do a lot to help graduates
find the companies that are hiring and land those first jobs in the
industry.

·        Networking.  The entire technical theater industry runs on
networking.  Those that participate in our programs will have many
opportunities to network within the field, including access to
industry classes, workshops, trainings and online communities after
graduation.


Next Steps

If you have gotten this far, chances are we managed to rock your world
a bit, and in our industry, that’s a good thing.   What we are trying
to do is a bit revolutionary for our field.

We intend to take our first interns in September of 2016 (curriculum
services are available now), and we have a lot to do to get ready for
it.  This being the first time anyone has tried to pull off a program
of this scope, we still have some things to work out with it that we
would like your help with.   To that end, we ask you to join us for a
meeting to help us better understand your needs with a program like
this.

     [Meeting Date, Time and Location ]
     [RSVP information]


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Thanks for your help,
Steven Santos