[SML] Tenure might not be all that it is cracked up to be

[Herrick Goldman]

$3k to $5k is norm for a production period of 10 days to 2 weeks with prepro etc. 

Sent from my H-pad

Herrick Goldman
917-797-3624
www.HGlightingdesign.com

> On Mar 16, 2018, at 21:08, Steven Mclean via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> 
> Warning!  Long Post!
> 
> I Hope everyone who is there is enjoying USITT.  I thought that I would fill the emptiness of the listserve with some news of my own and a couple of questions.
> 
> I got news recently from my employer Simpson College that due to the declaration of financial exigency and following a college-wide prioritization process that favored departments with large numbers of students and large classes and faculty with teaching loads that do NOT include released time for special projects such as designing and technical directing for co-curricular activities such as plays, that the college can release themselves from their obligations derived from my successfully navigating the torturous process of tenure. Through a process known as "Retrenchment" they can and have eliminated the tenure-track faculty position that I hold and can, therefore terminate my contract after 32 years of teaching (27 of them at Simpson).  As of the conclusion of the 2018-19 school year, my department will no longer have a tenure-track faculty line in Design and Technical Theatre.  
> 
> They have retained the two non-tenure special contract faculty members who serve as ATD/sometime lighting and infrequent set designer and Costume Shop Supervisor/costume designer.  I have no clue who they will get to fill the 6 or more annual TD and set design positions that I fill, to supervise the lighting and sound students and areas, to teach the design courses or to supervise the 10 or so student designers annually and to share the supervision of the 55+ theatre company members who comprise our department (but comparatively few of whom are declared Theatre majors).
> 
> I have yet to go through the faculty handbook guaranteed appeals process, but I don't hold out too much hope.  What I AM wondering about is, what would be a reasonable fee for a freelance set or lighting design or freelance TD at an undergraduate college?  
> 
> There seems to be an opinion that owing to the released time that I am currently granted for my production load that a reasonable adjunct fee would be around $1500.  I know for a fact that the Opera program has been paying between $2000 and $3000 for designers.  When I have designed for that program, the fee has been at the lower level and I have always considered that to be a deal for them.  One of my releases each year has been for TDing the Opera production.  So when I design such productions I consider that I "cook"  some of the TD work into the design.  On one occasion when I TDd a show with an outside designer I documented 260 hours of "billable" hours in TDing that particular production (including providing venue drawings, inventorying stock at designer request, communicating with the designer, budgeting, working through the redesign when the cost of the proposed setting proved excessive and impractical given that it did not fit the space, drawing and redrawing all of the elements, procuring materials, supervising construction, attending technical rehearsals and being the supervising adult at performances, organizing and implementing work calls and strikes...etc)
> 
> The other issue with the design fees is that the Opera program only tends to get the designer in residence for 1 to 1 3/4 weeks (including tech week), whereas my residency is anywhere from 4 to 7 weeks depending on the production schedule.  I hope to establish and offer a ballpark fee for my services as freelance set or lighting designer as part of my appeal process.  
> 
> I wonder if something on the order of $3000 for the design plus $1000 per week of residency before tech week, plus lodging, travel and $50 per-diem would be reasonable in the eyes of the members of the list who know of such things?
> 
> Thanks for reading this far.  Thoughts?
> -- 
> Steven J McLean
> stevenjmclean at gmail.com
> designandtechtheatre.wordpress.com
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