[SML] CPAC Stage Design

[Jacob Blumberg]

Ok, so funny story I used to work for Design Foundry. It was my first
entertainment “job” in my career. Here is what I’ll say about my time there:

The firm is located right outside of DC, and pre-pandemic when they were
fully staffed pretty much everyone one there was super kind, very liberal,
and not anti-semitic in the list bit (I’m Jewish, so I would have noticed).
They also produce amazing events, when I was “working” there we did an
AFLAC charity event, MLB All Star Gala, and the CITI Open. Now as you may
notice working and job are all in quotes, and that’s because like many
companies in this industry they took advantage of young people new to the
industry. I was brought on as an intern for the summer being told I would
be paid minimum wage and possibly compensated for gas expenses. About 2
weeks in they decided they weren’t going to pay me. Not only that, but they
were constantly bringing more people on because they were understaffed, and
on-site I was out in charge of paid employees, and they charged the
companies we were working for, for my time. One of the designers was
disgusted with how I was being treated and convinced management to give me
a $100 visa gift card and I was also compensated for parking on site.
However, I owe them a debt of gratitude as because of that experience I got
another events job the following summer, and was paid extremely well
compared to my friends from college.

This was all a long way of saying they are not racist or anti-Semitic, but
they like everyone else have issues. Also, if anyone out there is making
salaries for college students we as an industry need to stop taking
advantage of student labor. There needs to be an end to postings on off
stage jobs offering 150/week for 80 hours of work for an entire summer. If
you can’t pay at least minimum wage you don’t have the ability to hire
skilled labor or have a season.  This kind of work also puts at a
disadvantage kids of lower income who don’t have their parents to support
them, and it is part of the reason our industry lack diverse voices.

I’m now going to climb down off my soap box. And as a TLDR Design Foundry
is not anti-Semitic, racist, or prejudice (unless you are referring to
age).

Jacob

On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 08:24 ER Casey via Stagecraft <
stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:

> Well maybe it’s a sinister reference to malicious nazi iconography and
> maybe it’s just a prosaic example of unimaginative design work from a scene
> shop churning out the same old same old grasping for some cash flow. In my
> experience the dull and unexciting answer usually turns out to be the real
> answer.
>
>
> https://forward.com/fast-forward/465136/design-firm-takes-responsibility-for-cpac-stage-controversy/?fbclid=IwAR1LFiJYeAyFmsIK3ifPEDtFB1rfnbcvLDH5OuyuaQgNNm2XIRjGCkQr_Yg
>
> E. R. Casey
>
>
> Entertainment Sound Production
>
> Silver Spring MD 20910
>
>
> www.ESPsound.com
>
> 301-608-2180 office phone
>
> 301-608-0789 fax
>
> 301-440-2923 shoe phone
>
>
>
>
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