The Wortham Center for the Performing Arts and Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective announce a collaboration to establish the Apprenticeship Program for Emerging BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) Artists and Administrators, a paid apprenticeship program for high school and undergraduate college students interested in the administrative and technical aspects of theater.
Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective is committed to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. This apprenticeship was established to create learning opportunities, and support career pathways and more diversity in the field. The apprenticeships are designed to provide opportunities to individuals from diverse backgrounds, and/or those who are members of a group that is underrepresented in our industry.
“While Different Strokes! promotes the inclusivity of all people, we absolutely must acknowledge the lack of racial representation in the arts administration field and do what we can to correct the ever apparent lack of diversity and under-representation of BIPOC administrators and technicians in the performing arts industry,” said DS!PAC Managing Artistic Director, Stephanie Hickling Beckman.
Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective and Wortham Center for the Performing Arts have pooled their resources to establish this paid opportunity for BIPOC students seeking ‘real life’ work experiences related to theatre arts. Successful candidates will have the unique opportunity to shadow one or more professional mentors and have the chance to learn and practice skills needed to work in their selected field(s). The apprentice will receive hands-on learning as they participate in the production process of a Different Strokes! play, or assist backstage or front of house during one of Wortham Center’s Matinee Series shows.
If you’d like to be a part of this program, please complete the apprenticeship application form. The application period ends at midnight February 28, 2022.
For questions about the apprenticeship program or the application, please email Stephanie Hickling Beckman at steph@differentstrokespac.org.
The paid apprenticeships are funded through Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective. Donations to the program can be made at this link.
