# So... who still has a job?



## Footer (Apr 16, 2020)

I've been laid off since April 1. My guys haven't worked since March 12th. I personally don't see an end in sight for at least 6 months to a year. Getting to the point where they allow a thousand people to congregate in one room and to the point where patrons want to do that even if allowed is a long way off. So, how's everyone doing? Do you need help navigating the unemployment system? If so, ask! I'm making this poll public, there is no shame in this.


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## Morte615 (Apr 17, 2020)

Still getting paid and working from home mostly on Paperwork and Programming. Starting the 19th I drop to 80% pay though I don't know how long that will last. My particular job is deemed business essential so I most likely won't be furloughed but don't know how many hours they will let me get paid for either.


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## sk8rsdad (Apr 17, 2020)

There isn't an option for "I don't work in the industry". I still have a job.

Theatre-wise, our venue is closed and we've cancelled the remaider of the season. I spent a little time this week developing a donation/credit/refund process. We've lost a performance or two to weather-related events in the past 50 years but have never had to cancel half our season. It's further complicated because we're not expecting to sell season ticket packages next season.

I'm not just the president, I'm the tech support guy.


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## Footer (Apr 17, 2020)

sk8rsdad said:


> There isn't an option for "I don't work in the industry". I still have a job.


Added


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## BillConnerFASTC (Apr 17, 2020)

Well, I'm still working -some - my last year before being fully retired - from my home office as I have since 2005. Web meetings; holding off travel and site visits for now. Should have a lot of last site visits as soon as travel bans are lifted for projects finishing for this falls school start. Didn't seem to fit in poll options.


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## SteveB (Apr 17, 2020)

Working from home part time, still being paid. My wife’s movie cancelled 3/13, so she’s on unemployment. I’m really surprised I haven't be furloughed or put on half pay. I got an e-mail this morning from the college with a letter dated 4/12 from the State of NY that we were to report back 4/29. The Governor obviously over-rode that yesterday by stating “stay-at-home” till 5/15. All our events are cancelled till ?. There’s talk our Dept. of Theater wants to do a cancelled event in June. Doubt that’ll happen as students are still on remote learning till the fall semester.


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## JChenault (Apr 17, 2020)

I’m working as much as I ever have in the last several years. (I am officially retired but teach a bit)

at The theatre where I mostly work I believe they have not laid anyone on salary off.


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## MNicolai (Apr 17, 2020)

Things have slowed down a little for me, but mainly going from 55hr week to a 40hr week.

We've seen projects led by developers go on hold or slow down, as well as sports and hospitality projects. Corporate, commercial, and such seem to be moving along as normal. K12, municipal, commercial seem to be accelerating, particularly projects that were already earmarked so the funding is locked in. Just got notice this morning of a municipal theater project lighting up. Tending to think some of the governmental stuff accelerating or greenlighting right now has something to do with having "shovel-ready jobs" ready to pour slabs 4-6 months from -- though any public projects that are not already earmarked may be dependent on what gets included in the stimulus bills. Have a rep theater project that's taking the time to fund-raise more instead of finance for their upcoming build-out of their new production facility but so far no impact to the project schedule. Also have seen an uptick in theme park work -- now's a good opportunity for those guys to move on deferred maintenance or planned projects while the parks are down.

In general, the construction world is still moving along. Some projects slowing down but others picking up the pace has balanced most of the turbulence out. Most construction sites still active though everyone is starting to require masks and gloves as part of standard PPE.


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## Catherder (Apr 17, 2020)

I work for a healthcare system on the West Coast, so if anything I'm busier now with the virus than I have been for months. Data analytics, not front line clinical, so I've been working remote.

The theater group I volunteer with is through my kids' school, which is shut down for the rest of the year, so obviously nothing happening for our spring play this year. As for the upcoming school year in September, who knows. We're trying to figure out how to make the spring play happen in the fall - let kids keep their roles if they want them, allow kids who've left the school come back to participate if they can, timing stuff (the fall schedule is about a month and a half shorter than the spring, but we have about a month of prep already done from before the shutdowns). I can also see a scenario where they reopen schools but only for students, teachers, and essential staff. I.e. not me. And like @Footer said, who knows when people will be allowed/want to gather in large groups (not that we get a thousand people for one of our little plays).

Stay well, stay healthy.


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## Crisp image (Apr 17, 2020)

Well yes and no to working for me. I work full time in aged care so I am still working there but I am a casual tech at the local PAC where I am not working at the moment because of the shutdown. I have many friends that are not working at all or are having to take their holidays to stay home and do nothing. But it has to be done if we are going to flatten the curve and restore some sort of normal. On the bright side work is progressing on our new 750 seat PAC with basement walls being installed this week. It is still a little over 12 months away from being finished but at least it is still moving forward. I am enjoying the massive online content from manufacturers and suppliers but most of the live streaming is at 2 or 4 am local time so I will not be able to see it live. I have to wait til it is posted somewhere.
Keep on keeping on.

Regards
Geoff


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## Jammer (Apr 17, 2020)

Run small event production company and work live event freelance audio engineering and lighting tech. No gigs, no work since March 13th and almost everything out 6 months cancelled. Have a few holdouts in June, but not anticipating those to actually happen. Agree with Footer, were a long way off from any large public gatherings.


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## Footer (Apr 17, 2020)

SteveB said:


> Working from home part time, still being paid. My wife’s movie cancelled 3/13, so she’s on unemployment. I’m really surprised I haven't be furloughed or put on half pay. I got an e-mail this morning from the college with a letter dated 4/12 from the State of NY that we were to report back 4/29. The Governor obviously over-rode that yesterday by stating “stay-at-home” till 5/15. All our events are cancelled till ?. There’s talk our Dept. of Theater wants to do a cancelled event in June. Doubt that’ll happen as students are still on remote learning till the fall semester.



That really suprises me they have not just cut the cord yet... no way will we get the mass gathering limit lifted anytime soon. I'm curious if we can even get a promoter to do a show at 50% capacity if that is allowed. The one benefit we do have is we will open when Broadway does... and I don't think NYC will consider this "over" until Broadway is back. 


MNicolai said:


> Things have slowed down a little for me, but mainly going from 55hr week to a 40hr week.
> 
> We've seen projects led by developers go on hold or slow down, as well as sports and hospitality projects. Corporate, commercial, and such seem to be moving along as normal. K12, municipal, commercial seem to be accelerating, particularly projects that were already earmarked so the funding is locked in. Just got notice this morning of a municipal theater project lighting up. Tending to think some of the governmental stuff accelerating or greenlighting right now has something to do with having "shovel-ready jobs" ready to pour slabs 4-6 months from -- though any public projects that are not already earmarked may be dependent on what gets included in the stimulus bills. Have a rep theater project that's taking the time to fund-raise more instead of finance for their upcoming build-out of their new production facility but so far no impact to the project schedule. Also have seen an uptick in theme park work -- now's a good opportunity for those guys to move on deferred maintenance or planned projects while the parks are down.
> 
> In general, the construction world is still moving along. Some projects slowing down but others picking up the pace has balanced most of the turbulence out. Most construction sites still active though everyone is starting to require masks and gloves as part of standard PPE.



The public sector projects will be interesting going forward, I know they are cancelling projects in my complex right now if they have not been awarded yet. State goverments are going to be a wreck going forward... so much tax money just disappeared.


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## MNicolai (Apr 18, 2020)

@Footer, with the failure of the federal gov't, not only is a tax base being lost due to unemployment but those states are having to foot some major bills on testing, procurement, and mobilization that will eat into their existing budget cycles. Gov. Cuomo sounds like he knows those cuts to budgeted initiatives are going to hurt but how much they will hurt remains to be seen.

For all the talk about an "infrastructure week" during the 2016 election, we never really saw one. Kind of hoping the stimulus includes something to that effect. I haven't studied the WPA much so I can't attest to whether it was effective but as someone who grew up in a school and theater built by it, that has a special place in my heart. Wasn't a world class venue by any means but theater people are like goldfish -- we adapt to the bowl we're given. Even if a lot of the assembly and hospitality work is dried up for awhile, construction and infrastructure projects can help provide employment to many thousands of people. Unfortunately I don't see the politics working out. Probably would just end up being another showdown over whether the wall gets funded. 

Somewhat unrelated, but here in FL the unemployment system is a mess. Only like 4% of applications have been processed and have had checks cut to people to the sum of $275/wk -- for some reason the federal contributions haven't been included so far. There are people on Reddit trying to find any/all ways to find food for their families. We haven't been hit too hard by COVID, at least from what we can tell from the very limited testing we've done, but the consequences of a completely failed unemployment system are going to ripple out well past when people can get back to work. There are a lot of jobs that just aren't coming back anytime soon no matter how soon safer at home orders are lifted so the magnitude of this welfare infrastructure failure is going to be enormous.


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## Amiers (Apr 18, 2020)

I thought our UI was bad at 240$ a week. I filed right away on the 13th here in AZ and have been prorated 2 weeks worth of the extra federal money. Supposedly our CC is spose to reopen in May which we supply AV for. However a lot of new cases are popping up and the news tonight said it’s looking more like June. Everything is up in the air but at least now 800$ a week is somewhat livable with the other half still working.


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## Catherder (Apr 18, 2020)

MNicolai said:


> Somewhat unrelated, but here in FL the unemployment system is a mess. Only like 4% of applications have been processed and have had checks cut to people to the sum of $275/wk -- for some reason the federal contributions haven't been included so far. There are people on Reddit trying to find any/all ways to find food for their families. We haven't been hit too hard by COVID, at least from what we can tell from the very limited testing we've done, but the consequences of a completely failed unemployment system are going to ripple out well past when people can get back to work. There are a lot of jobs that just aren't coming back anytime soon no matter how soon safer at home orders are lifted so the magnitude of this welfare infrastructure failure is going to be enormous.



Same in Oregon. Big part of the problem is that the IT system they have to process the claims is literally from the Reagan administration and uses COBOL, a programming language roughly the equivalent to Aramaic as far as anyone who can speak it. They basically said that to overwrite the one week waiting period to get benefits would take longer than the waiting period itself and stop claims from being processed. They were supposed to upgrade it about 12 years ago and are slated to finish the work in another 5-6. Similar situation in a number of other states from what I’ve seen.


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## Footer (Apr 18, 2020)

I was able to get on the system the day after I got laid off, did it at like 6am. NYS did have an issue with call in centers, but if you could do it online most went through. If you had to call in..... total cluster. I maxed it, my wife came close, so we're living on 2100/wk and not paying any childcare. So, I really can't complain. 


MNicolai said:


> @Footer, with the failure of the federal gov't, not only is a tax base being lost due to unemployment but those states are having to foot some major bills on testing, procurement, and mobilization that will eat into their existing budget cycles. Gov. Cuomo sounds like he knows those cuts to budgeted initiatives are going to hurt but how much they will hurt remains to be seen.



I work with Cuomo's staff 3-4 times a year on events.... my office is 600' from the room where he is doing his daily pressers. Its nice to be in a state where we have that kind of leadership. Somehow our state allocation didn't get zeroed in the budget that just passed, so thats a positive. Oddly enough the only entertainment person I know who is working right now is the guy running his powerpoints... Cuomo really likes those. 

Hopefully the money starts making it out there and people can at least survive. Then again, beaches just opened again in Florida... so.... we still might be up a creek.


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## MNicolai (Apr 18, 2020)

Florida's a weird, unknown variable in this. Beaches just opened in a few counties and from the sounds of it there was an explosion of people onto them. Our gov, Trump Jr., was very slow to react initially and people outside of Miami slow to take this seriously plus we had people from NY/NJ come down. So far the numbers in Florida seem...low...I don't know whether that's a surprisingly good thing or if those numbers are deflated. From some of the reporting out of the Miami Herald, it sounds like like there could thousands or tens of thousands of tests pending results. Official tally is only about 1600 waiting results, but that only includes state la which so far account for only 8% of tests statewide. It's not reassuring that reporters have been blocked from pressers and that a lawsuit to get the numbers/names of nursing homes with outbreaks has not thus far been successful. The lack of transparency makes me very apprehensive about what happens next in our region.

Part of me things if the numbers are real, we're actually not that far from being able to enter Phase 1 of reopening if we can get testing and contact tracing sorted out. Mostly though, I have to doubt that those numbers are real and that the situation in Florida has potential to be worse than we currently understand.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Apr 18, 2020)

Sweden didn't shut down and their deaths per capita rate is close to US. 







COVID-19 deaths per capita by country | Statista

COVID deaths worldwide were highest in Peru, topping a list that compares deaths per million in 210 countries worldwide.



www.statista.com


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## Footer (Apr 18, 2020)

BillConnerFASTC said:


> Sweden didn't shut down and their deaths per capita rate is close to US.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



They didn't not shut down. They closed ski resorts. They encourage social distancing. They encourage work from home. The US as a whole death rate is not really the best indicator.... New York States's death rate is 8x the national average.


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## StradivariusBone (Apr 18, 2020)

MNicolai said:


> but the consequences of a completely failed unemployment system are going to ripple out well past when people can get back to work.



That's the thing, for those of us in the education and other public sectors, this won't hit until the next cycle when they start looking at the shortfalls and reassess. As tax-averse as Florida is in general, people will be screaming at anyone who even mentions raising them to compensate. So layoffs and postponement of repairs it is, just like in 2008 and 2012 all over again. Us school auditorium guys are worried we'll look like a line item if we run buildings that can't serve their purpose for a year or more. 


Footer said:


> Its nice to be in a state where we have that kind of leadership.



You NY-er's send us enough of your old people, could you try sending some people who could grab their asses with both hands next?


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## josh88 (Apr 18, 2020)

I've been off for a little more than a month now. Still being paid as I'm one of the only actual staff members on the technical side. We're currently rescheduling things for june and are looking to live stream a bunch of stuff though the legality and right issues with most of the events are going to throw quite a wrench in those plans, but at the moment its something we can at least look at and start to prep for, instead of sitting around and doing nothing. Ohio is "opening" back up slowly may 1st so we're just trying to take it a week at a time for now.


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## RickR (Apr 19, 2020)

Maybe we consultants should call ourselves manufacturers, of buildings. 

My work is slowed a bit, and new projects don't seem to be on the way. With a time line in years I expect effects to be delayed. 

That said, my IA local is completely done since early March. I (used to) take a few calls to keep an eye on the biz. Some shows are scheduled in August, but who knows.


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## TimMc (Apr 19, 2020)

Catherder said:


> Same in Oregon. Big part of the problem is that the IT system they have to process the claims is literally from the Reagan administration and uses COBOL, a programming language roughly the equivalent to Aramaic as far as anyone who can speak it. They basically said that to overwrite the one week waiting period to get benefits would take longer than the waiting period itself and stop claims from being processed. They were supposed to upgrade it about 12 years ago and are slated to finish the work in another 5-6. Similar situation in a number of other states from what I’ve seen.


The same issue in Kansas - 40 year old main frame computer running COBOL. When former governor Sam Brownback rode the most recent ultra-conservative backlash (in Kansas, plain old conservatives are considered liberals) to the Governorship, he wrecked our economy by trying the same Arthur Laffler bullshit that didn't work for Reagan or either of the Bush administrations. When the tax cuts didn't bring general prosperity and more revenue, the result was cancelling the long-postponed update to several state computer systems (among a bunch of capital improvements), including the Labor Dept's online system for unemployment. The legislature went along with that and swept $billions from the state highway trust fund into the general fund leaving Kansas's once-enviable highways, roads and streets badly maintained. This is what happens when politicians would rather buy a vote than earn respect.


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## What Rigger? (Apr 19, 2020)

Furlough officially starts tomorrow, but we've been closed for business since 3/13 and been paid full 40 hour weeks until now. Will we be back before fall? Or sometime next year? When you do daily numbers on par with stadiums, I think I know what I'm gonna brace for.


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## sk8rsdad (Apr 19, 2020)

TimMc said:


> This is what happens when politicians would rather buy a vote than earn respect.



it is also what happens when somebody decides that it is cheaper to outsource support for legacy systems to lower costs. There’s no substitute for experience. If they need a COBOL programmer send them my way. It’s been 25 years but it would come back quickly.


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## YesItWillWork (Apr 19, 2020)

4 weeks into the country being in lock down and working from home down here at the bottom of the world. Our government is providing a 12 week wage subsidy to businesses that can show a greater than 30% decrease in revenue due to the situation. I'm on a casual contract meaning my employer gives me no guarantee of work and is under no obligation to pay me if I'm not working. My employer however is looking after us and paying us the average hours we worked over the 8 weeks prior to shutting down for the 12 week period they're receiving the government subsidy. Of note is it is only a small minority of employees are on casual contracts, with most being full-time or part-time with guaranteed hours.

It hasn't been all bad for us though - we opened our new building with multiple venues in July last year and there was definitely no soft opening. In the first 7 days after getting sign-off for public occupancy we did something like 5 full capacity gigs with still a reasonable amount of building works to be completed in non public facing areas. The venues have been operating at a high capacity since so this forced break has given a great opportunity for our team to catch up on documenting systems and processes. Eventually we'll run out of paperwork and be suffering just as much as everyone else in the industry though.


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## kiwitechgirl (Apr 20, 2020)

I’ve been stood down for three weeks now (and had two weeks with no shows prior to that but we were doing a lot of prep for what we knew was coming, basically putting everything into hibernation mode) but the company is paying us 50% of regular wage and we can top up to 80% with accrued leave. At this point we’re stood down until 31 July with the hope we’ll get some of a winter season but I don’t hold much hope for that - I think the next thing we’ll get up will be a concert performance of an opera scheduled for October, closely followed by the Ring Cycle. We lost the last fortnight of our summer opera season, the entire Opera on Sydney Harbour season (cast were about to get on the stage for rehearsals - the whole thing was nearly built and they had to turn around and pull it all back down), and our autumn ballet season.

The government here is in the throes of putting a subsidy in place to pay all permanent workers and casuals who had been with their employer for over a year (and were actively employed on 1 March) $750 per week for six months, if employers can show a 30% downturn in business (or 50% if you turn over a billion dollars or more per year). So that‘ll stop the company going bankrupt paying us all and means we’ll have jobs to come back to. We’re very fortunate that my husband is still working as normal, just from home, and we’ll have no financial issues riding this storm out. It could be so very much worse, and Australia is in a pretty good position in terms of the virus too.


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## spenserh (Apr 20, 2020)

Still plugging away at my main gig, for now, all of my side work has dried up for the year.

Bills are paid and pantry is stocked, I keep reminding myself of this fact and that I should be thankful in today's climate to be able to say that.


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## themuzicman (Apr 20, 2020)

Half the tours I was supervising closed down for good, the other half are postponed until the Fall. My next sit-down show was cancelled the day before we were supposed to go into shop prep, three days after Broadway went dark. Week 6 of stay-at-home and New York UI has been a train wreck to navigate for freelancers -- verifying a few dozen employers across a few states is hard in the best of times, even worse right now so most of the freelance community here in NYC has our UI claims pending. All the usual summer theater work in NYC has cancelled their seasons, and the corporate work we fall back on doesn't look any more promising. I think come August we'll find a very different freelance market here in the city, and after living through the last recession here it may be time to start looking at other careers. 

On the plus side, I've had all the time in the world to finally update my entire Vectorworks symbol library and start building out a 3D symbol library, I'll have fantastic rack drawings if I ever get to design a show again!


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## jtweigandt (Apr 20, 2020)

Words are not enough.. You guys always made this rank amateur, make it up as I go guy feel welcome here. I am fortunate in that
Theatre is only my avocation. I did have to sit with a room full of people and make the decision to shut down a show just short of production week.
So far in my own business, (veterinary) we have slogged along about 1/2 load..seeing the essentials, no electives, no clients in the building. The employees are being paid, but I have the honor
of being the owner.. lets just say.. I'm ok for now, but everyone else gets paid first.

And now realistically we are going to have no Summer season. A lot of community houses will not likely survive. Ours will because of a 70 year history
and leaders who ran the non profit like a true business, and now our rainy day is here. Our costume ladies working with supplies pulled from the shop, and their own supplies, working from home have 
produced over 1000 masks for nurses, nursing home workers, first responders, police. We have about 6000 sq feet packed to the gills with costumes, fabric and supplies, and rent to a wide variety
of schools and theaters mostly in a 2 hour radius.. so we will take a hit there.. probably 100+ organizations wont be renting for a while.


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## gafftapegreenia (Apr 20, 2020)

I was officially furloughed April 5th. My last day worked was March 15th but they kept us all on payroll till the end of the month.

Work hopes to have us all back in the shop first week of August. I do think/hope I’ll be on the front end as the industry starts to grind again, as I work in a fabrication shop and not a venue.


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## TimMc (Apr 21, 2020)

There was an industry Town Hall meeting (mostly touring music concert) earlier today that brought some genuine heavyweights like Jim Digby of the Entertainment Safety Alliance and Nederlander's Alex Hodges to the panel. The URL for the program, minus the 26 minutes of PP loop...



Actual running time is about 2 hours including the Q&A and I urge everyone to watch this and pay attention to the first 10 minutes, especially security expert Michael Downing. If he's right, get used to the idea of being health-screened every time you come to work, wearing gloves, masks and maybe face shields. Far fetched? I thought searches of local crew were, and they're seen as normal today.

There are a lot of moving parts to touring a show and most of them were discussed or at least touched on.

What's it gonna take to go back to work? Public confidence, capital for the public to spend, the ability to present shows to smaller and less-proximate audiences at least initially, and the awareness that the first 'big' event, festival, or show that is identified as an infection cluster will get the entire industry shut down - again.


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## MRW Lights (Apr 21, 2020)

I'm fortunate to have moved into Broadcasting in the past year which has deemed me essential. Though thanks to modern technology our team is actually remoting into our studios and virtually controlling our primary systems. We've dropped all production down to a bare minimum hibernation state so that we can work remotely as possible. While technically exist within a university that's been the hardest part. Trying to help students transition to distance learning for the arts has been and continues to be an incredible challenge. Our sports broadcasters have turned into news casters and podcast stars, but we're getting them through. For now we wait and broadcast what seems to be an endless loop of Corona news desperately searching for something new to report.


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## macsound (Apr 21, 2020)

My real job is unaffected, home furnishings, and is actually thriving as people realize how much they need to and can afford to upgrade their homes since they are working from their and not spending money doing anything else.
The church I usually mix at is doing 100% livestream, which I setup. Maybe once every other week I go in on Monday and do some various work when no one else is there. It's in Alameda County in California and there, every business has to post notices on the door stating they are complying with the shelter in place order. Checking a box that says they told staff to work from home, that hand sanitizer stations are available and the building is actively turning away any groups that attempt to gather (not hold church)


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## mrtrudeau23 (Apr 22, 2020)

Thankfully my institution is doing all they can to retain their employees. We were planning to produce a show this summer, but that is now on hold. Trying to fill the time learning things at home.


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## sotonfan (Apr 22, 2020)

Our theater is city owned, and for the moment the Mayor has kept all city staff on salary. So I'm really grateful to have a job, at least for now. We are dark at least through June. Spending a lot of time doing desk work, learning new software, and updating files. We have now live-streamed three shows from an empty theater - solo performers onstage, with the empty house as a background. It's pretty poignant. I can't imagine having those seats full again any time soon... Stay safe everyone.


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## blueeyesdesigns (Apr 22, 2020)

Doing alright for now; my primary gig is in higher education, and while we're not doing events, I am able to work from home doing paperwork (Do YOU Have a binder of all the SDSs for chemicals used in your venue? We will now!) and being an educational institution, they value professional development, so I've been able to take a lot of the training that's out there. Classes have gone entirely online through the end of the summer, and the effect on enrollment remains to be seen. I'm supported by a union (not IA), but I have a deep feeling that we're going to see RIFs if the governor prohibits large gatherings beyond lifting the shelter-in-place order. We would have 4 TDs supporting 0 events in 5 spaces, one of which is expected to be self-supporting...

My freelance work as a designer has completely dried up. I might have a gig still lined up for Jan/Feb, but the producing company just furloughed their whole production department, so who knows if they'll even make it to then.


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## Lasermike (Apr 22, 2020)

My day job is in food manufacturing so it's considered essential so I'm still working.

I'm the part time carpenter for a children's theater so that has come to a halt. The theater is still in rehearsal, they use zoom and have a rehearsal schedule so that they don't overwhelm zoom with 45 participants. The main stage show has been canceled, the down stage show may end up on video and academy may just be a read through at a church when small groups are allowed again. Financially, they are OK, the big fund raiser was late last year, then the venue we were using closed so we went month to month renting a school district's PAC while the attached school is being rebuilt. That means costs have dropped along with revenue so those with full time tasks are getting paid.

Michael


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## Ted jones (Apr 22, 2020)

I'm an estimator for a rigging/drapery and lighting company here in Chicago. Our production side is pretty quiet right now. The contracting side, building theaters and TV studios is working right now. We start up on two jobs Monday.


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## Ben Stiegler (Apr 22, 2020)

all my shows, and my installed system projects and design cycles have ground to a halt. Doing a bit of Unified communications virtualizations. I see a very long, slow tail to this - like into late 2021. Our son is trying to navigate college admissions and gap year planning, and our daughter moving into her senior / thesis year in college. eek!


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## willschaff (Apr 22, 2020)

I live in NYC. I last worked on March 13, when we struck out the light plot and cancelled the last two weeks of a 5 week dance festival. Luckily, I was on a contract and they honored the contract by paying me off in full. I didn't apply for UI until April 8. Since all of my employers paid taxes and withheld $$, my online application seemed to sail through. I am getting my $ from both NYS and from the Feds. It's not a lot, but it's not a little. 
Everybody be well, and WASH YOUR HANDS!!


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## Kristi R-C (Apr 22, 2020)

Nothing on the IATSE/AEA side is happening, but AV installs is still going strong. Doing prep work for the big arena job that will ramp up late summer/fall, finishing a couple of big houses of worship, moved a bunch of school things that had been scheduled for the summer into the spring, and corporate installs (board rooms/training facilities/employee gathering spaces) are plentiful. 

I'm working from home when I'm not required on site and enjoying all the webinars and online training I can fit in. Kudos to Chicago Fly House and to The Entertainment Technical Training Center for great webinars! 

A full slate of tradeshow presentations/lectures I was scheduled to give are cancelled or postponed, but working on a few proposals for next year. Hope to see many of you in person when this is all over.


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## gafftaper (Apr 23, 2020)

Working for a school, my job is pretty safe. If the economy drop effects the state budget and the school district has to cut budgets, I may have a problem, but for now I'm in good shape. As a result, I'm starting to feel "survivor's guilt". So many of my friends are really struggling and I'm not sure how I got to be the lucky one. My best to all of you who are struggling to make ends meet.


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## JacobRothermel (Apr 23, 2020)

Thankfully, my academic job is safe (for the moment) and I'm able to continue working from home, mostly planning for next academic year and the fall semester. A lot of it still feels like it's build on sand, though, as we've no idea what PA will be doing through the rest of the spring, into the summer, and beyond. My wife's job has been reduced by over 75% (she teaches for a painting studio) and most of my other theatre friends aren't working at all...


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## Calc (Apr 23, 2020)

I work for a university conference center, and was one of the five staff in our department who stayed on to work at home. We're keeping busy will all of the side projects that we usually never have time for. We're usually SLAMMED with events this time of year as everyone wraps things up before classes end, so it's bizarre feeling that I have time to work on what I can.


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## FMEng (Apr 25, 2020)

Radio stations, are essential, so we're toiling away. I'm busier now, and I wish it would settle down a bit. I can do a fair amount of work at home, but still have to go in occasionally. Most of the news, music, and office staff are working from home, with only the news show hosts using studios, so there isn't much potential exposure. I might see one person from afar.


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## RonHebbard (Apr 26, 2020)

FMEng said:


> Radio stations, are essential, so we're toiling away. I'm busier now, and I wish it would settle down a bit. I can do a fair amount of work at home, but still have to go in occasionally. Most of the news, music, and office staff are working from home, with only the news show hosts using studios, so there isn't much potential exposure. I might see one person from afar.


 * @FMEng* Do you have out of town transmitter site maintenance to do? 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## FMEng (Apr 26, 2020)

RonHebbard said:


> * @FMEng* Do you have out of town transmitter site maintenance to do?
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard


Yes, but it's actually easier now. There are no restrictions on essential travel, and traffic is light in places where I would normally encounter heavy congestion. Freeways are moving at 60 MPH during rush hours, which I haven't seen in decades. I just avoid stopping at public places along the way. 

In some cities, transmitter sites are on the top floors of tall buildings. Around the west coast, they are mostly on hills and mountains in rural areas, so I rarely encounter other people working at them.


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## RonHebbard (Apr 26, 2020)

FMEng said:


> Yes, but it's actually easier now. There are no restrictions on essential travel, and traffic is light in places where I would normally encounter heavy congestion. Freeways are moving at 60 MPH during rush hours, which I haven't seen in decades. I just avoid stopping at public places along the way.
> 
> In some cities, transmitter sites are on the top floors of tall buildings. Around the west coast, they are mostly on hills and mountains in rural areas, so I rarely encounter other people working at them.


We used to have close encounters with interested cows visiting us amid our 6 tower array; they were particularly "interesting" when they quietly walked up behind us in the middle of a moonless night hoping we had food. Cowbell: Need MORE Cowbell! 
HOW MANY TX SITES ARE YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR??
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## Shane (Apr 26, 2020)

I am the TD for an academy. We are supposed to be opening our new theatre building in August, but I can't see that happening. I am really not sure that I foresee being able to do shows with an audience until after the new year at least. Maybe not until later. Fortunately, my school is committed to the arts so I have job security in the interim. Thinking of all of you who are laid off or in uncertain waters. Hang in there.


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## Van (Apr 27, 2020)

Stagecraft Industries is still open and doing business. there have been a lot of impacts to our operations and schedules but we're maintaining. All of us Project Managers have transitioned to working from home. We are not flying installers anywhere, but we have elected to keep our installers working on Constructions sites that are still open and which we can reach, reasonably, by car.


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## FMEng (Apr 28, 2020)

RonHebbard said:


> We used to have close encounters with interested cows visiting us amid our 6 tower array; they were particularly "interesting" when they quietly walked up behind us in the middle of a moonless night hoping we had food. Cowbell: Need MORE Cowbell!
> HOW MANY TX SITES ARE YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR??
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard


I tend to be FM centric. AM stations are kept in the lowlands, usually in places with wet soil. High soil ground conductivity improves coverage. I even know of one in the middle of a swamp. Co-locating AM towers with pasture land is common.

I take care of 12 transmitter/translator sites and studios in two cities. The furthest site is about a 2.5 hour drive. I will be visiting one today that's on the roof of an office building. Its remote control called me up at 5 am to announce a minor problem. I will get my exercise because I have to go up seven stories of stairs.


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## Pyrotech (Apr 29, 2020)

Retired, so no muss, no fuss for me. I feel sorry for the folks whose bread and butter are affected by this. 

I work with a community theater group which cancelled it's production of Guys and Dolls in the middle of rehearsals. Haven't heard an update from the director yet on any rescheduling. 

My other side job took a hit as the fireworks company I work for let me know that the show I was scheduled to shoot on July 4th was cancelled by the city which booked it. But I do it for fun, not income, so I'll miss the show itself more than what I would have made from it. The attached photo is from last year at the same site.


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## avkid (Apr 30, 2020)

Absolutely nothing, walked out of the Theater at 2pm on March 12th and that was it.
Almost all the summer staging gigs are gone and entertainment trucking is dead.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Apr 30, 2020)

avkid said:


> Absolutely nothing, walked out of the Theater at 2pm on May 12th and that was it.


May? Maybe March?


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## avkid (Apr 30, 2020)

My secrets have been revealed..
The time machine is well hidden though.


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## Amiers (May 1, 2020)

avkid said:


> My secrets have been revealed..
> The time machine is well hidden though.


And you chose to change a word and not the course of the pandemic. How selfish.


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## n1ist (May 1, 2020)

I am working on my time machine. I should have it finished by yesterday.
/mike


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## JohnD (May 2, 2020)

avkid said:


> My secrets have been revealed..
> The time machine is well hidden though.


Is it that steampunk one from Warehouse 13?


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## Gobokat (May 3, 2020)

While I'm one of the group of currently sitting with no active projects or predictable income stream, and as much as I'd love to get back behind a desk at a live event and wow the socks off an appreciative audience I'm left pondering a couple of sticking points with our industry. Take as a base the thought that our industry relies on density. The basic thought behind a producer picking up the tab on a show is, "can I get enough butts in the seats". How will that thought be handled in a post-COVID society where many venues may see occupancy placards cut by 1/3 and/or getting rid of the GA center floor sections in music venues - in short, how much seating capacity can be removed from a venue (in order to engineer social distancing) before producers just say, "Na, not gonna make back the nut"? Also consider concessions - if our audiences are being responsible and masking, how do they do beverages or snacks? And if only 300 people can be in a traditionally 1000 seat venue, with no beverage service, at a ticket price 3x higher than last year - who will be in the seats?

I know here in Chicago, with a lot of off-loop storefront (i.e. found spaces) theaters that were already cramped at 75-100 patrons, the thought of maxing out at 30 patrons per performance may really affect the shows chosen, or even if shows go on. How much harder hit will some of this city's music venues be without the over packed GA pits? The latest I've heard is that for summer 2020 don't plan on any large scale music events to occur, including Lolla and the traditional Ravinia park concerts.

So, I guess, my thoughts at this time are not so much "when can we open" but more about what will the industry look like for the next year until a vaccine is available or the larger society has demonstrated that we've achieved a level of herd immunity where gatherings of 500+ people don't spike a local infected count?

Perhaps this is all just a sign that I've had too much time sitting around thinking.

Ok - next line of questions - even as I'm pondering our audiences, it occurs to me that I've ignored our casts. Will they need monthly health screenings? Everyone walking around backstage in masks to hand off to an ASM "Mask Minder" while they're on stage? Will we need to partition off dressing rooms into cubicles? Just really hitting me that our industry was never much for social distancing.


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## TimMc (May 4, 2020)

For theater running crew, A2s, properties, wardrobe & related crafts will be the most impacted. I'm almost certain I got this Covid thing from a touring musical where one of the cast members had been hospitalized in the previous city (in another post I said 1/3 of the cast & crew were sick, 1/3 had been sick and the remaining 1/3 were left wondering when they'd get sick). I was the backstage A2 and I handled every transmitter and mic, practical prop stand mics and related ephemera. Lots of hand sanitizer back stage (which I used, possibly too little). Two weeks later I'm sicker than I've ever been... if it was 'just the flu' the Covid 19 is a serious ass-kicker.

I can foresee that every person entering the stage door to be temp scanned (too little, too late, IMHO but used to catch liars), that a face mask and disposable gloves will be required for all workers and actors when not on stage, that local crews will be sequestered away from talent until their cues are called. There will be more.

Distancing is a 'temporary' tool that's used because there aren't many alternatives. How long? Until the vulnerable people die ( https://time.com/5831424/california-official-ousted-covid-19-fix-society-antioch/ ) and/or a vaccine AND effective antiviral treatments are available. Realistically, we're talking a minimum of 1 year and it could be 3 years or so, perhaps more. Particularly troublesome is the prospect of little acquired immunity - just because one has recovered in not a indication that one acquired significant immunity to reinfection. We're waiting on studies of current and recently recovered patients to find out more.

Before anything happens, though, promoters, artist management & unions, venues, *insurers*, labor, producers, etc will all need to be on the same page. Right now that's a work in progress.

My shop still has 2 systems out, one is fully set up and almost "walk in" ready. That venue has shows still on the books for the end of June, days after our state orders limiting gathering attendance *might* be lifted if new infection rates do not increase and hospitalizations decrease. How will the venue enforce distancing without creating ill will? What happens when security enforces those requirements, or, if they don't, the county or state health dept orders a venue closed? Returning to work in our industry requires more compliance from the public, which, if you've been paying attention, is IMHO unlikely to happen in the manner needed to open theaters, night clubs, and live music venues and for them to remain open.

Ultimately the potential patrons/audience needs to feel safe, too. Some probably felt safe 2 weeks ago but my observation is that many of the more vulnerable folks are waiting to see what happens before committing to tickets for a show, booking travel, etc. Remember that if the 2nd wave of Covid infections (coming to a calendar near you) overwhelms the health care system, our industry will be right back where we are now.

Ticket prices can't go up substantially, either. Theatre is already expensive entertainment, as are too many music concerts. One of the things being kicked around in the concert biz is downsizing production (finally, video gets told "no"!) to minimize both expenses and the number of humans that must come together to build, operate, and take down a concert. Example: LED video walls being replaced with rear projection; on the last Blake Shelton show the VDO dept had 24 local hands, all but 4 of whom were building LED wall. Those other 4 set projectors and built 2 screens. If the upstage LED wall became projection instead, 20 hands could be cut from the call. Some performers/artistes will not want to scale down (Metallica's manager flatly said "My artists don't scale down"). Acts that are not committed to such scale, who can be nimble in production and routing, will likely have earlier resumption of performing.

So who has a job? Anyone NOT doing shows, concerts, plays, most corporate stuff. I could be off work for another 50 days, or past when my UI benefits run out in Sept.


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## dbaxter (May 4, 2020)

On a lighter note - went into the theater today just to check on things - and discovered that the mice had decided the concession stand goodies were THE source for meals. Just something you might want to check too.


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## TimMc (May 4, 2020)

And the Grim Reaper appears on the West End:








Sir Cameron Mackintosh: 'Theatres could be closed until next year'

Sir Cameron Mackintosh says the industry can't plan for a return until social distancing is "gone".


www.bbc.com


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## Darin (May 4, 2020)

I'm a professor, so yes, but we can't produce


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## kiwitechgirl (May 5, 2020)

Carriageworks, Sydney’s major arts centre (outside of the opera house), has gone into voluntary administration, as of yesterday. It’s an old railway workshop which has been revamped into a multi-venue space which hosts all sorts of events. We use it for rehearsals from time to time; a lot of jobs will have gone with that. I think and hope it’ll pull through, one way or the other - there’s talk of the Opera House stepping in to run it, which sort of makes sense but also sort of doesn’t - the Carriageworks programming is very different to SOH programming. It’s heritage listed and state government owned, whether that makes any difference I don’t know.


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## ruinexplorer (May 6, 2020)

I have been out of work since 3/15. Just got the WARN letter that it probably won't be before September 1st, if ever. I knew that it was too good to be true that we got new consoles after 15 years.


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## Amiers (May 7, 2020)

ruinexplorer said:


> I have been out of work since 3/15. Just got the WARN letter that it probably won't be before September 1st, if ever. I knew that it was too good to be true that we got new consoles after 15 years.



We could go back to the shack


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