I am from the UK, and considering moving to New Orleans next year. I am a theatre and festival producer. Is there a decent arts/entertainment infrastructure in the city these days? Sure, things like Mardis Gras and the Jazz Festival continue, but are there year-round opportunities to work in things linke theatre. Or is there at least a latent audience that would be interested if I worked towards starting a new arts centre down there? Any advice or opinions are most appreciated! This was posted in another section but on advice I'm re-posting here. Cheerio!
2007-11-13 22:35:52 · 3 answers · asked by Matt Lyndon Jones 1 in Travel ➔ United States ➔ New Orleans
Some good info already posted. In addition they have a wonderful school in the area that might be nice to get involved in.
http://www.nocca.com/
2007-11-15 03:24:47 · answer #1 · answered by traveler 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
New Orleans has a wonderful theatre community. It will not, however, pay the bills.
Southern Rep and and Tulane Summer Lyric are the only "professional" theatres in the city (professional because they meet Equity standards. They are also the only two theatres you can earn equity points in as a performer.)
Obviously the city offers a wide range of church and other amateur theatre.
The vast majority of local theatre, however falls into a "semi-professional" vein. It is technically community theatre- that word has such a negative connotation, though. Most of these productions are of a very high quality and also pay. The pay, however, is VERY low. Even the ones that pay "well" are not enough to live on. Besides a few notable exceptions, New Orleans theatre people are not able to support themselves acting, directing or even producing. We have other jobs- as teachers, waiters, office personale, etc.
In terms of a new arts centre, i don't know. I'm not sure how that would work exactly. We have the CAC (Contemporary Art Center) which is primarily a caveat for visual art but there's lots of performance pieces, etc that appear there as well.
Check out this website for info on new orleans theatre: www.stageclick.com
And i never do this but.... you can also email me on here if you have other questions.
Thanks for the interest in our city!
2007-11-14 13:03:25 · answer #2 · answered by La vedette 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Been in that area twice this year, would not recommend it at this time, NO still needs to recover more, not enough jobs and houses. Workers are still pouring in from surrounding areas each day then go home either at night or go home on the weekends, Crime rate is high right now.
2007-11-14 16:18:10 · answer #3 · answered by victor 7707 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋