PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Hannah D'Amico, International Representative of IATSE Education and Training Department
1:48:54
ยท
179 sec
Hannah D'Amico from IATSE Education and Training Department testifies about the importance of exposing students to behind-the-scenes careers in theater and the impact of their Hidden Career Path Days program. She emphasizes the value of union membership for workers in these crafts and the role of unions in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- The Hidden Career Path Days program, a partnership between IATSE and Roundabout Theater Company, showcases different behind-the-scenes theater careers to students.
- The program includes interactive demonstrations, theater tours, and discussions with IATSE members about their career paths.
- D'Amico shares an anecdote about a student who was inspired to pursue a career in theater lighting after participating in the program.
Hannah D'Amico
1:48:54
Good morning.
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Thank you, chair Rivera, and members of the Cultural Affairs Committee for inviting me to testify this morning.
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My name is Hannah D'Amico, and I am an international representative with the ITSE Education and Training Department.
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The skilled tradespeople who construct sets, operate lights, and make scenery fly onto the stage at just the right moment are unseen.
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As an audience member, this is part of what makes going to the theater magical.
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As a student, the invisibility of this workforce makes it hard to imagine yourself as one of them.
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The first step to finding a career after all is knowing it exists.
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As a representative of the IITSC at New York City Career Fairs, on more than one occasion, guidance counselors have expressed surprise on discovering not only that these jobs exist, but that they are good careers.
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Exposure matters.
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In 2012, the IITSC and the Roundabout Theater Company partnered to create Hidden Career Path Days.
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Together with Roundabout Theater Education's program, we present 4 Hidden Career Path Days throughout each school year, each showcasing a different behind the scenes career.
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At every event, volunteer IITSC members present interactive demonstrations of their craft, guiding students as they learn how to focus a spotlight, tie a clove, knot hitch sorry, a tie a clove hitch knot, conduct a fast costume change, or curl a wig to name just a handful of the activities.
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At the end of each day, the students go on tours of Broadway theaters in New York City Cultural Institutions, such as the Metropolitan Opera and Radio City Music Hall, all led by IITSC members who speak not only of their theaters and technical skills, but also of their own career path.
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The impact of this program has been made evident by the students themselves.
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We recently received an email from an IITSC lighting technician.
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She was participating in a talk pack for the Broadway show and Juliet.
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A student approached her after the q and a to excitedly tell her that she remembered her from hitting career path day and that hearing her stories about climbing around on the catwalks had inspired her telling the member, you're the reason I decided to wanna do this for a living.
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For the workers in our crafts, being a union member makes living a middle class class life in a freelance business possible.
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In a unionized workplace, progress on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion hinges on the relationship between unions and employers and their ability to create road maps for equitable opportunities for the workers of the future.
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That is what this program and the TWDP, which grew from Hidden Career Path Days do.
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The IITSC is very, very proud of this work and continues to partner with Roundabout.
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We're really proud of this program, and, I think it's important to say that my colleagues, Jennifer Halpern and Pat White, who really spearhead this effort for the union, they're not here today, but I'm here speaking on their behalf.
1:51:51
So I would like to mention them as well.