Organising the organisers
When it comes to technical associations, are too many cooks spoiling the broth? Howard Bird for The Stage argues the case for one umbrella organisation.

As the Association of British Theatre Technicians prepares for its annual Theatre Show, other technical associations are getting ready to stage AGMs, seminars and other meetings to coincide with this annual techfest and I would ask them to consider one heretical thought - are you all needed?

There are many groups, ranging from the Stage Management Association to the Association of Lighting Designers, via the Society of Theatre Consultants and the Society of British Theatre Designers. Although the ABTT is the largest of the associations, the other bodies have a specific importance to their members.

click for more

The problem with that suggestion is that the disciplines that would be covered by such an organization vary widely (and, for that matter, Stage Managers and Lighting Designers are not technicians). It would be the equivalent of having one publication and one training body for both ballroom dancers and ballet dancers.

But there is an organisation DanceUK which does service a whole range of dance styles and choreogrpahy from showbiz to ballet. Training is looked after separately.

Clearly in a country the size of Estonia (population 1.5m) the route suggested by the author above makes a lot of sense. In the US, I can believe that separate organisations are easily viable. I guess the question for the UK is which model would give the most advantage. I'll look out for responses from the industry in future editions of The Stage.

<small>[ 14 June 2003, 08:03 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>