One Day, One Job » theater

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:16:53 +0000

You know somebody is rich when they have a foundation named after them. You know somebody is really rich when their kids have their own foundations. That was the case with Andrew W. Mellon. In 1940 his daughter Ailsa Mellon Bruce established The Avalon Foundation, and in 1941 his son Paul Mellon established The Old Dominion Foundation. In 1969, with the combined value of the foundations at $220 million, the children decided to merge their foundations in honor of their father. That seems to have been a good decision considering that The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which is based in New York City, has assets totaling $6.5 billion in 2007. In case you don’t know who Andrew Mellon was, you can read his story here. The short of it was that he was held in the same esteem as men like Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie, Morgan, and Frick, but he differed in that “he excelled in four fields of endeavor: as a businessman and banker; as a politician and statesman; as an art collector; and as a philanthropist.”

Granting Your Wish

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a grant making organization, which means that most of what they do is giving money away. They typically do this in five core areas: Higher Education and Scholarship, Scholarly Communications and Information Technology, Museums and Art Conservation, Performing Arts, and Conservation and the Environment. You can find all of the details of each of these specific programs here. Grants are made to both organizations at the forefront of their fields and new upstarts that are showing promise. The Foundation’s philosophy “is to build, strengthen and sustain institutions and their core capacities, rather than be a source for narrowly defined projects,” so they don’t seem to nitpick about how their money is spent. If you’d like to have a job giving money away (even if it’s not exactly like what Ed McMahon used to do), then you should check out The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Jobs page on Idealist. Right now they’re looking for a Program Assistant for a Temp to Perm opportunity. It looks like a good fit for a new or recent grad, and you can find application instructions in the job posting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If you had a Foundation, what would it give to?

Rockwell Group

Willy Franzen — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:49:43 +0000

I’m still working through my favorites from Fast Company’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies,” and today we have a firm that came in #3 on their list for Design companies. It’s New York City’s Rockwell Group, which is the company behind my favorite airport terminal (jetBlue’s JFK Terminal 5) and many of Starwood’s hotels. They also did this year’s set for the Oscars and a groundbreaking playground in partnership with KaBOOM!. It may sound like they’re an architectural firm, but Rockwell Group is more than that—they also do product design and set design. It’s all about creating “immersive environments.” They even have a book entitled Pleasure: The Architecture and Design of Rockwell Group that showcases “the hotels, theaters, restaurants, stadiums, casinos and other public spaces created by David Rockwell and Rockwell Group.”

Do You Rockwell?

Rockwell Group is clearly at the very high end of design firms. They have worked on so many big name projects that it’s hard not to have seen some of their work in person. The only problem that I have with Rockwell Group’s “design” is that their website isn’t all that user friendly. It’s built in Flash, which means that I can’t link you straight to all of the interesting stuff on it. You’ll have to browse the site yourself by starting at the home page. Fortunately, the site is filled with great information on the company, so you’ll be able to get a really good feel for what they’re about and whether you might be a fit. Rockwell Group doesn’t list specific openings on their Jobs page (it’s titled Work For Us in the About dropdown), but they do say “if you are passionate, creative, smart, hardworking, and looking for your next challenge,” that they’d like to hear from you. They mention jobs like Architect, Interior Designer, Graphic Designer, Business Analyst, Set Designer, and Writer, so there seems to be something for everyone. You can apply for a position here.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

RockwellGroup.com

What have you heard about Rockwell Group?

The Second City

Willy Franzen — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:26:09 +0000

I know how tough the job search is, so I’m not going to pull a prank on you. It would just be mean to tell you about some awesome jobs and then say that they don’t exist. Instead, I’m going to stick to what I’ve done for the last two April Fools’ Days and introduce you to some jobs with a humorous side to them. Two years ago we took a look at Motley Fool, and last year it was College Humor. This year we’re going to check out The Second City, which is “the leading brand in improv-based sketch comedy.” They have theaters in Chicago and Toronto, along with Training Centers in those cities and Hollywood too. The Second City is also where famous comedians like Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters!), Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and Chris Farley cut their teeth. (My buddy Jason Seiden also did a little work at their Training Center.) It is the place for comedy, and it’s all located a mile up the street from where I live.

These Jobs Are No Joke

I’ve been to a Second City performance, and I thought it was pretty good (although I expected a little better). That’s the way that improv comedy works though. Some nights are good, and some aren’t so good. Beyond the theater, The Second City does a ton of improv training. Some people do it to pursue a career in comedy or acting, others do it for fun. Some people do it for personal development, and it wouldn’t be bad for the job search. If you can walk your way through an improv skit and get some laughs, then a job interview should be a piece of cake. If that job interview is with The Second City, then you might really need that improv training. Right now their Jobs page shows two positions: Assistant Theater Manager and Administrative Coordinator (both are at the Second City Training Center in Chicago). The jobs look great, and they may be right for new grads depending on what you’ve done in the past. The only catch is that if you land the job, I’m expecting some free tickets. The Second City also occasionally holds cast auditions, so if you’re serious about comedy, that’s the way to go.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you seen any Second City performances?

VEE Corporation

Willy Franzen — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:09:01 +0000

One of my earliest memories is from Detroit’s Thanksgiving parade. I think that I was about 2 years old at the time, and I saw Oscar the Grouch on some sort of float. I don’t remember much more about the parade, but I remember that. I guess that I’m an experiential marketers dream since I managed to remember that over all of the other cool things that happened when I was two years old (another early memory was getting my head stuck between the bars on a McDonald’s playground—another branded memory). I think that the people at VEE Corporation would be especially happy to hear about my early memory since they’re the company behind Sesame Street Live. They’re a Minneapolis based firm that provides “live entertainment, promotion and event marketing services for America’s most respected brands, properties and agencies.” They’re big on full-body costumes and mascots as well as merging marketing and entertainment.

Experience VEE Corporation

Running the Sesame Street Live show seems like a big enough deal, but plenty of other huge brands have entrusted their identifying characters to VEE Corporation. These include Mr. Potato Head, Shrek and Donkey, Sponge Bob Squarepants, Mariah Carey’s legs, the Lucky Charms Leprechaun, and plenty more. VEE’s service offerings include Planning & Consultation, Logistics, Design & Ingenuity, Costumes/Creatures/Mascots, Fabrication & Construction, and Ship & Store. It’s a completely different kind of marketing company, which means that their job offerings are especially unique. If you check out Vee Corporation’s Jobs page, you’ll see what I’m talking about. They don’t have a lot of specific postings right now, but they split their offerings into a few categories of application pages—Theatrical, Corporate, Production Services, Shop and Craftsperson, and Operations and Road Crew. It’s interesting to see that VEE Corporation is using a Ning site to manage their application processes, but it doesn’t seem as though they’re tapping into all of the site’s social functionality. That might be a cool addition. They actually have so many different application forms that things get a little confusing, but it shouldn’t be too hard for you to figure out which form is the right one for telling VEE Corporation why you’ll be a great addition to their team.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you seen any events put on by VEE Corporation?

The New 42nd Street

Willy Franzen — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:11:55 +0000

One of the coolest things about big cities is that they have unique neighborhoods and districts. Small towns are lucky to have one theatre, but New York City has an entire theatre district, which is called 42nd Street. It’s kind of a misnomer, because the whole street isn’t filled with theatrers, but around the area where it intersects with Broadway at Times Square they get pretty dense. Unfortunately, in the 1980s a large swath of 42nd Street became neglected and blighted. With so much great theatrical history there, New York City and New York State got together to found a non-profit organization to revitalize the area. This organization is now known as The New 42nd Street. The organization “oversees the redevelopment of seven historic theaters on 42nd” and operates these three projects: New 42nd Street Studios, The Duke on 42nd Street, and The New Victory Theater.

A Walk Down 42nd Street

It wasn’t all that long ago that Times Square was filled with sex shops, but it truly has become a revitalized area. There has been a lot more behind that story than The New 42nd Street, but you have to give them credit for being part of a movement that has been extremely successful. Their mission was outlined in 1991, and they are a fine example of a non-profit that has made significant progress in achieving what it set out to do:

The mission of The New 42nd Street is clear: it must reinvent life for the seven wonderful theaters under its jurisdiction, and in so doing, recreate them as places of popular art and entertainment for the 21st century and beyond. The theaters must serve as a magnet, providing affordable entertainment for New York City residents and visitors of all ages, races and classes, and they should resound with life both day and night. In order to reanimate the theaters and the street they occupy, imagination and tenacity must be brought to bear.

Because of The New 42nd Street there is now a “nucleus of a new entertainment district for the 21st century.” That doesn’t mean that the organization’s work is done. They still have plenty to achieve—even if the goals have evolved over the years. With those changing goals come the opportunity for jobs with The New 42nd Street. They post those on Idealist, where they currently have a listing for a Finance Associate. They would like someone with some bookkeeping experience, but the requirements aren’t too stiff. You can apply by sending a cover letter with salary requirement and resume to Controller at finance.hr@new42.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

When did you last visit 42nd Street?