Open Jar Institute- Page 2

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 2/27/12 at 10:17pm

Full disclosure, I thought this was about Futurama.

[tcamp1]

Posted: 2/27/12 at 10:58pm

Jeff Whiting came to my high school to do a number of master classes/workshops over the years. He is very enthusiatic and sweet, not to mention a very impressive resume. A few of my peers got accepted and did the program and loved it.
I like the story of how the name came to be as well!

[DOpr7]

Posted: 2/28/12 at 12:04am

If you think I'm a shill, so be it. Despite that, some math for you:
Average private college tuition is about $16,500 dollars right now, and considering the program is $1,500 dollars for a week of housing and classes and exposure that occurs for an entire day over five days, this price makes perfect sense. Noting that an average college semester lasts 16 weeks, this figure makes perfect sense for the experience that an attendee gets.
And, I'd admonish anyone to overestimate or even assume the socioeconomic situation of any Open Jar alumni. It's leaves your argument open and does not account for the whole demographic of those who attend Open Jar. For instance, in my case, I received a scholarship to attend this program. I'd advise posts to not make lofty assumptions in a realm of what should be civilized debate.
Thanks.

[Starringsky]

Posted: 2/28/12 at 12:24am

Dramamama611,

I want you to be aware that many of us have worked VERY hard to get to Open Jar because our "mummy and daddy" do not have that kind of money, yet it is because we are so passionate about what we do that such an awesome opportunity like Open Jar is not something that could have easily been let go.

I come from a low-income family of six children, but personally fundraised my trip to Open Jar in full, plane ticket included, selling coffee door to door and in my community, putting on a small concert, and endless hours of babysitting and odd jobs. Yes, this may sound like a lot to some, but the Open Jar experience was way worth the arduous work, and I am looking forward to doing it again!

And I assure you, having spent so many hours through sweat and tears to find the funds to participate in Open Jar, I had very high expectations, but I gladly tell you that the program completely exceeded those expectations! I encourage anyone who is passionate enough about what they do to take advantage of the PRICELESS Open Jar opportunity.

[LinMN]

Posted: 2/28/12 at 1:38am

My daughter attended the Open Jar High School session last summer. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience. The program is amazing and inspirational.

Being a parent, a PMP-certified project manager and technology trainer, I researched the organization from every direction imaginable after my daughter was accepted. What I came away with left me comfortable enough to send my daughter on what turned out to be one of the most amazing weeks of her life.

As a parent, it’s natural for you to have a million questions running through your mind. Don’t beat yourself up about that. There are a lot of programs for kids going on in this world, and it’s sometimes complicated to get enough detail without leaving you feeling overwhelmed. The Open Jar Institute is a solid organization. The staff is dedicated, connected, and genuinely caring. I also found them to be amazingly responsive and helpful. Their communication was thorough and organized, and they provided me with additional information on all of my specific questions (from transportation to accommodating a vegetarian diet.)

For the kids, the week really was filled with a lot of hard work (dance, vocals and acting), but also a lot of personal reward. As a parent, the highlights of my week were the text messages letting me know that she worked with Tony-nominated actor John Tartaglia, met composer John Kander, and (oh, so cool) had a backstage pass for Billy Elliot where she met Billy, and Michael, and their moms (I'm told they were all very nice!)

While some parents spent the entire week in NYC, we coordinated the transportation so my daughter flew out on a direct flight by herself (her first time flying alone – it made me nervous, but it worked) and she was met getting off theplane by the Open Jar staff. I flew out on Friday to arrive for the performance/ parents session on Friday afternoon which was fun, rewarding and heart-warming. Hearing the stories shared, and seeing the performances by the kids showing what they had learned during the week was well worth the trip.

The Open Jar staff posted photos after the event so we could put faces to the names and further enjoy the experience. Through a Facebook group, I’ve watched the kids continue to stay in touch and offer support to each other as they post audition questions, announce their latest roles, and commiserate over their college searches and auditions. Surprising, long-distance, lasting bonds have been formed that were not advertised in the marketing materials. Consider that a bonus!

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 2/28/12 at 6:53am

"I'm not saying you didn't have a wonderful time -- but that doesn't prove that it is worth the money == and since I'm sure most of you spent mummy and daddy's money, you have little sense of its value. (I have no opinion as to whether the program is valuable -- I have no knowledge of it whatsoever.)"

You are insufferable. It shouldn't need to be said that many of us went into our own savings from jobs and such (I ended up coming short when the time came to pay and had to dig into money I got from shooting a commercial a year prior) Don't presume to know anyone.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/28/12 at 11:39am

Well, at least you all admit Jeff asked you to come and write about it. You can imagine, I'm sure, though, how it looks to a bunch of us when someone is questioning a financial situation and all of a sudden 10 brand new members write about how there's nothing wrong with it.

Did we all forget the "Tricks the Devil Taught Me" drama?

Well. Now, you have your answer about the program, OP.

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 2/28/12 at 9:21pm

Well, Jeff obviously contacted some people, but I was never contacted. I noticed this thread because I'm here daily.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/29/12 at 5:03am

For those that raised their own money to attend, apologies for the offense. As most of you should be able to admit -- you that raised the money yourselves are among a very small minority. Most kids your age have no clue about the actual value of money(and I work with kids so this is coming from experience).

Good for both of you for NOT falling into that trap.


(I still think its funny that the thread was dredged up almost a year later: it likely would have fared better if it was left alone.)

[DOpr7]

Posted: 2/29/12 at 5:45pm

Hey, better late than never. Information that supports an organization that does good things, I feel, is always welcome. So, maybe it seems to have been dug up after a year, but any knowledge is better than blind inference.

[Owen22]

Posted: 2/29/12 at 5:58pm

Okay, I think, from the number of shills here alone, it is very clear.

DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON OPEN JAR!

repeat, Mothers and Fathers of potential exploitees:

DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON OPEN JAR!

[LinMN]

Posted: 2/29/12 at 9:02pm

Allow me to clarify some things here:
There are several posts from people who have trashed the Open Jar organization and those are the people who have not disclosed their affiliation or reason for being involved with this thread at all. To call people who openly disagree with you “shills” (someone who attempts to positively sway an opinion without disclosing their affiliation or a conflict of interest) is a display of poor communication skills – you are attacking a person, not an issue. The only people who have not disclosed their affiliation are those criticizing Open Jar, and that makes me question what their motives are for being involved in this thread.

They have clearly not cared that the students and parents (me included) have blatantly disclosed our relationships as students and parents from previous summer camps…not employees. I would question whether these people are possibly affiliated with their own organizations and are attempting to trash Open Jar in order to promote their own interests…or perhaps they are students who auditioned, but were not selected. It may also be that they are students who auditioned but cannot afford the cost. If you are planning to get into acting as a career, you must not take it personally when you do not get accepted after an audition- even for a summer camp. In fact, in any career field, you will need to be able to make it past a job interview and not take it personally. The people who have not disclosed their affiliation are those people who are slinging mud. This likely arises from one of the following:
1) Either these people work for another organization and are trying to turn their own target audience of students away from this organization and toward theirs,
2) Or, they were students, or parents of students, who auditioned but did not get accepted or cannot afford the trip to New York City.

There are revealing traits in the communication patterns that destroy their credibility and I feel that I must point this out:
1) The people posting negative comments are using no hint of logic in their arguments.
2) The statements they are making are loaded with condescension which is often used as a tactic to try to win power in an argument by attacking the person – not the issue. The study of argumentation is taught in some college courses so if you are high school students, I highly recommend looking into these classes when you get into college. You will also be taught to identify logical fallacies, such you see in Owen22’s post. I might add that when you see any communication that is riddled with logical fallacies, it should be immediately discounted as having no validity.
3) The naysayers are hurling negative comments into the thread and without disclosing who they are or why they are here (they are also suddenly appearing here when they have never been in this thread before, and yet they are accusing those who are not siding with them of being “shills.”) I can’t state this enough for those of you going to college – Attack the ISSUE, NOT the person. Use this format in your interpersonal communication as well and your relationships will fare much better.
4) One problem with the Internet is that it is a cold medium and research indicates that people will post things anonymously that they would not normally say in person. This often leads to virtual shouting (ex: entering text using all capital letters), derogatory remarks, and outright slander, because a person who perceives that they are protected by the anonymity of the Internet will often feel more emboldened to attack others through a false sense of empowerment, even though the statements they are making are false.
5) There seems to be a lot of ignorance in this thread about the very nature of social media which leads me to question the education level of some of those posting negative comments. Social media is called social media for a reason -- people joining into the thread guided from other social media sources IS the power of social media (reflect out what’s happening in the Middle-East – this is the same thing on a micro-scale for those of you enrolled in social studies and government right now.) While I had intended to go back to my regularly scheduled work, when I saw the silly post by Owen22, I felt compelled to return to the thread. But, I would hope this nonsensical, bitter silliness ceases to continue.
6)
One other point that discredits the few people criticizing O.J. is that they don’t seem to understand standardized marketing and advertising cycles to which we are globally exposed to every day of our lives. The reason this thread only comes alive once a year is exactly the same reason you will suddenly see Christmas advertising in October (never in June,) and prom dress advertising only in the spring. Allow me to explain: Open Jar is a Summer Camp. They begin auditions in the late winter so that preparations can be in place for summer. If any of you are parents, you know that all summer camps begin advertising at this time of the year. I viewed this opportunity as a bigger commitment than the local theatre camps I previously sent my daughter to, and I can assure you that most parents and teachers who first learn about Open Jar are also suddenly Internet searching Open Jar to find what they can about the organization. So, it’s only logical that the site is being pinged at this time of year. Why would anyone ping it in the fall? Summer camps are over…it’s too early to start planning for the next summer…auditions haven’t started…searching sometime other than when the activity is taking place would be completely illogical. Do you also raise suspicious messaging attacks at your local retailer because turkey advertisements appear several weeks before Thanksgiving? I’m certain some of the first pilgrims thought that whole Thanksgiving dinner thing might be a scam when it was first introduced as well, but nobody even blinks over Thanksgiving dinner now.

Not a single person would be posting on this site if there was not a person reward for them in it. For me, I’m standing up for an organization that I can see is being unfairly attacked by people who seem to be hiding their own personal motives. But then, I also pass out granola bars to homeless people, and respond to Amnesty International issues, so helping others is not foreign to me. I would ask you this: What benefit is each of you personally deriving from trashing an upstanding organization? Did your child audition and not get accepted? Are you the child who did not get accepted? If so, please do not give up on your dreams, but do not use that as an excuse to unfairly lash out at others.

Back to the question of whether or not this is a ‘good value.’ No one can answer this question for you. If you are a parent, you need to determine where your own values are in order to determine if this camp is for your child/family. For example: some people spend a lot of money on cigarettes, dinner in a nice restaurant, or perhaps on a new car. My family values education and travel. We don’t smoke, we mostly eat at home, and we drive old vehicles. However; I do put money away each month into our vacation and education savings accounts. My daughter understands the value of saving and budgeting and even paid part of her own expenses for this trip. It was both educational and a vacation for us. So, for us the value was excellent.

Again, the question of whether or not it is a good value is something that each family needs to weigh for themselves. I always see purchasing a new car as a poor value because I see it as handing over my next trip to Europe to the local car dealership so their family can go to Europe.

I cannot tell you how tiring it is to read intellectually meaningless, trite posts like the one from Owen 22 which says absolutely nothing helpful. Owen22, if you attended an Open Jar camp and were not happy with it, you need to list those specific reasons in detail here, in order to be of any benefit. By posting an empty rant, you have completely discredited yourself.

My reasons for being happy with the Open Jar experience:

It was not that much more expensive than the week-long local summer theatre camps I sent my daughter to several times, when you consider that those were only from 9-3 or 4, for four or five days. So, factoring in that O.J. was a full day/night experience, including evenings, dinner in NYC and Broadway theatre events, levels out the cost.

The quality of training was much higher than she received locally at some extremely well-regarded theatre camps; (this is a qualitative assessment, not quantitative) – I am making this comparison based on what I saw from the performance that parents were able to attend at the end of the weeklong event, and my daughter’s feedback.

The quality is possibly a combination of two factors: First, the teachers are employed professionals on Broadway so the level of instruction and talent of the instructors was higher than we have locally. I see it as irrelevant as to whether or not the teachers are curently the leads in a production – they have in fact performed on Broadway. So even you cannot dispute that they are highly talented. The second factor may be that students had to audition to get into the camp, so the O.J. teachers were not forced to cater to the lowest common denominator as often happens in local camps where anyone can register. Also, the bar for the lowest common denominator was actually quite high in this camp (because of the audition process,) making it easier to set the bar even higher for these kids. If I recall, there were 30+ kids who auditioned at my daughter’s school (a performing arts school) and only a handful were selected.

This is perhaps another qualitative measure…sorry; I did not expect that I would have to do an analysis of variance on this summer camp to measure its worth for a message thread! Back to the qualitative measure…in the six months after Open Jar, my daughter landed roles in a short film, a television pilot, a PSA and a stage production. Of course, she has worked hard for several years to get where she is (private voice, dance classes, keeping her academic grades up,) and there is no way to determine how much of her success was a result of attending Open Jar, but this many successful auditions for her in such a short amount of time is a significant increase, and the organizations that she landed roles with are a step above where she was getting them from prior to her week at Open Jar. Perhaps when one of you students gets into graduate school, you can formalized the study on this and make it a quantifiable result!

I do know that my daughter’s self-confidence and auditioning skills where bumped up a notch…that was apparent in the way she carries and presents herself, but is also a qualitative assessment. If your plan now is to come back and add to the thread to say that I am too pushy with my daughter, I would remind you once again to attack the issue, not the person. I will also tell you in advance that I’m the one pulling back on her reins. She has many, many interests, is curious, optimistic and enthusiastic about life and her own future, and her week at Open Jar simply added to her self-confidence. My role is to remind her that she can’t do everything and to help her learn to make educated, informed choices and learn life balance.

Oftentimes, fear is what drives people to criticize others – is that perhaps what’s happening here with the short, uninformative, anonymous negative posts? Allow me to interject one of my favorite quotes: When the fear of staying where you’re at is greater than the fear of where you’re going, you’ll change.” Learn to take risks in life. Open Jar is just a great organization, and as Freud would say, “Sometimes a cigar, is just a cigar.”

Stop looking for shills and chicanery where none exist, or find a message group where they accept that type of communication, if you really just want to vent without providing solid, intellectual backing to your argument.

[KaylaMMiller]

Posted: 3/1/12 at 12:21am

For anyone who is genuinely looking for information on what Open Jar is like and whether or not they they should go, what I'm about to say is valid.

With Open Jar, I went to New York for a week in July last summer. I saw FOUR Broadway shows: Billy Elliot, Anything Goes, Catch Me If You Can, and Sister Act. Everyday, I got to work with 2-3 professional actors and actresses, all of which were currently working in or on a Broadway production. Everyone got to work individually on our vocal selections with someone from Broadway. Everyday, a dancer taught us a dance from the show they were in. For acting, we studied our vocal selections and the characters we put within them. We also discussed a lot about how master an audition, what kind of schools we would like to study at in the future, and having a theater career in New York (including extremely important and helpful information on AGENTS).

All five days the staff and interns at Open Jar provided us with breakfast and lunch. For dinner, each night we ate at a different restaurant in New York before we saw one of the shows. After the show, we still had plenty of time to sight see around New York as well as bond with the friends we had made. Did I mention we stayed in a beautiful hotel ON TIME SQUARE that cost $800/ night?

I hope to study in New York next year and one day have a career there. Whether or not the money was worth it is irrelevant towards the deciding to go once accepted part. I got the chance to see Broadway shows, experience New York and what it will be like living there soon, and meet a lot of smart and passionate people. For top notch instructors, great food, hotel in time square, and four Broadway shows, you may have reservations about going but once you do there is no way you could ever regret it.

Plus--- why on earth would you pass up the opportunity? It's New York!