StageSource Announces 2019 New England Theatre Census

In 2015, the StageSource Gender Parity Task Force created the benchmark of "50/50 by 2020" - achieving a 50% representation of women in the New England theatre employment by the year 2020.

Over the last five years, StageSource has conducted surveys to see how far New England has come in achieving this goal. In the process, they broadened the scope of the initiative beyond binary gender, to include representation of transgender and non-binary artists.

This year the census expands even further to create the 2019 New England Theatre Census - surveying gender, age, race, sexuality, disability, education, union status, and more. In doing so, the StageSource seek to better understand the community and get a broad picture of hiring practices and wage gaps in the New England theatre ecosystem. StageSource has pivoted from organization-reported data to a census where individuals can self-identify themselves and their work, giving us more accurate data than previous research and surveys.

Getting accurate data is crucial for comparing the hiring and casting practices of theatre producers to the demographics of the region they serve. This information has the potential to inform future hiring practices, season and program planning, grant applications, funding, and more. By highlighting who is - and isn't - getting hired and using payment transparency as a tool for spotlighting structural inequities, the data we collect will be developed into a report that can be used to advocate for a more equitable professional theatre landscape as we return to work post-pandemic.

The Census consists of two parts: demographic information and the job submission form. Demographic information includes personal demographic information (such as age and gender), and professional demographic information (such as education and union affiliation). The job submission form is where you can report on the jobs you held in 2019, including position, company, contract type, and payment.

To learn more and to fill out the census, go to StageSource.org/Census.

The deadline to fill out the census is on Sunday, November 15th.