Online group: Career Change / professional Restructuring for Performers

Dates: first Tuesday of each month at 9 -11 pm CET (3-5 pm ET, 12-2 pm PT), beginning in April 2022

Performing artists often speak of the process of professional restructuring or reorientation as a lonely and isolated process. This online group offers a space for free exchange, networking, information sharing, emotional support, brainstorming, and learning from one another. Confidentiality is a pre-requisite. Participating artists may already be deeply involved with an active process of career change, or may be at the beginning stages: curious about other professional options, and looking for a community to engage with and learn from. Musicians, dancers and actors are invited to share their experiences and learn from each another. Each session has a particular focus: for example transferable skills, changing identity, identifying resources, financial stability, and navigating emotions like grief and loss.

Facilitator: Heather O’Donnell, director of The Green Room, M.Sc. Health Psychology, former concert pianist

Cost: Donation based (suggested one-time donation: 50 € )

Participants are free to enter and leave group at any point, but are asked to register for each session they attend. Register here.

This group is made possible by generous support from the Imhoff Foundation.

Some examples of participants: 

The dancer Maja* recently sustained a serious injury in a rehearsal. She is in the process of rehabilitation, but is unsure if she will eventually be able to rejoin her company and is looking for peer support and confidential sharing of information with others. 

The violinist Robert* is weighing his wish to start a family against the financial precariousness of life as a freelance musician. He is thinking about possibilities for developing a second career path, either in tandem with his work as a musician, or as a full career-change.

The actor Benjamin* is thinking of expanding his roles within the acting community to screenwriting or directing. He is wondering how to apply the skills learned as an actor in new fields. 

Lucia* has been on the same career track since early childhood- becoming a concert pianist. Now in her mid-30s, she is asking if she truly made the decision to be a musician herself, and would like to explore that question in connection with other performing artists who were placed on a career track long before they could rationally choose it. 

*names and identifying information are changed to protect identity.

These are just a few stories of performing artists who express the desire for a protected community in which they can discuss issues related to career change and professional restructuring.