Become an Apprentice Advisor

Equity’s SM apprenticeship program is an important and positive part of the learning process for emerging Equity stage managers.

Apprentice Advisors are experienced Stage Managers who have volunteered to answer questions, provide mentorship, or just chat about being stage manager.

We are always on the lookout for SM members who believe in the mentoring process, and feel they would be a good fit for this initiative. Could that person be you?

How the program works

We ask for Apprentice Advisors to commit to a one-year time period. If you find that your workload or career direction no longer permits being an Apprentice Advisor, you are welcome to withdraw at any time.

Your name, email address and summary of work experiences will be listed in the myEquity portal, available to apprentices. You are not specifically assigned one person to mentor. Your experience and knowledge is made available to any apprentice who may wish to contact you.

If an apprentice has a question, they can email you. We ask that you respond within 48 hours. If you don’t have the time to handle the inquiry, please write them back promptly to let them know, so that they can reach out to someone else.

You have the option of copying the SM Committee on your response (smcommittee@caea.com), so that a list of FAQs can be compiled and shared for apprentices to reference.

Guidelines for advisors

Apprentice advisors are expected to:

Not get in the way of the apprentice’s relationship with their current SM
Not undercut another member’s process
Always stress that this is what you would do and that every stage manager is different.
Focus on the apprenticeship and not on the specific contract
Be a familiar person whom the apprentice can email and bounce ideas off as needed
Direct the apprentice to staff for assistance with general membership or apprenticeship enquiries or granting of additional credits.
Encourage apprentices to make use of Equity’s online resources (including copies of the agreements)
The Resources menu and the Artist toolkit section will take them to a wide range of resources.

Apprentice advisors are not expected to:

Assist with issues or questions beyond the scope of your knowledge
The SM Committee will be happy to help facilitate an answer if needed
To interpret agreements for the apprentice — that is the job of Equity staff
If the apprentice’s question is more than a basic one, and has to do with any of the clauses in Equity’s many agreements, advisors should direct them to call the Equity office. Reception will route enquiries to the appropriate Business Representative.
Hold someone’s hand throughout their entire apprenticeship!

Interested in becoming an Apprentice Advisor?

Please complete this form and we’ll get back to you.

View

Artist Toolkit

Committees