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The Backlot Ledger

Notes on the trades, the seasons and the paper trail behind a public career

Sound

Ensembles, tours and the rooms they play: how a choir is run, a set list is built and a live night is staffed.

Every entry in this ledger

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A printed season calendar taped to a backstage door, its columns of dates and hall names lit by a single overhead work light, with a coiled headset cable and a pencil resting on the ledge below.

SO-002Sound

What a School Arts Season Teaches

A university arts season runs on calendars, ensembles, box office staff and student labor. Here is how it is built and who pays for it.

A semicircle of folding chairs and music stands in a church hall on a Tuesday night, a upright piano at the left, fluorescent light from above, wide shot from the back of the room.

SO-001Sound

How an Adult Jazz Choir Runs a Season

Auditions, section balance, rehearsal rooms, music licences and dues: how a non-professional adult jazz choir recruits, rehearses and funds a season.