Creator Spotlights, rate research, and the conversations the South African theatre industry has not had publicly. Written plainly, for everyone working behind the curtain.
South African theatre has no published rate benchmark for backstage work. When neither the worker nor the production knows what a role is worth, the person with the least leverage accepts the least. That gap is where exploitation happens, and it happens because there is no information, not because there is bad intent on either side.
BBMGOS is gathering rate data from anyone working or who has worked in backstage theatre in South Africa. What people are currently offered, what they would consider fair, and how confidently they can negotiate. You can answer anonymously or not, both are accepted. The point is to gather as much real information as possible and stop the gatekeeping that makes exploitation possible.
Once we have enough responses to be meaningful, BBMGOS will publish the first rate benchmark for backstage theatre work in South Africa. A reference point that does not exist today, available to workers and productions alike.
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Visual Artist
Eric Zulu on letting the concept choose its own medium, making art as an act of reclamation, and building visual spaces where community memory can be honestly processed.
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Subscribe on SubstackThe Founder's Note. Why BBMGOS exists, what it is building, and what this industry owes the people working in it.
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Guild updates: new members, productions, events
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Opportunities for the backstage community
