UnholyMezzo, you just made me splorf. BRAVA, SISTAH!

Shirley, if an opera company has an AGMA apprenticeship, then AGMA might have some influence, but it's possible for a company to be an AGMA signatory for chorus only, or mainstage only, or mainstage and chorus, and STILL not have an AGMA apprenticeship. And if you want AGMA to be involved, then you as an AGMA member have to demand it. AGMA is a union and unions are made up of members. Although there is a paid staff that runs administrative things, it is the membership that decides what it wants and makes things happen. So, if you are an AGMA member and you want changes in the way AGMA signatories run their apprenticeships, you need to bring it to your fellow union members and start making it happen. There is no Big Daddy who is going to make things happen for you. Also, this would only affect AGMA apprenticeships, and there are plenty of companies that are non-union.

1timeadmin, thank you SO much for adding to the dialogue. I can't tell you what a soapbox issue singers' education is for me and it's great for someone who's been on your side of the table to speak out about the way things really are. There's a lot to be said about education reform for musicians and that's the next big conversation I hope to have. Not only are those music degrees being handed out willy-nilly, kids are being encouraged to run up crippling amounts of debt they will NEVER be able to pay off with a job in music. NO ONE SHOULD GO INTO DEBT FOR A MUSIC DEGREE.

Hi friends, Thank you all for such a great discussion! Please keep it going! I am in the process of compiling a list of "What Singers Want", which attempts to encapsulate the collected concerns and proposals that singers have for improving the system from the various social media discussions I've been monitoring. I'm also putting together a list of questions which I will then present to a panel of admins for response. The results will be published on this blog and I will submit them to Classical Singer as well. If you have questions, anecdotes, proposals, commentary, etc., please feel free to post them here or email them to me directly at Info @ TheBusinessOfSinging dot com (or you can do it through my website). I would also VERY much welcome the input of any administrators who want to comment on this thread. If you prefer to be anonymous so that you can speak freely, please email or FB message me. Thank you all, and let's keep talking! Cindy

Anon4, thanks for your comment. I've created a file of questions singers are asking, and intend to present them to a panel of administrators who agree to answer them. :) I believe we'll see that there's no one-size-fits-all response, but I also think that if we as a community can come up with some proposals that work, some of these companies might be willing to revise their policies.

What are you doing, David? Good luck!And thanks for your good wishes. :)

Alexandra! I heard from our very tall tenor friend that you have a very sweet gig coming up. Congratulations! Hope we get to work together soon, and I want to see pics of what you come up with re: wardrobe!

So very sorry you were dragged here and forced to read, Over It. But thanks for doing so!