While searching for a college, I had few requirements. I wanted somewhere that actually had my intended major and somewhere that supported the arts.

My interactions with admissions told me those requirements would be met at Goshen College. They showed me Sauder Concert Hall, and said how performances are well attended. They shared how the arts were a hallmark of our community.

At GC, I found the niche of supporting artists by way of stage management. It aligned with my interests, helped me move towards thinking very logistically and also let me see behind the scenes of productions. Understanding the nuts and bolts of a show has been a huge gain since someday it’ll be a part of my profession as a music teacher; I gained that skill holistically.

Later, I became an office assistant for the events office. That job broadened my focus from the performance spaces towards the quirks of each space that GC has across campus. I got the opportunity to be more community-facing and people-oriented while still getting the chance to think logistically.

After much of my time in college working with production and events in different capacities, one person announced their resignation, and then another. I began to question why such amazing people were leaving jobs they told me they loved. Through my questions, one supervisor from that same team told me they found greener pastures. Then, the first person to hire me at GC announced their departure. Across the span of six months, four people who I worked closely with left.  Their supervisors tried what they could with the power they had to keep these great people here, but ultimately couldn’t keep them around.

It’s hard to lose amazing supervisors and realize that we’ll have to do events without their expertise, but it’s even harder to say goodbye to these great friends I’ve made that have helped me grow in so many ways outside of the classroom.

Events don’t happen on their own. Someone doing an event by themself might face hours of headaches, troubleshooting, questions and of course, logistics. 

What my jobs have shown me is a team of people who normally go unseen. They have the talents and abilities to take every challenge of putting an event or show together, dividing the work and extending the event from okay to remarkable. The things they facilitate can be as big as Kick-Off, or something seemingly as simple as coffee and pastries after convocation.

 In these jobs, I’ve also faced the pressure that has been placed on my supervisors time and time again: If an event looks extraordinary, GC looks extraordinary — we don’t want GC to look anything but extraordinary.

I think there’s a correlation between all of these amazing people leaving at similar times. I’m not saying the straw that broke the camel’s back was the same for everyone, but I can’t help but think about changes that were made earlier this year which shifted their roles as something that may have contributed to a mass exodus. 

Having a position on the behind-the-scenes-team at GC now doesn’t compete with similar roles in the area financially, and administration hasn’t supported them in ways they’ve needed. Besides, the college can’t put community members in seats without the people on this team to sell tickets and seat them. They can’t hear the performers without someone with the skillset to run sound, and performers themselves can’t get to the stage without someone to tell them when they need to go and open the door for them.

I fear for the direction GC is heading in without support for people supporting arts as their occupation. A once thriving framework of people is now faced with high turnover, and ripples to affect more than just our students and employees. 

My hope is that the challenges of turnover don’t crush the amazing people left on the team, and I also hope that the college follows through with their so-called “support for the arts” by creating changes to actually support the people who carry out our events. We have the potential to start another great team, but only with support to lessen our turnover.