The Chance Theater in the City of Poughkeepsie began a new life in 2025, welcoming curious minds for a college alternative and non-profit workforce development initiative.
Empire Training Center for the Arts (ETCA) — a program offering adults 18 and older training for technical and administrative careers in the performing arts — was developed by industry professionals Trish Santini and Frank Butler.
The first cohort of ETCA students, studying in their Stagecraft and Technology program, was in session from July 2025 and graduated in December, pursuing careers working in a concert venue, on tour with a show or on a cruise ship, as a stagehand, or an audio or video technician.
“We learned so much as well as the students,” Trish Santini said.
Now, the ETCA is about to welcome their second ever cohort of students on April 21 in their Arts Administration program, in collaboration with New York Stage & Film, as ETCA students will engage in six weeks of paid employment for New York Stage & Film’s 41st season at Marist University.
Artistic Director of New York Stage & Film Ian Belknap said the ETCA students’ studies will be a “direct bridge into the professional work with us at Stage & Film.”
Applications are open until March 31, welcoming adults 18 and older who have a high school diploma or GED, and align with the ETCA’s values: curiosity, problem solving and collaboration.
Learn how the ETCA navigated the first round of students, hear from Stagecraft and Technology graduate, Darrian Evancich, and read about what incoming students can expect for the brand-new Arts Administration program.
How did the ETCA’s first cohort fare?
It was a small group of four students in the first Stagecraft and Technology cohort.
They all came in with different backgrounds and aspirations but were all able to get the ETCA’s skill-based curriculum and approach to learning, including experiential training along with industry relationship building to foster employment placement upon completion.
“The training itself proved to accurately reflect what we had planned and also had enough room to be responsive and flexible to the needs of the students and the variables that just came up on a daily basis, particularly when they were working on events,” Santini said.
In Bulter’s 40-year career in the not-for-profit regional theater community, the Stagecraft and Technology cohort became a way to “fast track” the lessons he’d gathered, he said, focusing on technical, life skills and essential information he’d wished someone had told him when starting out in theater.
Thus, the mantra “make yourself useful,” he said, was the goal of the first cohort, and he’s been able to witness a couple ETCA graduates already implementing this in a professional setting.
These jobs are not only conducive to vocational training, but “there’s more jobs than people to fill them,” Santini said, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rather than waiting for a larger group, a maximum of 14 students they originally anticipated, Santini said she and Butler felt it was important to move forward with the four promising, interested students, who were ready to get to work.
From July to December 2025, the students worked seven different job opportunities to build their resumes, including work at The Chance Theater and outside opportunities like Jazz in the Valley at Waryas Park, and walked away with a sheet of 50 industry connections.
The second Stagecraft and Technology cohort is planned for spring 2027.
ETCA program changes
Since the Poughkeepsie Journal last spoke with Santini and Butler, their program model has shifted.
What was originally planned to be a 10-month program is now only 5 months, for both Stagecraft and Technology and Arts Administration programs, with a smaller group being able to go at a faster curriculum pace.
That also led to a decrease in the originally planned $3,500 tuition, but Santini and Butler were also able to execute a trust-based sliding scale for tuition rates.
“We are very committed to finances not being a barrier…” Santini said. “We worked with each student to meet them where they could be successful.”
Hear from ETCA graduate Darrian Evancich
Darrian Evancich, 30, one of the four recent Stagecraft and Technology December graduates, has been working as The Stissing Center’s administrative manager in Pine Plains since November.
She came into the ETCA with a formal music industry education from SUNY Oneonta, but went to college during the midst of COVID-19, “only up there for a semester before the world shut down,” she said.
With the use of on-campus labs and in-person training nixed, the ETCA’s promise of hands-on experience was exactly what she needed. In that safe environment, Evancich was also able to learn how to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances of the performing arts sector and reflect with her peers on how to do better next time.
However, what “stood out” the most, she said, from start to finish at the ETCA, were the networking opportunities.
“We toured so many different theaters and were able to introduce ourselves to so many people in the industry,” Evancich said.
“To anybody that’s on the fence — do it,” Evanich said. “It’s definitely a worthwhile experience, even if you’re just kind of curious, dive in headfirst.”
If someone or someone you know “feels ignited” about becoming an ETCA student, Santini said, she encourages people to check out their website at https://www.empirearts.org/apply/ or send an email through the website to ask questions.
The ETCA’s first Arts Administration cohort
The upcoming Arts Administration program will prepare students with transferable skills and fundraising, communications and company management positions, all within the realm of live events and performing arts.
Students will start in April and spend about the first 10 weeks with the ETCA through a hybrid program, before heading to work for New York Stage & Film, with housing and food accommodations at Marist.
Santini noted that the students will also work with guest instructors and may have a couple more community-oriented opportunities in store before they graduate, but the ability for students to live and work together while working for New York Stage & Film is “really unique and kind of fantastic,” she said.
“The students are going to be interacting with not only the staff and the technicians, but also with the artists that come up there,” Santini continued.
It was the “easiest thing to do,” according to Belknap, having New York Stage & Film partner with the ETCA, as both organizations have aligned missions of “developing and nurturing” the next wave of performing arts professionals.
Furthermore, after over 40 years of New York Stage & Film coming to Poughkeepsie, this collaboration is an occasion to celebrate new perspectives and ideas, with people whose “imaginations are on fire,” as well as “reenergize” their own professional practices and summer season at Marist.
It’s both the ETCA’s and New York Stage & Film’s hope this pilot will become a lasting partnership for many summers to come.
Plus, the ETCA will take students on performing arts-related field trips, like the Stagecraft and Technology cohort, providing transportation to their destinations, too.
With the Arts Administration program being a hybrid model, Santini also hopes this will broaden the area from which student applications are submitted.
She’s excited for students to “dig into” everything from sound process to project management, as well as website management and ticketing systems.
Plus, Santini’s looking forward to watching “what makes a young person light up,” she said, supporting them and “putting people in a position to succeed,” in a performing arts career track through the ETCA.
The ETCA’s ‘biggest challenge’ moving forward
As a nonprofit organization, “fundraising is everything,” Santini said.
Like any other nonprofit, the ETCA is funded by a combination of government grants, individual and corporate donations, and fundraising events.
However, the ETCA’s “biggest challenge right now is to build more robust philanthropic relationships, locally,” Santini said.
If you are interested in financially supporting the ETCA, you can donate at https://www.empirearts.org/donate/.
Nickie Hayes is the Breaking & Trending News Reporter for the Poughkeepsie Journal and focuses on how to make the most of what the mid-Hudson Valley has to offer. See her most recent articles here. Contact reporter Nickie Hayes: NHayes@poughkee.gannett.com, 845-863-3518 and @nickieehayess on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Chance Theater students get ‘direct bridge’ to performing arts careers
Reporting by Nickie Hayes, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
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