National STAR Guild and school Theatrical Arts Guilds (TAG's)-- Frequently Asked Questions
What is the National STAR Guild? The STAR Guild is a national honours program for middle and high school students that excel in the theatrical arts at their school. Once your school has a TAG Troupe your drama teacher/troupe director can induct you into the National STAR Guild.
What is a school TAG Troupe? Drama Teachers/Schools Register as a School Theatrical Arts Recognition (STAR) Guild and they get an official Theatrical Arts Guild (TAG) troupe number and renew annually to maintain their active status in the Guild. This allows them to run their school TAG (Theatrical Arts Guild) within the National STAR Guild. Once your school has a TAG Troupe your drama teacher/troupe director can induct you into the National STAR Guild and those student recieve many benefits including discounted prices for attending our STAR Festivals.
Is it the same thing as the International Thespian Society? No the STAR Guild is an honour society for more then just thespians. Students can be inducted for their work in any area of school theatrical arts including, but not exclusive to, acting performance.
How much does it cost to start a TAG troupe at your school? A school that would like to be a member pays $229 per year to charter a troupe and then $129 per school year to renew.
What are the benefits of having a TAG troupe at your school?
By chartering a troupe your school gets a national troupe # and recognition as one of Canada's most committed Drama & Theatrical Arts programs
You get the opportunity to win national honours for your school troupe annually.
As the troupe director you will get your professional membership for free including all of the awesome membership benefits
Playwrights reductions and other promotions specifically for TAG troupes.
You are able to induct your talented, passionate drama students to our national student honours society - the Theatrical Arts Guild aka the STAR Guild. They get a personalized certificate of induction, personalized ID card, bumper sticker and pin. This is a lifetime induction with opportunities for credential advancement as they demonstrate excellence in your program. TAG/STAR Guild induction lowers the students registration costs at our Regional and National STAR Festivals. Induction also opens your students to potentially win scholarships and awards at our events.
Can I participate in our STAR festivals without being a school TAG troupe?
Yes your school does not need to be a TAG troupe to participate in our event and if you are a TAG troupe school your students don't need to be inducted into the STAR Guild to participate at the STAR Festival. Inducted National STAR Guild students will be given a discounted rate at our events.
How can I induct students from my TAG into the National STAR Guild? Induction should be managed by the School TAG Troupe Director, usually the school drama teacher or designate and once inducted the STAR student is inducted to the guild for life. In order to maintain the highest standards of commitment and excellence to the theatrical arts, STAR Guild induction is based on the requirement that a student completes 150 quality hours in the development of theatrical arts productions, this also allows them to be declared an Inducted Major in the area of work. Areas that a student can major in (150 quality hours) or minor in (75 quality hours) are:
Performance: Acting
Performance: Musical Theatre
Technical Theatre
Design
Stage Management
Directing
Script Writing
Front of House
Film & TV
Multidisciplinary Theatrical Arts
A student needs to qualify for one of these areas as a Major to be inducted into the guild.
Upon induction, a qualified student can have a maximum of two areas – presented as a:
double major
major and minor
or they can be just a single major
How do students upgrade their credentials in the National STAR Guild?
A student can continue to upgrade and push for further accolades once inducted into the guild.
Minors can become Majors once the 75 quality hours have moved up to 150 quality hours of work.
Each school year that a student has been active, post induction, in the STAR Guild they can add another area of specialty as they explore more areas of the theatrical arts in your program (up to 4 areas by the end of grade 12). This will be added to their file upon completion and an updated induction certificate will be created to honour their achievement. Middle school students will be transferred into their local high school if the are an active STAR Guild school
Students that want to go deeper in their areas of inducted Major within the Guild can complete 500 quality hours of Theatrical Arts work to qualify to upgrade their Major to Major with Distinction. This will be added to their file upon completion and an updated induction certificate will be created to honour their achievement within the International STAR Guild.
How much does it cost to induct a student into the National STAR Guild A one-time fee of $35 – Per STAR student induction gets them lifetime membership in the STAR Guild. -- Materials provided upon induction includes induction pin, personalized certificate, bumper sticker, personalized ID Card Plus $15 – Per STAR student upgrade -- Materials provided upon upgraded credential application – updated Certificate expressing the upgraded credentials,
