The National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural is working once again with Industry Members Live Nation and Festival Republic to set up a heart-racing programme of Festival ‘Stage Side’ Days as part of their Live Music Production Days Programme for students across Britain, organised by Music Industry Liaison Officer Steve Cheney.
Earlier this year students at the Skills Academy’s 20 Founder Colleges went backstage at gigs by Elbow, Scouting for Girls and The Script. This summer they will see what goes into creating a world-class live music experience at the UK’s biggest summer festivals – including Download, The Big Chill, Leeds, Glastonbury and Wireless Hyde Park.
They will see stages prepared for System of a Down, U2, Beyoncé, Bright Eyes, Primal Scream and Kanye West – and they will begin to understand the crucial role of backstage staff in realising these sets for an audience of up to 150,000 people. For these staff, of course, world-famous events with international stars are just another day at work.
Historically, the Skills Academy’s Production Day Visits have allowed students to witness the intricacies of these backstage roles, and left them inspired by the possibilities of careers offstage in live music. And, with the UK experiencing a surge in live music events (contributing £1bn to the economy each year) along with a predicted need for 30,000 skilled backstage workers by 2017, such inspiration is becoming increasingly vital to the industry and the creative economy.
Since 2008, the Skills Academy has worked to introduce creative Apprenticeships to the UK, and there are currently over 700 in the creative and cultural sector. 100 of these were placed directly through the Skills Academy’s Apprenticeship Training Service, 300 through the Skills Academy’s network of 20 Founder Colleges and many with live music organisations. The Skills Academy’s website, offering advice, opportunities and Q&As with industry leaders will be launched in the first week of June, and parts of it are already live, as a pendant to its theatrical sister, www.getintotheatre.org, which was set up in 2008. So these Festival Stage Side Days sit at the centre of a coherent ambition to shape and encourage the skills landscape in the UK, showing young people that there are careers in the creative and cultural sector that are not only desirable but extremely stable – long-term and truly viable options. Accordingly, this summer’s programme is the biggest the Skills Academy has yet rolled out.
Nolan Pearce, of Plymouth College, said of the 2010 Production Days: ‘All of our students who attended this event came away with a real positive perspective of what the live music industry was able to offer. As a learning experience, this visit has been highly constructive and the students frequently talk about this event as a concrete point of reference within their own learning. It has definitely helped to raise individual expectations within the classroom.’
Paul Latham, Head of Live Nation and Chair of the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural said: ‘Live Nation are involved in these events to ensure that potential crew of the future understand the roles and careers available in this industry. The success of our business – of any business – depends on having a skilled workforce and these stage side visits help the students to understand what those skills are.’
Melvin Benn, Head of Festival Republic, commented: ‘Festival Republic is responsible for numerous large outdoor events, such as Glastonbury and the Reading / Leeds Festivals. We welcome the opportunity for students on music-based courses to witness the running of the main stage at close quarters. We believe that by giving them this insight we are helping to develop the crews of the future.’
