The live-event industry on 91原创 Island is facing a dire shortage of trained workers, many of whom left the industry during the pandemic.
But with summer festival season on the horizon, organizers of a provincially funded training camp in the Lake Cowichan area are hopeful the free six-day workshop will lead to an influx of staff.
Up to 32 participants will receive on-site training from scores of industry experts in areas such as sound, lighting, rigging, and safety at the Laketown Education Program, announced Monday.
The April 25-30 camp, aimed at university-age participants, will be held at Laketown Ranch in Lake Cowichan, a multi-use site that is home to several large-scale events, including Sunfest and Laketown Shakedown.
Every event is facing staff shortages this year, said project co-ordinator Mike Hann, who hopes the pilot program becomes an annual event.
“The event industry was booming before the pandemic, so there was already a need [for staff]. But the last two years have created bit of a situation where the industry needs even more people, because many were forced to move on.”
Hann, who manages both the Laketown Ranch festivals, said the training camp received $40,000 in funding from Creative B.C., a government-established body that supports creative industries such as motion pictures, music and publishing.
The training at Laketown includes several key certifications, which means graduates of the program will be immediately employable in the live-event industry. Organizers will reserve 30 per cent of program spaces for students from groups that have been historically underrepresented in the live-music industry.
“There’s isn’t a baseline standard for people entering the industry at this point,” Hann said. “That’s what we’re trying to offer here.”
Program facilitator Spencer Sacht Lund has spent nearly two decades in the film and festival industry, and has seen it grow exponentially during that time, outpacing its ability to attract workers.
Companies sending instructors and experts to the site for the week are all looking to hire staff for coming events, he said.
“The people who come out of the program, there’s a pretty good chance they get work out of this,” he said, noting the program is designed to make participants familiar with certain positions and real-life situations.
The training camp will feature 10-hour days split into four two-hour sessions, so that it accurately mirrors life at a live event, Sacht Lund said.
“There’s an expectation that this industry is a lot of work, which it is,” Sacht Lund said. “We built this to be a longer than normal school day or work day that most people are used to. That’s the commitment level we’re looking for.”
Applications are open at laketownranch.com/education-program. Successful applicants will be notified in April, according to organizers.
