Image:Wilerson S Andrade
International travel, awesome wrap parties and backstage access to the hottest gigs on the planet — festival work often comes with some pretty sweet benefits. But what’s it really like behind-the-scenes at the world’s biggest music and arts festivals?
We ask three festival professionals to spill the beans on the industry’s perks and pitfalls, and share their tips for securing paid work in this highly competitive industry.
‘You have to be very prepared that you might not be home for six months at a time.’
Alison Neville, 25, from Albury in NSW, is currently Head of Lighting for the Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe. She’s managing lighting for nine venues, and 130 shows, for the festival’s three-week run, and admits that while festival-hopping is a fun lifestyle, there are tradeoffs.
‘I currently don’t have a place I live,’ says Neville, who began her career volunteering at a small theatre in her hometown and has worked on big-name festivals, including the Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth Fringe festivals, the Sydney Festival, the New Zealand Comedy Festival, Brazil’s Virada Cultural, and Kermezzo(o) in Belgium.
‘I’m constantly jumping from festival to festival and tour to tour. I haven’t stayed in one city, for more than two months in a row, in five years now,’ she adds.
‘Travelling the world meeting amazing people is fantastic. You are always saying goodbye though, and it’s very tricky to keep up relationships.’
‘Word of mouth is everything.’
The old adage of ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ truly applies here, and the most sought-after staff make a habit of making and maintaining contacts, says sound engineer Hamish Bamford. Originally from Scotland, Bamford, 24, has been based in Melbourne since March this year, and his CV includes the London Olympic ceremonies, the Tasmanian International Arts Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, the Exit Festival (Serbia) and Electric Picnic (Ireland). The people you work with, he maintains, are your greatest asset.
‘The industry is small. Everyone knows everyone, so be nice.
‘You never cease learning and the ability to listen to what people say, and work in the manner they want you to work, stretches far beyond any theory or knowledge you may or may not have. Be willing to learn and, above all, remember to buy coffee for your colleagues.’
Neville agrees: ‘It’s important to be respectful and work well with everybody. The person doing a small front-of-house job at one festival could be the person hiring for the next.’
‘Be humble, be fearless and be adventurous. Do it for the love.’
It’s almost impossible to land a paid festival job without undertaking some volunteer work first. This not only gives you the opportunity to learn valuable skills, but can also help you get that all-important foot in the door.
Aleksandra Wyzgol, 28, just finished a contract as a venue Event Manager at the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, where she supervised a team, liaised with artists, managed crowds and oversaw health and safety. Relocating to Scotland from Poland two years ago, she’s worked on several art and film festivals, but admits it took many years of volunteering before she landed her dream role.
‘Paid positions are announced a couple of months before the busy festival period, and the chance of getting a paid job increases if you volunteered for that event previously,’ she says.
‘All my friends who work in the industry got here because of their previous unpaid experience. That is the best way to meet people who know people.’
‘You’ll go from no money to lots of money back to no money again.’
Working festivals often means forgoing a reliable source of income. You are generally paid in lump sums, and working hours, pay rates and perks vary drastically between events, countries and roles. You might also need to undertake other work to supplement your income between gigs.
However, Bamford cautions against taking non-festival work in the downtime, unless you can find something with a great deal of flexibility.
‘You have still got to eat, but an arrangement that allows you to come and go at a moment’s notice would greatly improve your chances of establishing your festival network,’ he says.
‘Having a degree makes a difference, but it’s not necessarily a ‘must’.’
There are now many degrees and courses, both in Australia and overseas, specialising in festival management and production, which may be beneficial to those just graduating high school or at the very beginning of their career. However, you can often get lucky by applying for jobs on festival websites.
‘If you are wanting to study I would suggest getting into the industry first and having fun for a year. You will have a far better understanding of the what the industry needs,’ says Bamford.
Ultimately, Neville, Bamford and Wyzgol insist that being proactive and networking is the best way to find work in the festival industry, and then being prepared to prove yourself in order to be paid for doing what you love.
‘Just get in contact with as many people as you can within festivals and get involved in any way you can,’ Neville says.
