“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” could be a phrase of the past for the future of UK arts. Earlier this year Creative & Cultural Skills (CCSkills) submitted a proposal for Britain’s first-ever National Skills Academy (NSA) for Live Performing Arts and Music, following the launch of a new Government training initiative. Government has accepted this proposal and invited CCSkills to draw up a detailed business plan with a view of committing £7 million to the project. The arts industry is also on board, with prestigious names including the Royal Shakespeare Company, EMI Group, National Theatre, Live Nation, Arts Council England and English National Opera lending their support and hopefully donating their cash: around £3 million to make up the estimated £10 million start up costs.
The Academy’s emphasis will be on backstage technical skills in areas such as lighting, sound and production management. There will also be provision for learning about the business and commercial aspects of the industry including promotion and finance, fundamental in a sector filled with freelancers, self-employed workers and small businesses. “The Academy’s vision is to attract and train the best performance technicians in the country, ready for careers on the best stages in the world”, says Tony Hall, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House and Chairman of CCSkills. “Technical skills are essential to the UK’s thriving live music scene,” says Feargal Sharkey, Chair of the Live Music Forum and ex-frontman of The Undertones. “Through the Academy, a lot of talented young people will learn their trade from live music professionals, giving them a great start in the music industry.”
CCSkills research shows a shortage of trained and qualified backstage and offstage technical and support staff in a sector that is rapidly growing. The UK live performance scene contributes £6.3 billion a year to the economy. The UK music industry generates £6 billion of which live performance accounts for just under 50% of employment, and the Olympics in 2012 is thought to increase the demand for specialist skills. It must also be noted that music events and theatrical performances are becoming increasingly challenging (for every person appearing on the stage there are, on average, three supporting them behind the scenes). The impact on a production when something ‘goes wrong’ can be huge. In fact a friend recently returned from Wicked in the West End bitterly disappointed that Elphaba didn’t ‘defy gravity’ due to a technical hitch. She felt this one hiccup diminished the entire performance, and many audience members asked for a refund. Employers are not only reporting difficulties in recruiting staff but also facing revenue losses as a result of cancelled and compromised events, hardly surprising when so few of the training courses on offer meet industry standards and so many of the qualifications gained fail to be recognised.
The National Skills Academy aims to change all this by offering training led by experienced industry professionals and work-based instructors potentially at a state-of-the-art central facility in Thurrock, Thames Gateway, a stone’s throw from the Royal Opera House’s proposed new production site. Exactly what’s on offer is still under review, although it is assumed that those subjects currently under-provided in other educational institutions will take top priority including, stage, audio and lighting technicians, stage controls, rigging, stage handling, carpentry, pyrotechnics and special effects and tour management.
The NSA also aims to open up skilled jobs to a wider group, including those from non-academic backgrounds and minority communities. It is no secret that ‘word of mouth’ recruitment currently predominates both the music and performing arts industry, leaving little space for ‘equal opportunities’ to operate. This issue was recently addressed at the Theatrical Management Association (TMA) conference as reported in The Stage. Society of London Theatres (SOLT) and TMA’s joint Chief Executive Richard Pulford said “It is absolutely extraordinary to me that even on a huge, mega show being put on the West End stage, the technicians…tend to be found because of someone saying “I know someone who can do that.” People do not have the means of being able to demonstrate that they can do it unless someone happens to know them.”
It seems that the need for a focused National Skills Academy dedicated to training live performance technicians and moving the live performing arts into the professional age is obvious to everyone involved or willing to listen. Tony Hall and Feargal Sharkey are currently co-chairing a steering group to guide the project forwards, piecing together the requested business plan for submission to Government in April 2007. A decision will be made and delivered in September 2007. I am, however, left wondering what will happen if this decision is not the one we are hoping for, maybe even expecting? What if the NSA for Live Performance & Music does not make it through the third bidding round? So many essential and important issues have been raised by CCSkills, yet where is the contingency plan? Could this initial show of Government favour mean we might be counting our chickens a little too early? Significant industry employers have come forward to give their support, but will they be willing to dig a little deeper into their pockets to foot a larger chunk of the £10 million bill if needs must? We will just have to wait and see with fingers crossed that the Government will, for once, recognise the creative and cultural industry gap and offer CCSkills the resource with which to plug it.
