As many of you know Glasgow Life and YGT have a thriving partnership. Glasgow Life’s exceptional commitment to our Talent Tasters programme ensures behind the scenes and front row access to arts, cultural and sports experiences. For our programme’s young people, these opportunities were lost and sources of inspiration untapped, but not now! Thanks to our Pioneering Partnership all of Glasgow’s fantastic creative and cultural experiences will be accessible to our young people. Not just the opportunity to experience but progress to participate, get skilled and who knows what performing talent we might find.
Glasgow Life has gone above and beyond to help us spearhead our Talent Tasters. YGT Talent Tasters are a radical new way to help our young people find, grow and use their talent. The idea is simple: To give our young people a taste of something they never could have accessed before, in a way that works for them and the organisation. Everything from higher and further education (college and university) tasters, to sports, arts, culture and work will invaluably open doors for our city’s young people.
The recent Hollywood Heroes and Superheroes concert was a roaring success with our young people. Now, we’re thrilled to tell you all about our latest Anastacia gig Taster! Based at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, this Taster was designed for the role of stage technician. The young people who attended had this role in mind for their future career pathway. They were incredibly excited to experience the preparations of such a huge performance.
Stephen (the venue manager) and Drew (the stage manager) led the tour. Drew started his career doing freelance work at the Citizens and King’s Theatres before going on to study for a HND at college. He has been in the industry for over 20 years! His experience proved the perfect inspiration for our eager young people.
Then Drew and Stephen talked about the requirements of a staging team. To get the equipment from Anastacia’s previous gig in Manchester to Glasgow takes a phenomenal amount of work and preparation! All staging, lighting and instrumental equipment is packed at the end of a performance. It then gets loaded onto the tour truck, with the goods arriving in Glasgow at 2.30am after an overnight drive! The team gets whatever sleep is possible on the tour bus before unpacking the truck at around 7am. Preparing the stage and the various instruments is next. The stage plans, sound systems, lighting and staging requirements all sent to the Hall months in advance, are then arranged. A lot of information for our young people to take in! But vital in appreciating what day to day work is involved for a role they’re looking to pursue.
The first stop on the tour was to the main hall. Anastasia’s drum technician and stage rigger were setting up on our arrival. The young people were blown away by the impressive venue and back stage experience. Then we moved on to the Gallery, where the spotlight is arranged. Radio Communications between the stage and the gallery schedules when the spotlight is required throughout the performance. Our young people had the chance to arrange the spotlight and followed the technicians! An amazing ‘hands on’ opportunity.
The young people were allowed to see where acts prepare and warm up for their shows. They were keen to know about the best “diva” requests of the Concert Hall. The best were blacking out all the mirrors and only blue m&ms in a jar!
The young people also got to see the undercroft (the area below the stage) and learn about the mechanics of stages and seating. Then it was on to lighting. This is another huge operation at the venue. Performances can use enough energy to power the full Buchanan Galleries! Barry, the lighting technician, was in the conference hall programming lighting settings for various events. Anastasia’s lighting team spent months planning and prepping that aspect of the gig. It would perform automatically on the night. Barry explained how everything worked and was bombarded with questions. The team also mentioned that there are some fantastic ChamSys products online for reasonable prices for any budding lighting producers. It’s worth a Google!
The last stop of the tour for our young people was to the Hall’s brand new auditorium. It proved a stunning location and is where the RSNO perform and practise.
To close the fabulous day, Stephen and Drew answered some questions on how our interested young people could pursue such a career. They suggested that the best way to get into the industry is through volunteering. Go to the Royal or King’s Theatres, or the Hydro venue, and offer your services.Then, when in the door, decide if you’d rather specialise in sound or lighting. Jobs come up all the time so there are plenty of opportunities!
Sound and lighting HNC/HND courses are available at Kelvin, James Watt and UWS. Perfect if studying this subject is for you!
We would like to say a huge, huge thank you to Glasgow Life for putting on such a fantastic, informative taster. Our young people were thrilled to have such an opportunity and they learnt so much. This experience will realise many aspirations and a new focus to their school studies. A special thanks too to Stephen and Drew.
We have many more young people signing up for Young Glasgow Talent’s help. They need mentors to make a huge difference to their confidence, educational outcomes and future life chances. Can you help them? Find out more about becoming a mentor.
Can your organisation help? To become involved in our Talent Taster programme, alongside our partners such as Glasgow Life and The Herald, simply go to the GET INVOLVED section of www.youngglasgowtalent.org.
We’re always looking for new mentors to reach all the new young people who are coming on board with the programme. Help us spread the word by letting your friends and family know how worthwhile mentoring can be!
