Anyone who has ever run sound, video or lighting (or any combination of those elements) can tell you — improvisation is an essential skill. Actually, that’s probably true for any career. Pilots, surgeons, teachers, sales people, baristas and anyone else who has expertise and a plan will have to alter that plan at some point in order to manage change.

Every job requires improvisation, much to the horror of people who loathe sketch comedy. But really, it’s a thing we should all be good at, especially at a time when AI dominates so many conversations about work, creativity and life as we know it. The ability to think and act on the fly is the most human of all our talents. Our autonomy allows us to break free from rubric and use an entirely different area of our experience to solve a problem in the moment.

Improvisation is a big part of the magic behind the AV and live event production business. That plus some technical chops and a community of passionate, creative thinkers combine to make this a great career path for people who are interested in media, the arts and anything in between.

We all know that, but how do we let others know it? We’re at a crucial moment where we need to attract more talent to our industry. Especially as a more specific understanding of increasingly advanced audio, video, lighting and network technologies — plus a growing number of game engines, media servers and virtual production tools — will make or break projects in the future.

What can be done? Fortunately, there are some new answers to that question.

Training in Everything

The collaborative nature of theater might actually be the best possible foundation for running any sort of technology-enhanced show, event or installation. That was one of the main ideas of the LDI 2023 keynote speech given by Laura Frank, the multi-talented Screens Producer, Founder of Luminous FX, textbook author and Executive Director of frame:work, the online home and in-person training and event series for “pixel people.”

Her LDI keynote was called “Fearless Collaboration: Why the Next Generation is Essential for Success,” and you can read the entire transcript here to find out how and why we can feel hopeful for what’s ahead.

But getting back to what Frank said about theater — I talked with her to find out more.

“The value of theater education can’t be overstated,” Frank said.

Even in a moment when some theater educators feel threatened by the addition of high-tech media to their programs, they really shouldn’t worry, because the foundation of what they teach is what is most valuable. “Theater educators have the gold mine,” Frank added. “They teach students how to think critically and communicate to solve problems. I think everyone’s experience would be improved if they learned how to collaborate the way you do in a theater education program.”

But beyond theater basics, what Frank sees as essential to attracting talent is a recognition that “the amount of technology anyone new to our industry needs to learn is four times as big as when we entered the market.”

The old-school idea of “just jump in, you’ll figure it out” is a lot harder to expect now. There is a lot to know, and you really can’t pretend people can just know a little bit about all of the tools, because the depth of understanding required for any one element is immense.

“We need to encourage expertise around specific tools — we need to be clear about our expectations of how those tools are used within entertainment, and we need to be better guides and mentors to the next generation,” Frank emphasized, and indeed, those ideas are part of frame:work’s educational mission.

Academic Approach

There are a growing number of ways to learn all those specific technologies. Great minds and institutions are finding ways to attract new people and provide the training needed to set them up for a solid career.

All around the world, there are new AV and live event production technology training programs joining the curriculum at colleges and universities. In addition, there are media-tech-centric organizations like The Loop Lab and EnventU that were established expressly for the purpose of welcoming and inspiring new voices to our field.

Somewhere between college programs and hands-on apprenticeship programs are new educational offerings happening on live event technology campuses. One of these is the Academy of Live Technology (formerly known as Backstage Academy), which has been training new talent since 2012 at Production Park in the U.K.

Now, as of the spring of 2024, the U.S. also has a new Academy of Live Technology (ALT) at Rock Lititz in Pennsylvania. Like Production Park, Rock Lititz is a vibrant collection of live event production companies working together in large-scale rehearsal halls that replicate the arena experience for technologists and artists.

Rock Lititz was always intended to be a space for live event technology community building and training. From the start, efforts to attract new talent have been a constant. More than 300 high school students visit Rock Lititz every spring, and 500 college students arrive each fall for Experience Live, an interactive day of hands-on demonstrations, panels and meet and greets.

The goal of these programs is to help connect students with career paths that match their interests and skills. And it’s not just a job fair for Rock Lititz — the intention is to inspire more people to work in the entertainment industry as a whole.

Now those industry awareness efforts are expanding with ALT at Rock Lititz. “The hope for ALT is that as students get hands-on experience, they’ll learn first-hand what career might be the best fit for them,” said Rachel Hales, Experience Manager at Rock Lititz, and also the author of her own industry text, Tour Book.

ALT is a four-year program, and that is very intentional. The program provides a full curriculum that allows students to graduate as well-rounded, critical thinkers who excel in entertainment technologies — and who are ready for leadership roles.

That’s a lot of new prospects for our industry. The business is changing, but the foundation is solid. We might have to keep improvising to figure out how to make everything work, but that’s what we signed up for when we joined this crazy little AV world.