INTERVIEW
3T (TOUR TECH TRAINING) 2022 TPi checks in with the 3T (Tour Tech Training) Course Leaders to get an update on the charity programme’s latest free, practical training course – which helps underrepresented gender and ethnic groups gain the skills to begin careers in the live events sector.
Photos: 3T
The brainchild of several artists along with numerous notable names within the live events space, 3T was created as a response to the lack of diversity within the live events sector. The result was a free, practical training course for people from underrepresented gender and ethnic groups, equipping them with the skills and connections to begin careers as touring technicians. With the success of the first year, the 3T team was keen to do it all again with a fresh intake of students and even several new course leaders to share their wealth of knowledge. Like the last edition of 3T, most of the students found out about the charity through artists posting on Instagram, along with the word being spread by other support of the incentive from the wider music industry. This year the criteria for eligibility was opened to a wider range of underrepresented groups. This year’s course had some structural differences, such as running weekdays for a month rather than weekends for three months. All 10 graduates have been able to go straight into work and many even commenced work before the course finished. The course leaders also made some tweaks to the original syllabus, acknowledging a range of full-time industry roles and promoter repping as well as freelance touring. The technical skills taught to the 3T students include cable making, building LED walls, tuning RF kit, operating follow spots, DMX addressing, audio patching, reskinning drums, looming, loading, and much more. The goal is to make all the graduates extremely valuable all-round tour techs on shows of any scale – something that is becoming even more important as 2022 has seen the busiest ever year for the industry, with many personnel leaving the industry. Due to the busy time of year, it was hard for the 3T team to secure a venue for its Big Weekend event, which rounds off the syllabus.
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