Women Walk Together

WOMEN WALK TOGETHER (WWT) – THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY NETWORK THAT BRINGS INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS TOGETHER, IN SUPPORT AND CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN EVENT PRODUCTION. TPMEA SPEAKS TO RACHEL HAUGHEY.

On 18 July 2018, the world celebrated 100 years of Nelson Mandela, and in honour and gratitude to his legacy, and in support of the Elders 10th Anniversary Walk Together Campaign, the Women Walk Together community united to produce the very first global female production showcase event.

The core event was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, with connecting events in India, United Kingdom, Guinea and Brazil. Born of a combination of Rachel Haughey’s production experience, and her work with YPN and international communities since 2010 – impressive feats made possible due to the legacy of Nelson Mandela.

Set as an annual event moving forwards, the WWT global showcase will give opportunity to women on the frontline all over the world to demonstrate their incredible talents and connect with other inspirational women for support and understanding; ensuring suffering ends.

THE LEGACY In June 2010, directly in response to the influence of Mandela, the World Cup was hosted in Africa for the very first time. To mark this historic occasion, a unique World Cup Kick Off Concert was set up by FIFA and Control Room, designed to celebrate and share inspiration from South Africa to the world.

For this reason, the artist and audience allocation were designed to include both local and international communities, and the location was specifically chosen as Orlando Stadium in Soweto Township, Johannesburg.

When Rachel Haughey landed as part of the global production team, she was informed that the build schedule had been halved at the last minute due to the unexpected South African success in reaching the Super 14 Final - Blue Bulls v Stormers, as the team now required a stadium to host the grand finale.

As all other stadiums were being prepared for the World Cup, it was decided that this would be held, for the very first time, in Orlando Stadium, Soweto Township. She told TPMEA: “We attended the game with a view to observe and collect vital information as we experienced the stadium for the first time at full capacity use.” On arrival, the enormity of this historic occasion was immediately clear, with the majority of the white rugby audience having never been to Soweto Township before. Every conversation throughout the stadium reflected this in a positive way.

Furthermore, beyond the stadium, the majority white rugby audience filled every street and bar around the area, and the air was filled with vuvuzelas and joyful celebration - echoing the continuation of Nelson Mandela’s pioneering work with the Springboks in 1995.

“The drastically reduced onsite build time, consequently placed enormous pressure on the global production team and we had to immediately redesign 24 hour overnight load in schedules and significant extra crew. My role was to assist the production director, manage all backstage areas and support the full production build. I urgently needed help, but there was little additional resource to facilitate this. I proposed that as this was the first World Cup in South Africa, that there must be thousands of young people who would be interested in joining me on a work experience basis, and I would train them on site to help me as part of my team.

“We took on over 40 young people from Soweto and other townships with limited or no production experience, who came and joined the global production team. Tebogo Modisane was the first to arrive on site, and she became my right-hand support as the Global Production Office Manager, assisting in managing and training the local teams. The teams were split up to support the different areas, including stage crew, lighting, sound and a full production office team, which supported the entire stadium build. In addition, full media pass access was arranged for a team of young trainee photographers and filmmakers from Soweto, under the innovative Wembley to Soweto Project, a joint initiative by David Westhead, John Cole and Kweku Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson.

“The show rehearsals were extremely challenging, and my position changed from backstage to side of stage, and my responsibility was to ensure that all artists and presenters were delivered on time to the stage production. This included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who I escorted up the stage ramp, and to the stage drape entrance behind his lectern position.

“I will never forget the feeling as I guided him through, remaining behind the drapes, feeling the full blast of the stadium audience roar in appreciation as he stood forward on this historic global stage in Soweto, leading the world tribute calling “Viva…..Madiba!”. Marking the finale of our intensive 3 hour live global performance, the final pyrotechnic explosions released to a packed stage and stadium singing together, broadcast to a billion people all over the world.”

The only reason this was possible, was because Tebogo and the Soweto teams were running the backstage production so well, that it enabled Haughey to completely focus on her responsibility to the stage team.

She continued: “Without the underlying support by the local township training teams, the World Cup Kick Off Concert global broadcast backstage production simply would not have happened. So, inspired by the incredible Soweto trainees, I set up the Youth Production Network to help connect and support the teams worldwide – YPN is now connected to over 45 countries and has helped thousands of young people gain experience in event production since the World Cup Kick Off Concert. The international YPN crews are now working to support youth communities all over the world.”

In response to the experience of this international platform, and despite many on-going challenges, according to Haughey, a number of the trainee teams continued on to become inspirational production leaders: Tebogo continued to develop as a highly successful show producer, working extensively across Africa.

Fast-forward 2 years, South Africa was hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, and 2 of the World Cup production van runners, Martin and Toby, were back onsite. This time, at Soccer City stadium (90,000 capacity), working on the opening and closing ceremonies: Martin as part of the sound team installing the full stadium system, and Toby, part of 3 site managers responsible for the entire production build and breakdown.

The Wembley to Soweto film produced by Wiseman went on to win the British Film Institute audience award, at the United Nations Association We The People film festival in London.

All the photographers are now working globally, and training new generations of young people in other townships and favela’s. Despite his international fame, Thapelo continues inspiring the young people of Soweto, as head of photography for the Umuzi photoclub. Another trainee photographer, Siyabonga, was able to eloquently tell his story to a billion people worldwide on BBC World Service.

“We were also asked to present our story of positive engagement at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime e-lecture “Sports, violence and crime prevention” which was viewed by 4000 delegates worldwide.” produce the Elders Walk Together Campaign Launch in Cape Town last year, the opportunity of continuing the legacy of Nelson Mandela was immediately clear. The launch event included a walk with the Elders and local community groups from the Grand Parade (where Mandela delivered his freedom speech on his release), to a concert at the Cape Town Convention Centre, with powerful messaging from the Elders and live performances, including one of the last from the late Hugh Masekala.

“I engaged Tebogo Modisane as Assistant Producer, and Lydia Molele as our Technical Stage Manager, and as 3 women at the head of the production team, we broke the mould and set a new way of working together. We also set up an onsite YPN crew, including over 30 young people from local townships and colleges, to join the team onsite with supportive training - many of which were girls with little production experience. From the Wembley to Soweto Team - Thapelo (head photographer) and Wiseman (head film maker) also joined the team. The World Cup trainees, became the team leaders supporting and inspiring a whole new generation onsite.”

After the Elders event, the team discussed how different the experience had been, not only working on the project itself, but working together as women in a supported way, with a woman directing and calling the show comms (traditionally lead by white male production show callers).

Tebogo Modisane, Assistant Producer - The Elders 10th Anniversary Walk Together Campaign Launch evet – stated: “For me, working with Rachel and Lydia during the 2017 #WalkTogether campaign in Cape Town was beyond historic and extremely reaffirming that the time for women to stand together and execute the work we know so well, had come. I didn’t feel like I was out to prove my ability, and instead felt extremely empowered to take the lead and even direct a male heavy team because we knew all the production elements, how to execute them well, and ensure all attending had the best walk and show production experience.”

From the international platform created by Nelson Mandela, the World Cup trainees were able to shine, and inspire new generations in the event production industry. Through the Elders Launch event, this powerfully continued, as the opportunity was created to give further platform to these inspirational women from Soweto Township. They, in turn, are now developing production support projects to inspire young black female communities in Soweto and other townships across South Africa.

“Furthermore, inspired by the women in Soweto, we see the legacy continue to support women all over the world, and it was in honour of the legacy of Nelson Mandela and the Elders, the community was named, Women Walk Together (WWT).” Concluded Haughey.

Robyn D’Alessandro (Marketing Manager Gearhouse Group) added: “From the FIFA World Cup and the Kickoff Concert where we first encountered Rachel to following her progress with the YPN and most recently working with her on the Women Walk Together event at the Market Theatre, Gearhouse has recognised a kindred spirit in Rachel’s passion for the industry and her use of the Live event industry as a vehicle for positive change and empowerment. “Gearhouse’s own Kentse Mpahlwa Academy trains learners from underserved communities returning around 45 work-ready graduates back into the Live Event industry annually. Wherever possible our students work alongside visiting internationals and the best of our local production talent to gain experience and mentorship. However, WWT SA was the first all-women production that our young female students have been able to work on. Their experience of the support of a global community of female production practitioners has been a milestone to be remembered and inspired by.”

THE LOW DOWN: A Q&A WITH RACHEL HAUGHEY On the 18 July 2018, in celebration of 100 years of Nelson Mandela and in support of the Elders #WalkTogether Campaign, the first ever global showcase for women in the event production industry took place, #WomenWalkTogether (#WWT).

A total of 3 #WWT events in 5 countries were be led by female production showcase teams, including South Africa (Johannesburg), India (Bangalore), UK (London), Guinea (Boke) and Brazil (Sao Paolo). All events were connected on the day, creating a groundbreaking and powerful global platform to support visibility and inspiration for female technicians on the frontline of the industry.

What are your main objectives with this project? To acknowledge and end the mistreatment if women within the event production industry, and provide a global platform to showcase the incredible world class female production talent that exists all over the world.

The heart of WWT is based on working with respect, and its foundation has been built due to Mandela’s legacy and mandate – as a result, not only are we supported by the event production industry, but also global humanitarian organisations such as the United Nations Association, Mandela Foundation, and Kin of Kush (Kofi Annan’s daughter in law, Shanthi Annan’s global initiative encouraging young Africans worldwide, to engage in community regeneration, bring people together and strengthen the idea of a global family.)

The WWT gig was a world first. What was the premises and how well did it go? WWT was inspired by tragic situations that had happened to so many amazing women that we knew around the world. The idea was to create a global space for grass roots communities, for support and inspiration, and to provide a space to learn and showcase their skills. The 5 locations were chosen, because they were existing grassroots communities that I knew and had been working with over the years. In many of the countries including South Africa, India and Guinea, the WWT gatherings were the first ever all female run events, and we really didn’t know how they were going to be received.

Around the world the training teams did a truly incredible job – We had a small family gathering in Guinea, and 4 linked live events and studio sessions from South Africa, India, UK and Brazil.

Despite the many challenges that we faced, I am incredibly proud of every single WWT crew member, each showing focused determination to pull off their very first broadcast event. It was an honour to experience the teams in a supportive showcase environment to see how well they worked together. After the event, one of the South African Kliptown crew commented “It made us realise we had wings!”.

We have had incredible response from both the global production industry and humanitarian agencies. Most of all, has been the inspiration that has spread from the new WWT crews across their local communities, with all manner of projects now springing up worldwide

During the 4-country-concert, you were in Africa. What did you learn from being on site on the continent with the team?

Since the 2010 SA World Cup, I have worked with local communities in Johannesburg through YPN, and have seen the ongoing challenges that are faced by the crew. Despite the progress pioneered by Mandela, there is still a long way to go to address the unequal opportunities and mistreatment of key community groups. As black women living in Soweto, many of my dear friends and production colleagues suffer great challenges on a day to day basis. From lack of access to training and work opportunities, to the day to day struggle of living – with power systems that are dangerous and constantly going down, to ongoing issues of safety, and transport challenges especially after dark, to name but a few.

There are sadly still some production companies, that consider the women as second class, and I saw time and again, situations of bullying, of taking the women’s work and presenting as their own, whilst constantly making them feel that they were not good enough. Many of these women are single mothers, and it was utterly heartbreaking to see the daily challenges that some of them have to deal with.

I knew that it was going to be tough on the ground, so I relocated myself onsite in Johannesburg 6 weeks prior to the event – so I could be right on the frontline to support, work and train with the local SA female communities. I aimed to connect existing SA female production crew, and focus on outreach production training work in the township communities – who are bursting with incredible, inspirational and dedicated crew.

In addition to personally knowing so many talented individuals that live in the townships, when you walk around, you realise that there are also actually many similarities in infrastructure to festival sites.

If you live in a temporary build township and have shared communal toilets, these will commonly be rows of polyjons situated around the community, for example. The temporary building structures, the fencing, crew camp style set ups and the power systems – in this case that cause daily accidents and death – you can guarantee that anyone living in a township will know more about the set up, and the dangers of power systems than any single young person living in the UK.

I started running production open meetings for any women that were interested, and we began with discussions and inspirational sessions together. After talking about their skills and life experience living in the townships – it was clear to me, that the women I met would not only be fantastic onsite crew, but would in fact be over qualified as a starting basis to work on a production site!

WWT SA CREW CREDITS

Preproduction: Show Producers:

In house Venue Manager: In house Lighting Designer: Technical Production Manager: Technical Project Manager:

Gearhouse Learners Heads of tech department: Sound/Lighting/AV/LED Supporting Crew: SARA Crew (South African Roadies Association) Soweto Kliptown Youth Crew Assistant Production Co-ordinator: Nicolene Yende (38yrs) Amukelani Khoza: AV/LED support (27yrs) Jabulile Mbhele: Sound Support (33yrs) Meise Molefe: Lighting Support (54yrs) Makhosazana Yende: (Make Up Artist) (19yrs)

Photographer: Basetsana Maluleka (Shutterbug diaries) Umuzi Photoclub

SARA Crew names: Lebohang Tekane (20yrs - Camera operator) Promise Khuzwayo (26yrs - Assistant Lighting and stage manager) Happiness Sibanda (21years - Audio) Thembakazi Zabemhlola (32yrs - Audio)

Gearhouse Learners Heads of tech department: Sound/Lighting/AV/LED Nhlanhla Ntshilinga, (1st year Gearhouse Kentse Mpahlwa Academy) Dorothy Lumka Songela, (1st year Gearhouse Kentse Mpahlwa Academy) Katlego Dire, (2nd year Gearhouse Kentse Mpahlwa Academy) Nozithelo Ncube, (2nd year Gearhouse Kentse Mpahlwa Academy) Thabang Khaile, (2nd year Gearhouse Kentse Mpahlwa Academy) Nosphephelo Mbuyeleni, (1st year Gearhouse Kentse Mpahlwa Academy)

Global WWT Partners: Show Production and Accountancy support: Four Corners of the World Ltd Global training support and onsite opportunities: Youth Production Network cic Global community support: The Elders United Nations Association Westminster Mandela Foundation Kin of Kush ( Shanti Annan) Global link communications: Marshall Amps Global Media Partner: TPI Magazine

Tebogo Modisane Motlalepula Makhate Lydia Molele Rachel Haughey

Motlalepula Makhate Nomvula M Melony Eksteen Helen Surgeson @ Splitbeam

There are now some early inspirational South African production companies and organisations that are beginning to recognise the challenges for women and to offer support and guidance. The role of these pioneering organisations are extremely important, and lead a positive example for others to follow.

The WWT SA team comprised of female production experts from a variety of sources including, the original World Cup and Elders Crew, Market Theatre inhouse production team, Project Manager and technical support from Gearhouse SA and DWR, all of whom came together to lead and support the technical and stage crews from the South African Roadies Association and the Soweto Kliptown Youth (SKY).

Nothing like this has ever been done before, so what inspired you? From a difficult beginning as a woman in the technical production industry, experiencing bullying and non-recognition on many levels, I now have over 20 years experience as an international show producer for live concerts – including arena shows, tours and festivals. I have produced shows in Wembley Arena, O2, Royal Albert Hall, most arenas across the UK and many parts of the world. In addition to the World Cup Kick Off Concert and the Elders Launch event in South Africa, I have worked on iconic events such as the Led Zeppelin reunion concert, Pavarotti tribute concert in Petra, across London, Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks, and tours including Andrea Bocelli. I also wrote, directed, produced and show called the Big 4 Olympic Torch Relay Concerts (10-50k capacity) and the Hyde Park Finale (80k capacity) for the London Olympics in 2012.

Being one of a small handful of women at this production level, I recognise that I can transform my negative experience into benefit and help support new generations coming through. I see every show I produce, as an opportunity to both include YPN training teams and offer key positions to inspirational crews that would not normally be considered.

Over the last 10 years, and through my work with YPN, I have seen incredible positive evolution of women across all departments in the UK and some areas of the world, both in ability and respect within the industry. I fully believe in positive change, and that through persistence and determination, we can transform out-dated and disrespectful ways of working. As we continue to work with women in teams on the frontline all over the world, we can share this positive experience to support and inspire those who are suffering.

After years of sharing stories of mistreatment with my fellow female colleagues, in 2017, I was devastated to hear that a 27 year pioneering women from Guinea called Mariame M’Baye Bangoura that I had been working with, had died due to the struggles of being a woman in an unforgiving environment. Something snapped inside, and it was clear that it was time to take action – to work to ensure that tragedies like that, never happen again. I realised some time ago, that the basis of WWT is not actually about women, but about respectful relating at work. I believe that the reason the global response has been so overwhelming, is because everyone can connect to that and the world is ready to begin a new way of working together.

Do you feel as though you left Africa with a sense of achievement? What was the feedback / aftermath for your production team? Absolutely – to see women pulling together with such focus and determination, despite enormous challenges, was truly inspiring. We had crews travelling in from miles away just to come and join in the load in training. Over the three training days which we conducted onsite (load in/show/ load out), all of the township trainee crews immediately confirmed that they wanted to do all sections – and they absolutely smashed it! Not only have the WWT SA been inspired to launch many local community projects, but we have also already been approached for a number of significant WWT production bookings from world recognised organisations who want to support. In addition, it was beautiful to see the Gearhouse Learner team, who were further advanced on technical training, instinctively step up to become the new generation of female production leaders, inspiring and leading the new teams throughout their time on site.

What’s next for you in Africa? We will be developing further outreach work with Gearhouse SA and our WWT partners, and are preparing for our official WWT announcement and launch of the next showcase. There are so many new global communities that are connecting, and we will be announcing our new projects very soon!

As a final word on the SA Crews: The intense level of challenges that WWT SA women face on a daily basis, only serve to highlight the powerful and unshakeable spirit that these women bring to each production. I am proud to work alongside such an inspirational group, who would be a huge asset to any production team in the world. Watch out world – the SA women are coming! www.ypn.international www.womenwalktogether.org