Creative people Music | Creative & Cultural Skills

Danny Stewart, lighting and sound technician

Danny started out working front-of-house at a theatre. From there he got into the technical side of staging opera and live events.

Miles Baldwin, duty technician

From school assemblies to the 2012 Olympics, Miles has been working his way up in a backstage career since he was 15. He talked to us about his journey and gave some top tips for working backstage.

Bev Paskell, technician

Bev started out helping in an orchestra pit and got hooked on the technical side of music. She's now a full time technician.

Jonathan Roberts, technical manager

Jonathan started out in performance but worked his way up into a technical career. He has worked for festivals, the 2012 Olympic Games and live events venues.

Neil Butler, artistic director

Neil Butler set up Brighton's famous, and sadly now closed, Zap Club. The former drama teacher specialises in running outdoor festivals and events.

Lynette Nixon, box office manager

Lynette Nixon manages the box office at Manchester's Oldham Coliseum theatre and live events venue.

Rose Durbin, front-of-house engineer

Rose Durbin is a front-of-house engineer, responsible for running the sound mixdesk at live concerts.

Christina Birt, head of creative learning

Christina has worked in arts education at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, and aims to go freelance as an arts education consultant.

Gabrielle Giffard, office and front of house

Gabrielle works as the office manager and front of house coordinator at Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, with the company Live Nation. She explains her role and how she got into the live music sector with a venue apprenticeship.

Bryan Grant, MD, Britannia Row Productions

For the past 40 years Bryan Grant has been managing director of Britannia Row Productions, who provide audio equipment and technicians for concerts and events around the world.

Deptford John, guitar technician and lecturer

Deptford John has been a guitar technician for over 30 years, looking after bands' gear and instruments and teaching others how to run a tour.

Ed Cooper, electrician

Ed Cooper, from London, is a stage electrician. Trained in stage management, he has worked on several West End musical theatre shows.

Chris Clarke, head of lighting

Chris studied lighting design. Now he makes sure the light shines favourably on West End musical Billy Elliot.

Live events and promotion apprentices

Boomsatsuma desribes itself as ‘the community interest company that's fueling the next creative generation’. Formed in 2009, they have created 13 apprenticeships and internships with funding from the Creative Employment Programme. We met with some of their young staff to talk about how they've found it.

Ellie Dorman, Sound Engineer

Ellie is a Sound Engineer and works as both an in-house Venue Technician and a Front of House Engineer. She spoke to Creative Choices about how she originally wanted to be a classical French horn player, but instead chose to take her music career down a different path.

Holly Haste, creative apprentice

Holly Haste works as an apprentice for Neon Street where she runs events, oversees projects and researches new musical talent. She told us about what her apprenticeship involves day-to-day, while her employer outlined his experiences of taking on an apprentice.