Backstage to The Future Caribbean is a British Council run project designed to develop and nurture future live event producers and technicians. The training programme, which runs on the Colombian island of San Andres alongside the Green Moon Festival, aims to plug knowledge gaps in both soft skills and technical skills such as lighting, sound and stage management.
This year, 21 participants from San Andres and Providencia, Venezuela, Jamaica and Cuba undertook the 10-day course culminating in the Green Moon Festival where they put their training into practice and gained hands on experience in a real event setting.
As the lighting trainer for the course, Rachael Finney identified the need for their own lighting desk to ensure the success of the project. She immediately turned to Avolites and was fortunate enough to demo a Quartz console, which was easy to travel with, but powerful enough for her needs. This allowed her to both teach with, and operate a local and an international act at the festival on the same console.
From day one the trainees were able to use the desk and the lighting equipment available to them on the island to get hands on experience in all aspects of lighting an event. Finney worked closely with two trainees specialising in lighting and throughout the course was able to take them from novice level, to being comfortable and confident with both setting up, programming and operating lighting.
Finney told us that “a real shining moment for her was having the two trainees take over the lighting desk and operate the lights for the duration of two bands on the main festival stage; locals Joe Taylor and the Fayah band, and British afro-beat band Kokoroko.”
With Avolites at the forefront of technological advancement in the field of event lighting, Finney is confident that the trainees will progress on to working in the live events sector, and mentioned that she is very grateful for the online training support Avolites offer in both English and Spanish.
The trainees will continue their learning as the project continues, working with Rebel Salute Festival in Jamaica, and Havana World Music Festival in Cuba.
Finney said that she “is hugely appreciative to Avolites for their continued support throughout my own career, as well as the opportunity to use their products for this project.”
Special thanks for this write up go to Rachael Finney, lighting trainer for Backstage to the Future Caribbean 2018.