Job Description
LCS build and break/stage crew support the safe set up and de-rig of events and live music productions across a diverse range of settings and venues throughout the UK.
We have a very exciting schedule of events lined up for 2023, and are experiencing a significant increase in demand for our services - largely attributed to the consistent hard work, dedication, and quality of our loyal crew.
We are currently looking for new, capable and passionate crew members to work with us at on an incredible and unique selection of very special events, including arena and stadium tours, festivals & conferences/exhibitions
We are excited to have the chance to work with such superstars as Pink, Elton John, The Weekend and many many more - and we would like you to join us there!
We are excited to launch a recruitment drive and are hoping to grow our team, as well as offer diverse new opportunities to people from all backgrounds - with a natural affinity for those from disadvantaged or marginalised communities - to empower creative and hands-on individuals through unique employment & skills development experiences in live event production.
We aim to offer a regular and growing workload, initially on a casual/temporary basis with scope to become more permanent and frequent, or to open referral routes for suitable long-term, permanent opportunities in the wider entertainment industry.
Some of our upcoming projects include Glastonbury Festival; Neighbourhood Weekender; Aintree Grand National, production rehearsals and UK tours for
Stormzy, Elton John, Dua Lipa, Little Mix, Ed Sheeran; Harry Styles; Genesis; Celine Dion; Diana Ross and more…
We are seeking individuals that are driven, passionate, hardworking and reliable. We are particularly keen to support your budding creative industries career by liaising with your current, or prospective, education provider(s) or employability programme coordinator regarding practical, paid opportunities.
ABOUT LCS
LCS is a full-service event production support/logistics partner, founded in 2021 by company director Ashleigh Lackey.
We offer an integrated and multifaceted creative solutions service, and work on a growing number of large-scale events throughout the UK.
We offer ground-level event production crew as well as skilled and technical personnel including stage/production management specialists, qualified technicians and engineers, and a content design and marketing support service with a data-driven and strategic approach.
We mobilise our diverse team across a range of events, with live music (arena concerts/outdoor festivals), conferences/trade/hospitality & awards shows, and some iconic global sporting events.
At the heart of our culture is our people.
Our values are underpinned by a shared vision to support young people, who without flexible support and opportunity, would otherwise be at a disadvantage in accessing sustainable employment or entering the music industry.
We work alongside specialist providers of skills & employability programmes, charities and social enterprises to offer a realistic and meaningful route into a career in the live events and entertainment industry; largely recruiting people just like us, whose disadvantaged background or complex personal & family lives have presented barriers or unfairly limited prospects for long-term and sustainable employment.
They may also present a more significant chance of below-average educational attainment, job retention/lack of prior employment or work experience, and suffer other socioeconomic inequalities or social/mental wellbeing barriers or detriments that would otherwise prevent an opportunity for exploring all the incredible and unique experiences this industry can provide to them!
BENEFITS
- Genuine routes to further opportunities, leading to a career in events or the wider creative industry including continuous professional development to secure specialist/technical and skilled employment via referral partners and/or internal & external training opportunities.
- We offer fair rates of pay, based on level of skill and experience acquired. This incentivises our team to undertake training programmes, external employability & life skills programmes, with an increase of hourly rate of pay on completion of various training courses & projects.
- Expenses incurred as part of your role will be reimbursed, including travel and accommodation (where applicable) and essential items of PPE will also be provided to you which will be your own personal responsibility - this excludes items such as steel toe boots and standard clothing such as trousers or t-shirts.
- You will undoubtedly experience a range of unique and diverse productions, both large and small, and will have an abundance of opportunities to enhance & develop crucial networking and on-the-job skills. This will develop into relationships with colleagues, clients/third party suppliers and partners, and develop a varied contact list of people across all disciplines in the music & entertainment, events or hospitality industry.
- Further to developing your own employability & work-based skills and confidence, we offer the opportunity to develop your self-confidence and increase social & problem solving skills alongside your general understanding of individuals from all walks of life oden with interesting and varied life experiences and journeys.
Whether you are building new relationships and kinship with co-workers, are meeting third party contractors with whom your professionalism and discretion is paramount, or are fortunate enough to meet your favourite singer and their production team(s) - you will be exposed to a wide range of unique and exciting experiences and challenges!
OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUALITY & DIVERSITY
LCS are champions of the fair treatment of all staff, contractors and third party partners/clients.
We are proud to encourage equal access to this wonderfully diverse industry through an open-minded and non-judgemental recruitment and selection process with promotion and career development, training, pay and other benefits regularly reviewed as a team, equally, based on skills and development progression and not on individual persons or their personal attributes.
We will provide reasonable support to offer applicants full accessibility and equal opportunity throughout our recruitment process, and where necessary will adapt our typical workplace arrangement to suit any specific needs or personal requests.
If you feel that you need any additional support or reasonable adjustments to take part in any interview process, or to fulfil the role for which you apply, please contact us ahead of time and we will be happy to (where we can) flex!
JOB TITLE: Build/Break Crew (Stagehand / Stage Crew) | Casual/Temp
DEPARTMENT: Live Events & Production (Music/Creative Industry Projects)
REPORT TO: LCS Crew Chief on site (or client’s appointed Team Leader, Crew Chief/Boss, or third party production manager/stage manager where applicable)
JOB OUTLINE: To take responsibility for the safe and efficient set up and de-rig of all events and productions as instructed on-site by relevant Team Leader / Crew Chief / Production Manager.
KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Loading In | Setting up key production infrastructure for events and other functions as required. This can include, but is not limited, to setting out chairs, tables, signage, fencing, barriers etc. with venue staff; laying (coiling) out cables & wiring sometimes in heavy loads; rigging of lighting and 'truss' - the big metal things that hang from chains in the air! - and rigging of sound/PA (speakers, stacks, subs); installing and erecting scenery/decoration; and setting up of key staging elements and preparing stage flooring with specialist coverings (marley); sometimes specialist arena flooring or coverings for grass or other substrates will require installing at locations such as festival or stadium sites.
- Loading Out | Breaking down and de-rigging of all event infrastructure and returning equipment to their relevant homes; usually these load into trucks/vehicles via loading docks and involves using a forklift as well as hand-ball methods (running up a ramp with cases / boxes), always ensuring a safe working environment and reporting any potential hazards/ accidents immediately to the Crew Chief on-site or to LCS to report to relevant staff and ensure any accident book or first aid is tended to as needed.
- We rarely experience accidents on-site (not to jinx it!) but it's good to be vigilant and know the basic procedures just in case!!
- Heavy lifting is often involved, forming a good chunk of this job, and it does require being physically capable and confident in your lifting abilities and physical strength/limitations.
- Adhering to safe manual handling procedures and taking good note of your surroundings and those around you is critical to avoiding any bumps or bruises... And definitely prevents the chance of incurring any possible ouches above & beyond that!
WE EXPECT YOU TO:
- Follow directions of production crew, develop a strong team player attitude/collaborative approach to duties, and conducting work in a professional manner, demonstrating total respect and consideration of others and the importance of staying on the ball AT ALL TIMES and uphold the positive reputation of LCS.
- Be punctual for each shift (call) times and keep production schedules running efficiently as communicated by LCS to all crew members ahead of each event. Remember, the tour needs to arrive at the next location on time and in one piece - don't be the person who holds up a whole gig!
**ESSENTIAL** (ISH) CRITERIA...
EDUCATION / QUALIFICATIONS
“HIRING BASED ON CHARACTER; TRAINING TO FORTIFY SKILL”
(applications will be considered regardless of academic ability/qualification or career history/relevance to this particular role or environment!)
LCS are particularly keen to offer people studying a relevant industry course an opportunity to develop practical, paid on-site skills. We are, however, delighted to hear from any individual with the passion and desire to succeed in this industry.
Basic training will be provided during the induction and prior to any shift being offered; with your initial shift(s) likely to involve hands-on and more intensive training and technical skills development & discovery.
EXPERIENCE
“TRIAL AND ERROR IN PRACTICE IS THE KEY TO PROGRESSION AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT”
(Mistakes in this industry are not uncommon or frowned upon, please don’t take any criticism personally and rather embrace it as a positive, constructive approach to support your professional and personal development)!
You must have a natural ability to remain calm and function under pressure, often with tired touring crews who can be a little short-tempered if they have been on tour living out of a suitcase for long periods of time!!
PERSONAL CRITERIA
“AN OPEN-MINDED COMMITMENT TO LEARNING NEW SKILLS & YOUR DEVELOPMENT”
- Good command of the English language if possible, however where it is your second or third language please don’t feel uncomfortable to ask for more clear or slower communications if you don’t quite catch it!
- A strong team player who demonstrates a sense of compassion and consideration towards all colleagues and production staff.
- The commitment to providing a consistent, hard working, reliable and passionate approach to the services you provide - like it’s your bread & butter.
- Time management skills. Always be punctual for the start of your shift, work with your team to keep production schedules on-time, and perform efficiently when you’re breaking down as the tour must go on!
- To be physically capable of fulfilling the roles and responsibilities of the post, be honest if you become tired or if heavy lifting is not for you.
- Available/flexible at short notice - including weekends, often unsociable hours (late nights).
DESIRABLES:
- UK driving licence and access to own vehicle is a huge plus, some productions will involve multiple UK tour dates in various cities, so would be absolutely brilliant if you can be mobile if needed.
- Plant operations licence(s) - i.e. forklift, cherry picker, tele-handlers, ability to operate MEWPS.
- Any relevant construction skills, qualifications or basic experience is desirable; i.e. CSCS Card, ROSPA, or general knowledge of construction related principals and requirements would be a good start - all of these can be transferrable!
- Experience of working within an events production environment or general interest in live music, the industry, and wider creative sectors.
- Experience of supervising small teams or working on fast-paced projects with manual handling involved; sometimes things can get intense with many moving parts, so being observant and knowing where your feet, hands and other limbs are at all times is always a good starting point when things are loading out extremely quickly!
Don’t panic - we’ll start you off on lighter projects before dropping you in at the deep end if you’re new to this thing!
- Basic understanding of stage productions, including knowledge around the different departments and specific roles within productions.
- First aid trained or basic understanding of H&S.
- Relevant event specific health and safety accreditations or stewarding/security quals.
- Basic understanding of audio-visual equipment, musical equipment, or set design/decorating is always good to have in this game.
- Any other trade qualifications: electrician, joinery/carpentry, rigging, scaffolding, or fabrication related roles (building & making stuff work) - any of the above can come in VERY handy - even if not industry specific!
We also appreciate anyone with a basic understanding (Stage Right/Stage Left) and any loose concept of theatre or music events/concerts - even if you’ve only played a background role at the school pantomime but can grasp some of the lingo!
HOW TO APPLY
Don’t worry if you haven’t quite mastered the art of CV writing, are not a big computer or technology person generally, or if you just don’t have the same patience for Microsoft Office as some people (sometimes we wish we didn’t start a spreadsheet - our accountant insists…)
Perhaps you feel your experience or skills are not a perfect match with the outline job description but you’d love to give it a try and can give it your best shot, whether it ends up being your cup of tea or not.
What have you got to lose?
Apply today and we can schedule a phone call, Zoom/Teams conference, or a face-to-face chat over coffee to better understand you and your aspirations - and for you to ask us anything you may want to know, relevant or not!
We specialise in identifying and making the most of your creative, problem solving and general transferrable skills - even if you don’t know what your own strengths or unique selling points actually are yet!
We are keen to invite passionate individuals who are committed to learning, have a “can do attitude” (sorry, cheesy phrase a lot of job ads like to throw around - we just couldn’t think of anything else more suited to all this ‘doing’ stuff…!), and are open to believing in themselves as well as the wider creative community, sharing the same values & approach when encouraging the next person to follow in your footsteps when that time comes! :-)
LAST THING, WE PROMISE...
Remember to send us a copy of your most recent CV if you have one, or a brief description or background about yourself.
Please include basic details such as your phone number and/or email address, your age (if you’re happy to disclose it!), the main location where you are currently based/your address if you’re happy to share it, and any current job or training you are doing along with your availability or notice period if relevant - we don’t want to get you into any trouble with your current boss!
PLEASE REFER to our essential criteria where you can when demonstrating how you feel you’ll be perfect for the role(s). Anything in our ‘desirable’ list is a bonus, and definitely feel free to tell us any of your passions or future goals and how we could potentially help you get there!
Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, Temporary contract, Fixed term contract, Temp to perm, Freelance, Zero hours contract, Graduate
Contract length: 6 months
Part-time hours: 10 per week
Salary: £9.50-£10.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company events
- Flexitime
- Free or subsidised travel
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
- Sick pay
- Wellness programme
Schedule:
- 10 hour shift
- 12 hour shift
- 8 hour shift
- Day shift
- Flexitime
- Holidays
- Monday to Friday
- Night shift
- Overtime
- Weekend availability
Supplemental pay types:
- Loyalty bonus
- Performance bonus
- Safety bonus
COVID-19 considerations:
Some productions will still require mandatory face masks or other COVID-19 prevention rules to be adhered to. LCS will endeavour to ensure full requirements are shared with our team prior to attending each site.
Application question(s):
- Do you already have any experience of similar roles? It's fine if not - we're just curious!
Licence/Certification:
- Driving Licence (preferred)
Shift availability:
- Day shift (preferred)
- Night shift (preferred)
- Overnight shift (preferred)
Willingness to travel:
Work Location: On the road
Reference ID: LCS|STAGE-CREWS-LPL