Areas like mental health and wellness, finances and pay, labor issues, and quality of work/life balance are important conversations taking place in our industry. After THE Conference: Live at Lititz, PLSN started a section called Industry Conversation, to continue to bring those discussions to our readers. At THE Conference we had the opportunity to listen to and speak with people on such a range of topics that we wanted to continue to amplify and expand on those topics, as well as check in on what direction the conversations are taking. This month we have two Industry Conversations to share, one with MusiCares about mental health, addiction recovery, and their support for everyone in our industry; and the other on a new training program—The Academy of Live Technology at Rock Lititz. I hope you will read both and share your thoughts with me about these and other topics you would like to hear more conversation about. The more we talk as an industry the more we can work toward, as Charlie Hernandez says, ‘leaving the industry better than we found it.’
In terms of financial wellness, this month marks the beginning of a new column—Life’s Jam—from Rachael Bronstein, an accredited financial counselor, who every month will be discussing how to make sure your finances and financial planning are working for you; how you can work towards saving enough money for living through a rainy day, and for your retirement down the road. This month, Rachael talks about taxes, planning for them as well as the options for setting up individuals as companies for tax purposes. I think financial planning is an important ongoing topic to be talking about, especially as many people in our industry are freelancers; you need to take care of your financial wellness. Knowing how to handle your money, having a plan, will help relieves stress, which lets your mind stay on your job and your life, which also helps with mental wellness.
In coming months, we will be speaking with Tour and Production Managers and other industry stakeholders on labor and pay issues. Many of which tie back to the training and recruiting needed to replace the roughly 30% of the people who retired or left the industry post-Covid. Also, the issues of pay equity and work/life balance. Many of these topics are interrelated and all have an effect on nearly everyone in our industry. If we want to have a happy and healthy industry—in every way—we need to make sure we are all working to the same goals. Like any production, our community is a team effort. We all need to take part in the Industry Conversations, both listening and being heard.
The other day, I received a note from a lighting programmer friend who I’ve known for well over 30 years. He is now retired and financially secure, having gotten good advice from an industry colleague on seeing a financial planner earlier in his career. He said that he was excited to see our starting the Life’s Jam column. He sees financial wellness as a topic more people in our industry could benefit from—the earlier the better. This is the engaged feedback we love at PLSN. We want our PLSN readers to be at the center of these conversations. If you have ideas, topics, or areas you think should be covered, feel free to reach out to me. My email address is meddy@timelesscom.com.
Michael S. Eddy
Editor, Projection, Lights & Staging News
