NASHVILLE, TENN. – The eighth annual Touring Career Workshop (TCW) will be held Wednesday, November 6, 2019 at the Soundcheck Annex Building in Nashville. Registration for the free event begins Tuesday, October 1, by logging onto www.touringcareerworkshop.com
TCW was created in 2011 by Chris Lisle, owner of Chris Lisle Lighting Design (Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Robert Plant, NFL Draft, among others), and Erik Parker, CLLD production designer. After more than 25 years of production design work, Lisle saw a need to educate road crew members coming up through the ranks on core financial (taxes, renting or purchasing a home, retirement) and personal issues (mental health, family relationships, work safety) they may face as independent contractors. Too many times he’d witnessed long-time roadies struggling with financial or health issues and, along with Parker, wanted to come up with an easily accessible way to offer the tools needed to make sound career decisions. “We organized this to give back to our industry with the hope that people will walk away from the workshop with the tools needed to enjoy the best career possible,” said Lisle, the founder and director of TCW. There were more than 350 attendees at last year’s event.
This year’s event will once again include experts speaking on a variety of topics that are broken down as follows:The Vendor Side of Touring
Health Insurance Options
Taxes: Freelance vs. Employee
Situational Awareness/Work Safety
The Staff Side of Touring
Personal Investments: Planning for the Future
All Access: Mental Health Panel
It’s Your Life: You Got This – a motivational session with Erik Parker
Venue Side of Touring
Navigating the Touring Life
Real Estate: Purchasing, Renting, Investing
A networking session follows the workshops.
In addition to the free workshop, Lisle and Parker created the All Access Program which offers – at no cost – four counseling sessions from one of several pre-approved therapists and life coaches. It’s handled in a completely confidential way with individual names known only by that person’s therapist. “We firmly believe that seeking the advice of a professional can help get you through difficult times and do not want one’s ability to pay to keep them from getting help,” said Parker, TCW co-founder and associate director.
Although free, registration is required to attend TCW. Registration opens Tuesday, October 1, and can be accessed by logging onto www.touringcareerworkshop.com. The Soundcheck Annex is located at 740 Cowan Street, Nashville.
Gold sponsors for the 2019 TCW include 4Wall Lighting, ACT Lighting, Bandit Lites, Chauvet Lighting, Clair Brothers Audio, Crew One, DCR, Elation Lighting, GLP Lighting, JBL by Harman, Martin by Harman, Master Tour by Eventric, MooTV, Morris Sound and Light, StageCall Trucking, Vari-Light/Phillips.
About the Touring Career Workshop:
The Touring Career Workshop (TCW), a 501c3, was created in 2011 by Chris Lisle and Erik Parker to educate their colleagues in the touring music industry on key professional and personal topics including financial planning, health insurance, home ownership and mental and physical health self-care. The annual event features lectures from a variety of industry experts as well as networking opportunities. The All Access Program offers four free counseling sessions with an accredited therapist.
