Veteran British concert promoters, Serious, well known for producing the EFG London Jazz Festival, are keen to get more people from a “global majority background” working as live sound engineers. To that end, they’ve partnered with Black Lives in Music, the Barbican and the Royal Albert Hall to fund and operate the Equaliser Mentorship Programme, a scheme that each year will give a chosen mentee-engineer work experience at the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican and Serious’s Take Five residency in the Cotswolds.
The scheme defines the “global majority” as “all ethnic groups except white British and other white groups, including white minorities”, saying “This includes people from black, Asian, mixed, and other ethnic groups who are often racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’.”
Serious’s press release says “Representation in the live sound industry is an endemic and historic issue, with significant barriers to entry for underrepresented talent. The Equaliser Mentorship Programme is a direct response to this issue, offering invaluable professional guidance, and tangible, career-shaping experience.”
Ope Igbinyemi, director of Serious, said “One of the first conversations I had with Roger [Roger Wilson, director of operations and co-founder of Black Lives in Music] was how can we get more of the Global Majority working in roles behind the scenes. We would regularly have conversations with artists of colour who would say everything was perfect, but it would be nice to see faces like theirs working backstage in sound, recording, lighting, production, stage management, the list goes on.”
To be considered for the scheme, participants must be primarily based in the United Kingdom (but do not need to be a UK national), from a global majority background, have at least a year of experience in production or engineering, and available for the residency dates. Equaliser is launched 7 October 2024 and applications can be made at https://serious.org.uk/equaliser.
