In the past year, ArtsHub has conducted interviews with sector workers about the skills shortages and long-term COVID impacts that continue to remind us it’s still not business as usual and there is an urgent need for skills development.
Sector leaders have described skills shortages as an ‘absolute crisis’ with ramifications that will be felt for many years.
While COVID-19 cancellations took away the livelihoods of many and spurred career changes that led to a significant loss of talent, the difficulty of finding skilled backstage crew is not a new issue for the sector. Even when shows have been able to hit the road once again, many practitioners have faced difficulties in not having enough workers to realise ambitious ideas and the pressure for less experienced staff to step up into roles for which they may not feel ready.
