employment opportunities
New Zealand’s staff shortage is seeping into our creative niches, with one theater executive warning shows could be canceled due to staff shortages
Last week, one of the country’s leading art production organisations, the Auckland Theater Company, raised curtains for its latest show at the ASB Waterfront Theatre.
While the cast is on stage in Nathan Joe’s Scenes from a yellow danger demand the attention of the audience, hidden from the eyes of the spectators are the sets of hands that make sure the lights come on and the curtains close at the right time.
These are all things the public probably takes for granted, but these skilled engineering staff in the engine room — such as lighting experts, sound specialists and stage managers — are as scarce as chicken teeth.
According to industry leaders, most of these people were freelancers on casual contracts before the pandemic. This is specialist work and those who pick it up have often been in the business for years. When Covid hit, public health restrictions meant shows were canceled and the tap was turned off on their already weak income. Rather than hang around, many were forced to follow the money to more stable employment opportunities and have stayed there.
“There is a real possibility that we will have to cancel or reschedule gigs because we literally don’t have enough [skilled technical staff] to put the show on stage.”
-Jonathan Bielski, Auckland Theater Company
Jonathan Bielski, artistic director and chief executive of Auckland Theater Company, says so far the organization has been able to bring together enough techies to do the job, such as for Scenes from a yellow hazard.
But he fears the company will have to pull the pin on some of its future productions if the shortage persists.
“We’ve lost enough people for… [theatre companies], great and small, to say, ‘Where are the stage managers? Where can we get people to do light and sound?’ It’s really quite a job,” he says.
Auckland Theater Company only needs three or four technicians to get a show off the ground, but raking in even that amount can be a push.
“There is a real possibility that we will have to cancel or reschedule gigs because we literally don’t have enough [skilled technical staff] to put the show on stage. There is no easy way out. You can’t just put an ad in the newspaper.”
This shortage also affects the overseas sectors, according to Vicki Cooksley. She is a senior stage manager herself and is also president of Entertainment Technology New Zealand, an industry group representing the event technology industry.
She can’t cite numbers on how severe the tech shortage here is, or how many workers are left — the information isn’t being collected. But she knows from conversations with colleagues abroad that the dire shortage of technical personnel in New Zealand is also being felt in other countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia.
“It’s a very casual workforce with a lot of contractors. Those people have left and got jobs with other workforces, or have taken their transferable skills elsewhere.”
The film and television industry is an obvious next step, but Cooksley has also seen people go into construction or administration, where they have a fixed income and fixed hours.
“We’re going to compromise productions, in terms of quality and protecting people.”
– Vicki Cooksley, Entertainment Technology NZ
The theater and live event industry isn’t alone in looking for employees. Hospitality and retail businesses face well-documented staff shortages, while the global aviation industry virtually came to a standstill during the pandemic.
Ace Radio New Zealand reported last week that Air New Zealand cut 4,000 jobs during the crisis. Since then, it has employed 3,000 employees and is looking to add another 1,100 in the coming months.
In an effort to make the deal more attractive and entice employees, the airline is offering up to $1400 as a cash incentive to staff who refer someone who gets a job, works in areas such as baggage handling or check-in, and then stays in the role for 12 hours. months.
There’s no quick fix for the theater industry, Cooksley says, but she believes investing in educating young people, raising wages and making work safer would help.
If the gap is not closed, she believes the few remaining employees will burn out, potentially jeopardizing the show experience and the health and safety of those behind the scenes.
“We’re going to compromise the productions, in terms of quality and protecting people.”
Down in Wellington, Bats Theatre’s CEO Jonty Hendry notices that there’s always a bit of ebb and flow with the theatre’s small pool of casual technical staff, often taking on more lucrative work as they hone their skills.
This time, however, there is much more of a crunch. Some workers have left the industry, while the rising cost of living in Wellington has led some to leave the city altogether.
Others say it’s not just tech workers who have looked through the cracks.
Acclaimed director, producer and playwright Shane Bosher has spent 25 years in the industry and will unveil his latest directorial piece, Long day trip to night by Eugene O’Neill, next month.
According to Bosher, the acting talent has also disappeared in the past two years, but that is not yet clear.
“We have only just started and many of the projects that are happening now were existing projects. We won’t know the true outcome of this two to three-year vortex of turbulence for some time.”
Sector in ‘rebuild’ phase
The past two years have been tumultuous for artists, both financially and emotionally. The government intervened to provide financial support to the arts, culture and heritage sectors during the Delta and Omicron outbreaks.
Despite this, the latest quarterly State of the Arts survey of some 700 artists, conducted earlier this year and funded mainly by Toi or Taraika Arts Wellington, found a markedly more pessimistic mood about the country’s creative atmosphere, even compared to late 2021.
To be fair, the poll was held in February and March 2022, right when the Omicron outbreak flared up under constant red light Covid restrictions and performers were picking up the pieces of canceled shows.
However, it does provide insight into the mood of creatives across the country, compared to a survey conducted in September and October 2021.
Freelancers dominated the respondents, making up two-thirds of those who responded.
Respondents reported that their financial prospects were even bleaker than they had been, with 68 percent saying they are pessimistic, up from 60 percent previously.
The number of organizations expecting to hire new staff or contractors shrank from 37 percent to 24 percent, while the number of organizations expecting to lay off staff nearly doubled from 8 to 15 percent.
More than a third of creatives (37 percent) also felt that there was less public desire for their work.
The survey invited artists to share what they were most concerned about about their work in 2022. These fears included whether they would have enough money to live on and whether organizations would be able to survive, whether there would be enough financial support for the creative sector and how it was allocated, Covid-19 restrictions and the deal with the financial and emotional costs of ongoing event cancellations.
The loss of highly educated people from the sector was also a concern.
At the same time, artists did highlight things that made them feel good. This included the ability to do at least some creative work, the lifting of Covid-related restrictions and the resilience of creative people.
Theater bosses also share this optimism. Jonty Hendry thinks the mood will improve further now that the shows can resume, while Jonathan Bielski describes the sector is in a rebuilding phase.
While audiences are in the habit of going to shows and box office sales can be patchy, Bielski has seen the creative sectors bounce back abroad and he’s confident it will happen here too.
However, the company will be more conservative with its business strategy in 2023. This will likely mean fewer productions scheduled, more choosy about programming, and choosing shows that the company is confident will result in solid ticket sales.
“We can’t be that expansive next year, we have to look at long-term sustainability. It’s not that we won’t take creative risks, but maybe we’ll take less than before.”
Scenes from a yellow danger
Written by Nathan Joe, Directed by Jane Yonge
ASB Waterfront Theater, June 21 to July 3
A long journey in the night of the day
Written by Eugene O’Neill, Directed by Shane Bosher
Q Theater, July 5 to July 30