Industry Insight: Event Technician
Behind the scenes on a career in technical theatre
Alex Wright is the Technical Manager at Barnsley Civic and a Barnsley College alumnus, who studied A Levels in Music, Media Studies, English Language and Computing, before gaining a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Music Production and Sound Recording from the University of Huddersfield.
Discover how Alex built a career in the live events industry.
What does an Event Technician do?
“My role involves broadly overseeing the technical delivery of the artistic programme and commercial hires. This primarily includes reviewing the technical requirements of visiting companies and clients, ensuring well in advance that these needs are feasible and align with our available resources and capabilities.”
Pathway into technical theatre and live events
“I guess you could say I took the scenic route to get to where I am now. Nevertheless, taking the variety of courses did allow me to learn a great deal about each aspect of working in technical theatre.
“I have a bias towards sound design, as that was my major link along my educational path, as well as having played in, and engineered, for hundreds of bands throughout my twenties.
“My A Level in Media Studies gave me a lot of expertise and practise in using videography, which I used to record drum covers online for many years. I learned lighting design on the side whilst freelancing in technical theatre. I am still learning lighting even today, as the technology in this space is excelling far faster than I can keep up with. It’s an interesting route.”
What do you enjoy most about your job?
“At its core, this job is a problem-solving job. I find it very enjoyable to be able to put on a variety of different events using our versatile spaces and technical knowledge. We get a mix of easy and challenging events here, which gives great opportunities to apply our skillsets to make each event amazing.”
What's the best part of working in live events?
“That’s a tough one. Each event is vastly different, but I find the best events are the ones where we work directly with celebrities. It’s a humbling experience to talk to them as one person to another and make their event perfect from the technical aspect.
"I’ve worked with Sir Patrick Stewart, Greg Davies, Russell Howard, Shaun Ryder and Rob Beckett to name a few.”
Advice for aspiring Event Technicians
“My advice is the same for any young person today. You cannot waste any time messing around. You haven’t got the time, especially these days. I really mean that, and I find it difficult to articulate that point any better.
“Get into what piques your interest and double down into it. Even reflecting on my own pathway, when I look back, even though I was a fairly dedicated learner, especially at university, there were times I really could have done more and sharpened my skills further using their facilities. You’ll never know what you’ve got at your disposal until you can no longer access those facilities.”
Start your career in event production
If you're passionate about music, theatre, lighting, sound or enjoy working behind the scenes, a career as an Events and Venues Technician could be for you.
If you are interested in a career backstage in the live events industry, you can find out more about our NEW, starting in September 2025.
We are launching a NEW Level 2 Events and Venues Technician T Level in September 2025 - designed to give you hands-on training and direct industry experience in live events and venue management.
- Gain real-world skills for live events and technical theatre
- Learn lighting, sound, AV, and backstage operations
- Get work experience with professional venues and technicians
- Start your career in an exciting, fast-moving industry
