Tuesday, March 19, 2019
USITT Will Bring All Facets of Technical Production to Louisville
Stage Directions: Record Attendance Expected as Live Entertainment Industry’s Backstage Takes Center Stage
USITT’s 59th Annual Conference & Stage Expo will bring more than 5,000 members of the technical production and live entertainment industry and plenty of action to the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, March 20-23, 2019.
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6 comments:
While I have wanted to attend for many years, unfortunately, I have not been able to attend the USITT conference yet. As an organization, I think USITT is doing amazing things for the industry, and more importantly for students looking to enter the industry. Every year, they hold the conference which is just one of the many ways they help connect students to industry professionals. While I have not attended the conference, I have been able to take advantage of a few other things USITT has to offer. Last school year, through USITT, I was able to complete a short stint with Cirque du Soleil's "KA" and their rigging team in Las Vegas. Last year, I also had the opportunity to complete USITT's Jay O. Glerum rigging master class at a basic level and more recently was able to take the intermediate level class this school year. I hope to be able to attend the conference in the near future.
Wow I didn’t even realize how complex USITT is. My only experience with an expo is a college expo that I was forced to attend every year in high school. There, you just walk around tables and talk to different colleges, basically learning the same material and grabbing pamphlets with smiling circles of college kids playing frisbee. USITT seems way more interesting and useful, as they have interactive projects and new technologies to showcase. It seems much more of a learning environment instead of just simply a job search. I’m curious how the location of the conference is chosen every year. With a $5 million dollar revenue for the city, it seems like many cities would want to sponsor it. I also wonder how many companies gain employees through USITT. If it’s in a weird/difficult location, how crucial is it for a company to have representation at USITT and how much they gain from it.
Much like DJ, I have always wanted to attend a USITT conference, but have never had the opportunity to go. Much like LDI in Vegas, USITT seems like a playground for the live production entertainment industry. This year has been a different interaction with USITT because now I am in an environment that so many people attend the conference so I have been more informed on just what USITT has to offer. I have made it a personal goal to attend the conference next year in Houston. The USITT conference is something that unfortunately goes unnoticed by a lot of people that do not have connections to the live entertainment industry. I consider this unfortunate because I believe that our industry has so much to offer people in other fields. Whether it be management workshops or just seeing the new technologies demoed, skills can be learned and people who have developed innovations deserve to be recognized.
USITT looks like an amazing technical theatre conference, that I really want to attend one year. I always thought it was more focused on the ~technical~ side of theatre with things like lights, sound, media, and rigging. Since I am more interested in costuming, I never thought USITT would cater as much to my needs/wants, but after watching many of my friends at USITT this year, posting on social media, I realized that I want to go to USITT way more than I ever did before. It seems like a great location for networking which is extremely important for this industry. It also seems like they have some very engaging speakers that I’d be very interested in listening to. The stage expo in general just looks exciting to me because I love expos of all kinds, and a theatre themed one is a dREAM. In general, I hope it’s in a better location next year.
USITT is really interesting to me. I have seen multiple trade show meeting before, but not for theatre. I used to attend other trade shows with my mother (for both travel agents, as well as healthcare). However, I was never very interested in participating in any of the activities at either of these places for obvious reasons. It would be really interesting to attend a trade show that I am actually interested in the subject matter. I am also unable to attend the Prague Quadrennial. In the next few years, I would love the chance to attend USITT, SETC, and/or the Prague Quadrennial. I would love the opportunity to be in a room full of even more like-minded individuals, where I can find more people who are specifically interested in what I am also interested. I very, very much look forward to these opportunities in the future, and will do everything I can to make them happen for myself.
Like everyone else in the comments, I think USITT is doing great things for the technical theatre industry. Growing up in the same arts school since 1st grade, I have been hearing about USITT since my 8th grade year. It was in my hometown, Cincinnati, a few years ago and most of my school went. I loved seeing all of the pictures, cool gifts, and internship opportunities all of my peers came back and told me about. Since it being in Louisville this year, only about 2 hours away from Cincy, the entire tech theatre department from my school went again, as well as a lot of the DP department at CMU Drama. Having both of my school worlds collide at the same conference is really exciting for me to see because it shows the extent of experience, opportunity, and inspiration USITT offers for people in tech theatre, no matter what age.
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