From working backstage at Clearwater Jazz Holiday (CJH) to a 4-week gig on Beyoncé’s Lemonade tour, Andrew Holness gained first-hand industry experience as an SPC Music Industry/Recording Arts (MIRA) student. Holness jumped on the opportunity to volunteer thanks to Music Business professor John Kurnik. SPC’s MIRA students were granted the opportunity to work alongside seasoned sound engineers. Holness made an impression with local sound company, ESI, and turned his volunteer opportunity into a working career.
Backstage at Beyoncé’s Lemonade tour
Q: So, how did you wind up working the Beyoncé tour?
A: My supervisor for ESI connected me with Live Nation to help with setting up Raymond James stadium for the event. I then met a few important people who took a liking to me and had me work with them setting up Beyoncé’s dressing room and working with the Ambiance and tour bus management department while I wasn’t busy with my Live Nation duties
Q: How was the experience working with such a large touring act versus a local act?
A: It was amazing. I got to see the difference in preparation of a venue. We started organizing and setting up a month in advance for her show. Hundreds of people were involved to make the performance possible.
Q: Anything you want to tell us about Queen B?
A: Not much to say. She’s a hard worker and doesn’t take any time off. She’s constantly working, before, during and after the shows on her tour.
Clearwater Jazz Holiday Experience
Q: How did you get involved with Clearwater Jazz Holiday? Who connected you to the opportunity?
A: I first heard about Clearwater Jazz Holiday through my Music Business professor Dr. Kurnik. He told our class that it would be a great opportunity to volunteer at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday Festival and experience what it takes to make a huge event like this run smoothly.
Q: I heard that due to your volunteer experience, you are now employed with ESI? How did that occur?
A: So basically, while I was volunteering for the festival, one of the ESI audio crew guys needed any extra hand with setting up wedges and laying down cables, and I ended up sticking with them for the majority of the weekend. They were to me and my friend Andre very hard that entire weekend and had us running all over the place helping out in any way that we can. We were lucky enough to be offered a job at the end of the festival since they liked the way that we handled our tasks quickly and followed instructions.
Q: Can you tell me about your volunteer experience at Clearwater Jazz Holiday? What were your assigned duties?
A: The volunteering experience was great. It was a very hectic and fast-paced environment. The main duties of each volunteer were to load and unload the trucks full of cases and music equipment as well as getting the stage prepped for the band.
Q: Can you tell me a little about your experience with ESI? What are your responsibilities when you work with them?
A: When I work with ESI a lot of my responsibilities are similar to those of the Clearwater Jazz Holiday volunteering opportunity. They usually have me working as a load-in and load-out stagehand. So I basically help unload the trucks, get everything set up on stage and then get out of the way once the show starts. Once the show is over I help breakdown this stage equipment and load the trucks and assist with lighting when needed.
Q: Any cool ESI gigs coming up you’d like to share with us?
A: At ESI we have a couple of great gigs coming up, one of them being a wild splash in Clearwater and the other the Gasparilla Music Festival in downtown Tampa, and Wild Splash.
Q: Overall, do you have any words of wisdom you’d like to share with students who are debating about whether to take advantage of volunteer opportunities the school offers?
A: My words of wisdom to any students considering volunteering for any company or interning for someone would be to take advantage of it! You never know who you might meet and what opportunities afterward might arise. In the business that we are all trying to get into, the number one aspect is networking. So take advantage of it now because I feel like after college all of these great networking opportunities won’t be as readily available to us.