WeeklySA_AdminPARTNERSHIPS: SA roadies group empowers disadvantaged youths
By Thuli Zungu
Newly trained stagehands will always have little difficulty in becoming employable or being able to create employment for similarly skilled backstage workers.
Stagehands and backstage workers are the backbone of the entertainment industry and among these crucial fellows, one finds technicians for sound, lighting, audio-visuals, stage work, monitors, rigging, designers for sound and lighting, as well as engineers for sound, light and front of house configurations.
While institutions that nurture roadies, as stagehands and backstage workers are also known, are few and charge an arm and a leg, the South African Roadies Association (Sara) has been a proverbial home away from home for youths from disadvantaged backgrounds.
SARA is a unique and dynamic non-profit training organisation which is dedicated to the advancement and development of skills and knowledge among the youth in the technical and production sectors in South Africa and across Africa.
Headed by one intrepid social development activist Freddie Nyathela, the Sara was formed in 1992 and registered in 1995, nurtures youths in the lighting, sound, staging, power, rigging and audio-visual sectors through several SAQA accredited Skills Education and Training Authority (SETA) training courses, as well as its Entry Level On-The-Job Training Programme.
Since its inception in 1992, the Sara has developed and forged long term international partnerships with several technical bodies, resulting in hundreds of South African youths travelling overseas to gain valuable training, skills development and experience in the UK, Norway, Denmark, USA, Germany for on-the-job training, exhibitions and conferences and education.
The programme remains the main gateway for new blood into the professional ranks in the technical and production industry in South Africa, and beyond. Technical and production skills and training initiatives conducted by Sara in SA and abroad have confirmed a high level of job creation being initiated among the ranks of trained personnel.
Simply put, a newly trained sound technician and engineer will have little difficulty in extrapolating the skill to service other requirements of a customer and hire ten others to deliver the job. And there are opportunities galore for the youth to study abroad or improve their skills, and the Sara is the best door to knock at.
Throughout the SA industry there are many Sara trained personnel to be found in full time employment, and about 30 percent of the Sara’s countless apprentices have been able to start their own enterprises, creating jobs for themselves and others. Among other things, the Sara seeks to:
• Develop a sustainable capacity to train and develop technical and production skills;
• Be accessible to all young South Africans with an interest in the technical and production sector;
• Provide SAQA accredited training courses on an ongoing basis, as well as access to SARA’S Entry Level On-the-Job Training Programme;
• Initiate and maintain international relationships for education, training, equipment, standards and experience;
• Implement the national agenda in respect of transformation, skills development and job creation;
The Sara’s strategic partners include the United Kingdom-based Backstage Academy (www.backstage-academy.co.uk), the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural Skills (www.ccskills.org.uk), the Production Services Associations (www.psa.org.uk) the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts(www.waapa.ecu.edu.au) and the German Entertainment Technology Association (www.vplt.org)
Sourced from saraodies.co.za
