Stage Technicians

The Rossini Opera Festival, in collaboration with Co.meta srl and the Marche Region, is organising a new free training course for Stage Equipment Technician, aimed at 14 employed and unemployed participants who have fulfilled the compulsory training. The partecipants must be of age and living in the Marche Region.

The project aims to train the figure of the Stage Equipment Technician, who has the task of finding, modifying, assembling, installing on stage and storing the furniture, objects and accessories needed to set up theatrical and opera performances, films and television productions, also taking care of any movements from scene to scene. In some cases he makes or modifies (repairs, paints) existing objects following the stage designer's and stage manager's instructions. This figure is present in many areas of performance, working in film, television, theatre and opera productions or in the realisation of advertising projects. In the theatre, he works on stage and behind the scenes, during set design.

These are the contents of the lessons, held by the technical staff of the Rossini Festival: Orientation and skills assessment; Safety in the workplace; Theatre organisation and management; Fabrication and assembly workshop; Carpentry workshop; Metal object fabrication workshop; Theatre machinery workshop; Stage decoration and painting workshop; Equipment and furnishing workshop.

At the end of the 600-hour course (360 classroom/laboratory hours and 240 hours of internship), students who have attended at least 75% of the total number of hours and have passed the final exam will be awarded a Certificate of Qualification, named Profile no. 72 "Stage Equipment Technician" (EQF 3 - 600 hours) Regional Professional Profiles Directory DGR no. 1412 of 22/12/2014 and subsequent amendments and supplements.

The course is part of the POR Marche FSE 2014/2020, Axis 2 Axis 3 Public Notice for the presentation of projects for the allocation of lots of professional training hours - Public Notice "Lots of Professional Training Hours" DDPF n. 70/IFD of 30/01/2020.

Info: tel. 0721.855039; email: [email protected]

The project is part of the Festival's rich programme of training activities, which also includes: the Accademia Rossiniana "Alberto Zedda" for young singers from all over the world, now in its 35th edition, whose call for entries will expire on 28 February; the educational project Crescendo per Rossini for local students, from nursery school to university, active since 2010 (over 1,300 students from 17 schools involved in 2022/23).

Regional Assessor for Training Stefano Aguzzi said: "The Marche Region is increasingly committed to the creation of training courses, especially at a time when the world of work is in great need of continuous training and innovation, both for the unemployed and for those who, despite having a job, need to update their skills in the face of the continuous evolution of the economy and the demand for labour. This course, in particular, is very much linked to the tradition of the region and its aim is to disseminate skills and create job opportunities throughout the region, which is so rich in theatres and live performance activities'.

This is what the Intendant Ernesto Palacio said: "The ROF has always invested energy in training: from the Accademia Rossiniana "Alberto Zedda", which has trained a new generation of young singers, to the didactic activity Crescendo per Rossini, which every year brings pupils from the region's nursery schools to university in the knowledge of opera. In addition, the training courses for new technicians allow the Festival to maintain the high quality of the work of our workers: a characteristic explicitly recognised by the directors, set and costume designers who come to work here".

General Director Cristian Della Chiara said: 'The transmission of knowledge is in the DNA of our Festival. The Intendant spoke of the Accademia Rossiniana and Crescendo per Rossini. As for training courses, the Festival has been running them for over twenty years, training new young technicians internally in the areas of theatre machinery, lighting engineering, theatre tailoring and, this year, stage props. In the last course, more than half of the students found employment at the ROF. A symbol of the working capacity of our workers is the ROF15K Exhibition, consisting of 24 models of the works staged during the first 15,000 days of the Festival'.

Erika Landini of Co.meta explains: 'We are a training body accredited by the Region since 2011 and we collaborate with various bodies and institutes, including the MIUR. The stage props course, with a total of 600 hours, will last 4-5 months and will be divided into theoretical lessons (from February) and practical lessons (from May, in the ROF laboratories). The application form must be sent in by February 9th. 14 students and 5 auditors will be admitted to the course. If necessary, selections may be held from among the applications received'.

ROF President Daniele Vimini, deputy mayor of Pesaro, closed the meeting: 'We are very proud of initiatives such as these, which the Festival considers to be one of its missions, especially in an area where theatrical genius and skills are at home. The pandemic has taught us the extent and importance of a professional sector that operates mostly behind the scenes but has considerable size and relevance in the cultural and economic fabric, also in view of the Pesaro 2024 project. The ROF's training activity was also affirmed in the project with the Royal Opera House in Muscat (Oman), which, thanks to the collaboration with European opera institutions, was transformed from a performance theatre into a production theatre'.