My name is Alex Hughes I was a freelance lighting programmer with a focus on pre-visualisation and designer support for close to eight years. I recently took a full-time role as a Technical Designer with Mandylights Australia. I also distribute and support the lighting pre-visualisation platform known as L8 in Australia and New Zealand.
What would you normally be doing this time of year?
Getting show files ready for festival season, managing feature and support requests for L8 and trying to book as many things as I can for next year.
What’s a fairly normal day at the moment for you?
It’s the same as it was before but the requests and consultation I was doing with designers in regards to their show files have dropped off. Support and sales are still ongoing (support has increased as everyone has time to try new things) and I seem to find more and more of my day is spent sending emails and zoom meetings.
Are you learning anything to improve your skills set?
Yes. I’ve tried to learn more and more about the key products that I use as well as testing new programs and methods for my workflow.
What bad habits have you slipped into?
My hours vary. Working from home means that the chances of getting distracted as significantly lower but I do find myself getting up later and working later which isn’t good. Thankfully I’ve never had weeks of downtime so I’ve never slipped into really bad habits.
How are you coping financially?
I am actually in a really good position. Before Covid hit, I was in the middle of negotiating a new role within a company. When lockdown hit and the industry saw a nose dive all of that was put on hold. It was a heading towards a very dark time with my partner losing her job and paying essentially double rent payments (home and my lighting desk repayments) but amazingly Mandylights had some projects on the horizon that made it feasible for me to still come on full time in a reduced hours capacity. I am very lucky in that sense.
When do you think live entertainment with return and in what format?
That’s the multi-million dollar question, isn’t it? My opinion is after being part of a collective of brands all trying to build virtual production events up that the time of live-streamed events was short and the return that can be made from most virtual events is limited. Some have managed to do very well but I think overall the market just wants live music to return so they can buy an overpriced beer and stand at watch live music. It’s not going to be fast, many things will never be the same but I think after the first few festivals and major events we will start to see growth late in this summer festival season. Corporate will be a bit slower as no one will want to host AGMs or end of year events just yet.
Do you have any words of encouragement?
All we have is each other. Right now we are one huge family, the only way to get through this is together. Just because you’re competing in business doesn’t mean we all need to be as cutthroat as we were in the past. Learn as much as you can and start working out if you can as those looms haven’t gotten any lighter!
What makes you happy at the moment?
Having a job. Plain and simple. Right now I am well aware of how lucky I am to have a stable income and still be in the industry. Many can’t say that right now and every day I wake up and feel very happy about that. I am excited about the future and hope that in the long run, I can grow the business I am part of in Victoria to support others who share the same love for technology as I do. I think it is important that we do whatever we can to help lift those around us.
