Sharon Huizinga is a lighting/projection designer and programmer who has worked all over the world on projects ranging from programming for the Dutch National Opera & Ballet and for Shrek on Broadway, and designing in New York, Washington DC, and for multiple tours. She is also the program director for the Academy of Live Technology at Rock Lititz, associate professor of lighting design at University of Cincinnati’s CCM, and co-author with Allen Branton of the book Lighting Design Beyond Theatre: A Process for the Evolving Entertainment Industry.
Huizinga gave the career day keynote, Rejoicing, Resilience, Reinvention: charting a career path through the entertainment industry, at LDI 2024 on December 7. She has worked with all kinds of students, designers, assistants, people who tour, people who don’t tour, pixel people and many other members of the industry and they are all thriving in their careers. Her keynote focused on what skills it takes to thrive.
As an educator she focused on teaching the fundamentals of technology and the design process, but she believes there are other attributes that determine whether people succeed. Since technical skills can be taught, many employers say it comes down to finding someone who is present and focused, who will ask questions when they don’t know something, is confident without being arrogant, and good to work with. Huizinga suggests it is very much about how people respond to work which requires nontraditional hours sometimes in uncomfortable venues, with hard deadlines, safety rules, and other challenging aspects of the industry. As Allen Branton says, “As it turns out, lighting is not so much about the lights.”
Huizinga outlined a few of the personal qualifications students and early career professionals should cultivate below.
Resilience
The biggest builder of resilience is participating in your own life.
Consider whether you have an internal locus of control, or an external one. External means things outside your control happen to you. Internal means you have an effect on the world around you and you can change things. While lots of things happen that are outside your control, when responding to them it doesn’t matter what option is right, just by deciding you have agency means you will take action instead of just taking it. If you believe you have agency you will ask for the opportunity, or the responsibility, or the raise. Sometimes it is not possible to say where control sits but choosing to believe you have some helps you grow.
Receive Feedback
Processing feedback will lead to growth. Receiving feedback gives you an insight into how you are perceived and that is invaluable information. You have two choices when you get feedback: You can think something is wrong with me, or something is wrong with these idiots. Here is a third option which recognizes that it is partially about you and partially about them: Ask yourself, what is there to learn? If this is the tenth time you have heard this feedback, then maybe there is something to it and you should work to change that. Recognize you have agency to change yourself as well as things around you.
Know where you are in the feedback process. If you are giving it the person may not respond a bit later. You may not process it over time.
If you are the one giving feedback you might try to avoid confrontation. Or try to punish someone and dump your frustrations on them. Neither approach is helpful. Think of your intention in giving feedback. What did they do well, what not well, and keep it simple and direct. Eg when you chew carrots on headset I find it hard to concentrate and write cues. Not, you suck because you chew carrots on headset. Use I statements.
- Set a meeting – don’t wait for the right time, it won’t come.
- Make notes and read the notes. You are not an actor, you don’t have to memorize your lines.
- Limit your time – 30 minutes max.
- Do it in person.
If you are giving feedback the other person may not care about what you say, so don’t expect a particular outcome or a particular timeframe in which to see change. But acknowledge to yourself that no one can change or learn if you don’t tell them.
- Give feedback before the issue becomes much larger than it really is.
- Remember that how you respond to reality changes what reality is.
Reinvention
Just by attending this conference this moment could be a point of reinvention for you all. Our interests change just as technology and the industry change over time. You are in luck! This industry is allows reinvention and sees different experience and responsibilities as things that add value. Not every industry allows that, for example, people in banking might see a resume and think it means you can’t stick to something, but entertainment values broad experience.
Look for where you thrive and be aware that that may change over time.
Wherever you started your professional journey, consider the entire entertainment industry as potential pathways. It is very broad, but we deploy the same gear and the same principles and the same skill sets in a lot of different positions.
When you do jump to something new, give it a minimum of one year and then assess. In any move you will worry that you made a huge mistake, by giving yourself at least a year you will be through the learning curve and initial challenges, give yourself time to learn and then decide if you are done and plan to make a switch. If not, give yourself another year. Of course, this is all an internal decision-making process, don’t tell your employer!
Dealing With Freelancer Disease
One of the questions I get asked a lot is how can I commit to option a.) if better options b.) and c.) might come along in a few months?
The other side of that coin the worry that freelancers have that they may never work again, so they take every gig that comes along and end up not having a day off for four years.
Here are the four pillars of choosing a gig:
- Money—it pays really well
- Who else is involved—if the project is with friends I might do it for free!
- Artistic integrity—it doesn’t have to be a design opportunity, it could be a juicy engineering challenge or just interesting project.
- Career advancement—I ask myself is this is a uni que experience and opportunity that will never happen again?
Most projects will have two or three of these things, but if it has only one of these things then it needs to have A LOT of that one thing.
Remember: When you take a gig they are choosing you, too, so do the gig even if something better comes along because the industry runs on good will. And there is a ledger of goodwill to keep an eye– make sure you are receiving good will not just handing it out.
Using Your Life Force
Decide how you want to use your life force. It doesn’t matter if you call it chi or prana or flow, choose how you use your life force with intentionality.
Sometimes you might need to take a show that drains your life force but you need the money or the experience. Know that you are emptying the tank of your life force and make the choice consciously to refill it have an end date when you can refill the tank.
You have agency in choosing how you want to spend your energy. Pick your battles. Don’t push on things that won’t move, some things become more entrenched when you try to push them so you may be the person who needs to move.
No Effort Is Wasted
A bad internship is not a waste, you learn what you don’t want. Being on the wrong path helps you find the right path. All of the experiences in your life offer different things, some offer community, growth and professional connections. Rejoice in the PROCESS of experience and take joy in the learning, if you can.
Find Your People And Mentors
Not everyone will be your person, but it is a large industry and you just need to find the right camp. There is space for every type of human. I’ve had really introverted students who won’t talk to people but they enjoy writing code for consoles. Others want to be at the center of everything. Find your place.
Build a circle of people whose judgement you trust. They are not there to tell you what to do, just to give you perspective. You will encounter people who offer you mentorship and a mentor network is a great gift. There is a hidden transaction here: They want to see you get traction in the industry, to participate, to grow, and they want to be helpful and hear about your journey. They mentor because they want you and the industry to get better. You part is to keep in touch, ask questions, and then thank them in your awards speeches. One day you will be a mentor, too.
I wish you all the best on your careers.