TechKno Academy
The Shadow Program
A 2027 MEMa initiative for ages 14 to 24.
Every live show depends on a crew most of the audience never sees. The Shadow Program puts a young person with no experience beside a working professional in one of those jobs, on a real event.
Ms. Dorothy teaches teens the basics of broadcast camera operation at a House of Hope Arena event.
What a shadow is
A shadow follows one professional through the whole job, watching closely and helping where it is safe. Shadows start with no experience. Nobody expects them to know the job. They are there to learn it.
How it works
Classroom first, then the real thing
In the classroom
Each shadow chooses one crew job. Classroom blocks come first: the vocabulary, the safety rules, and what every stage of a live event asks of that job.
On real events
Then each shadow follows their professional through real events, from the load in to the strike. Shadows observe and assist. They never call cues or direct, and they listen on the crew headsets without speaking. Calling and directing are practiced in the classroom only.
The showcase
The program ends with a public showcase: a live event called and directed by the professionals the shadows have followed, with every shadow at work in their job.
What it looks like
Our teens have already done this
TechKno Academy teens have already worked beside industry professionals at live events, without a curriculum. The Shadow Program gives that experience one.
The jobs
Fourteen crew jobs, two crews
Lighting Designer
Designs the look and programs the cues, using color, gobos and patterns. Operates the board during the show and cues the follow spot operators on comms. As creative as it is technical.
Follow Spot Operator
Follows the performers and stage elements the Lighting Designer calls for, on comms from anywhere in the venue. Truss and catwalk positions: 18 and over.
Front of House Sound
Mixes what the audience hears.
Monitor Sound
Mixes what the performers hear on stage.
Stage Manager
Directs the stage hands: what moves, where it goes and when. Controls the talent through every transition and between acts, on stage and off on time. The show runs on schedule because of the work the Stage Manager does backstage.
Stage Hand
Moves equipment and set pieces into place before the show and between acts, and helps keep the talent on time.
Camera Operator
Frames the shot the director asks for, including on a Steadicam.
Rigging
Hangs lighting, sound and video safely over people's heads.
18 and overGaffer
Brings power into the room and turns the lighting design into working light.
18 and overGrip
Builds and balances everything a camera stands on.
18 and overVideo Director
Chooses the shots and shapes what the audience at home sees.
Technical Director
Switches the shots the director calls.
Video Engineer
Keeps the pictures matched and the signal clean.
Broadcast Audio
Mixes for listeners who are not in the room.
Aerial lift and forklift training
For shadows 18 and over: a training credential they can take to an employer.
18 and overWhere
Chicago and the Bay Area, the same summer
In Chicago, we are working toward Salem Baptist Church of Chicago’s House of Hope Arena as host, the room where TechKno Camp began in 2012.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, we are looking for a host venue.
Host it, mentor in it, or support it
Venues, crew professionals and anyone who wants to help young people into this work: we would like to hear from you.
Contact us