Paige is a year 13 school student and a current intern at VenueTech. She has made the most of every opportunity that has come her way and is now getting the opportunity to apply the theory learnt at school, to real life experiences and events. It started when Paige was in year 9 and wanting to be a part of the school production but was too nervous to be on stage. Instead, she got picked by the technical team where she soon found an interest, which developed into a passion. Paige’s CV is already looking impressive – two years ago Paige was the student Director of the school’s musical “Our House” and is now Performing Arts Captain at Waimea College, alongside her commitments as VenueTech’s intern.
Paige is extremely passionate about theatre and film. She has taken the relevant subjects such as drama, performing arts, technology, and media studies and says this is “where I made all my friends”.
Now, at VenueTech, she says “this is where I gained my confidence and can grow it even more, especially in things like lighting and sound – I’m surer of my own abilities.”
Paige has taken media subjects throughout High School, which has helped her gain knowledge and understanding of future career paths. While Paige had no practical experience prior to VenueTech, the opportunity has seen her theory work come to life. When Paige is at VenueTech, she can shadow other staff, observe other roles, work with lighting, sound, staging, and help with whatever is on at the time, whether it be a show or event.
From Paige’s experience as an intern, the role comes with problem solving situations, a sense of community teamwork, and always having something to work on – setting up for a show, packing down, and ensuring everything is safe and to client requirements. Paige has been able to work on a variety of different events, has set up lighting and colours at VenueTech’s recommendation and some events the client’s team provide an outline of what they would like, which creates variety and challenges within the role. Paige shared how supportive and helpful VenueTech have been as she has learnt so much and been able to apply her growing skill set.
Paige describes the industry as being “exciting, and exhilarating, seeing it all come to life, from the empty, dark, stage to full show mode, actors, lights, sound, seeing the audience get a buzz from the performers and seeing the performers get a buzz from the audience.” Her favourite part is how rewarding it is to see a show come together and knowing that you are a part of it. She also gets to watch all the shows she has worked on from up the back of the theatre, thanks to VenueTech.
Paige enjoys living in Nelson and recognises the exciting opportunities available, she is proud that Nelson can put on great shows and productions saying it is “exciting to see something happing in the town I grew up in – we’re no Wellington but we produced WOW here, it began here”.
You will find Paige watching films and live theatre in her spare time – her favourite show is Beetlejuice (the musical), and spending time with friends and family. Paige’s next step is to start a Creative Media Production course at Massey next year.
She has some great advice to anyone wanting to follow in her footsteps:
“give it a go – don’t let yourself hold you back”.
