Students work at popular country music festival, earn experience, professional contacts
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 06/07/2007
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The Country Music Association Festival is one of the largest and most sought-after gigs in the world.
And several students are getting the opportunity to work production at the event.
The internship course is for third- and fourth-year students and is taught by Bill Callison, manager for academic outreach at the Hall of Music Productions.
"The students get a taste of what working long days and being on the road is like," Callison said.
During the week, the students are involved with practically everything in the production of the show.
From running cameras, building the set, engineering the layout, operating the computers and graphics, setting up the giant LED video screen and eventually tearing everything back down and loading it up again when the week-long festival is over, they experience it all.
"You can't get much more real-world than this," said Callison.
"This is a great place to bring these students who are interested in entertainment video production and to partner them with professionals who are industry leaders."
More than 40 students have participated in the program during the past four summers, representing majors in film and video studies, computer graphic technology, communication and electrical engineering.
Danny Purdue, a recent alumni of the Film Studies program, has gone with Callison to the festival in Nashville several times over the past few years and is returning this year.
"Most of the people that go have taken (Callison's) Intro to Video Production class, so you know what you're hauling around."
Purdue said he's touring with Jimmy Buffett right now as a main gig and taking various festivals as they come up, like the CMA Fest and hopefully Lollapalooza.
"The whole live video training at Purdue is kind of a well-kept secret because it's really what you put into it," he said.
"If you take the time and work for free and work long days, eventually the right eyes see you working and they ask you to go out on gigs."
He attributed 100 percent of his success in the industry to Callison, who he called one of the most respected individuals in the field, and the internships.
"It's a people business," Purdue said. "At the end of the night, in the control room where all the switchers and everything are – everyone's a big family for the length of your gig. You get to know everybody.
"It's hard, everybody's tired all the time – you wake up at 5:30 every morning, and maybe get to bed at 2 a.m.," he said. "But it's worth it.
"Last year, during Brad Paisley's set, there was a time that every single camera position was manned by either current Purdue students or former Purdue students," he said.
"It was like a million dollar show, and Purdue people were in charge of the whole thing."