On Tuesday, July 1, a buzz filled Crocker Park as it transformed into the site of one of the Marblehead Festival of the Arts’ most exciting and sacred events.
At the so-called load-in day, about 20 student interns, audio technicians and organizers worked for more than nine hours in the blazing hot sun and humidity to create one of the most iconic scenes in the Marblehead Festival of the Arts. They assembled a stage for the performances, set up a complicated system of audio equipment around the park, erected a tent for the performers and built towering light poles that held spotlights that would shine on performers late into the night.
Seven high school and college interns helped set up the area on Tuesday, and will continue to learn about audio engineering and concert organizing over the next few days. And on Sunday, after a week of successful concerts, they will disassemble their equipment, and return Crocker park to its natural state.
“Everybody’s been doing incredible,” said Brian Wheeler, who has been involved witht he Crocker Park concerts for 50 years. “It’s a live classroom here, so they’re learning from the professionals while they’re on the gig. We’re using their help to build it, and we’re teaching them how to build it.” Helping to run these concerts will provide these young interns with valuable experience. Many of them want to pursue careers in music, audio engineering and recording, so this will be an opportunity for them to learn from professionals in those fields, and get some real world experience at an actual concert.
“They’ll learn what the professionals do, and they’ll have a chance to ask questions and understand why certain things are done a certain way,” Wheeler added.
The music interns, mostly high schoolers and college students, wanted to learn more about the process behind making the Crocker Park concerts, and wanted to have a chance to interact with the professionals behind it all.
“I wanted to learn from skilled and experienced people about what’s really behind the arts, which could help me build up my portfolio and resume for when I enter the art world professionally,” said Livia Weiss, a Marblehead Festival of the Arts intern.
They were also motivated to get involved by the promise of real-world experience.
“Being in school is great, because you can learn and apply information, but it can never replace getting out there and actually doing it,” said Liam Flan, an MFoA intern who hopes to learn more about audio engineering during the concerts this week.
Getting the park ready for the concerts was a daunting task, but this team of hardy professionals and eager interns made quick work of it. In just a few hours, the stage, lighting towers and equipment was nearly complete, and an atmosphere of accomplishment, satisfaction and excitement for the days ahead was just as apparent as the humidity.
“It’s fun, but it was definitely a big task,” said Jacob Szalewicz, a fifth-year intern at the MFoA who could be seen climbing up a tall ladder to fix the spotlights on Tuesday.
“I’m most looking forward to seeing the performers, and getting that rewarding feeling that we helped build what they’re performing on,” said Weiss about her hopes for the days ahead.
Wheeler is looking forward to giving Marblehead lots of live music this week.
“We just want to build something that the community can come out and enjoy, and do it in a really positive way,” said Wheeler.
