Meet Cate and learn more about her life as a lighting director for artists such as George Ezra. Part of our Bitesize world of work series.
Cate Carter - Lighting director
My job is to work with artists to understand their vision for their show. So when they’re going out to do a tour or play live they might have an idea of how they want to be lit, using visuals, how they want to be positioned on stage. So our job is to kind of work with them and understand that.
At the moment, we’re working with George Ezra. He asked us to create a stage set that felt like his living room so we had these enormous lamp shades hung above the band, we had this back wall of huge Victorian-style windows of video included in them and a homely set-up on stage.
So when we work here at the John Peel Stage it’s quite a different job for us in that we look after the house production for the stage, so rather than coming up with a concept that works for the artists that are performing here, we’re looking to create a canvas that other designers can come and use. We need to cater from everything from DJs to electronic artists to folk artists to maybe a rock band and the brief is much more then about providing something that other designers can come in and work with and how they use it recreate their show so yeah, it’s a completely different experience but equally very interesting.
There’s two elements of it I love about it is one is being trusted with somebody else’s art. I’m not a musician but I love live music and I’ve always loved it and it’s an opportunity to become a part of that live performance and to be trusted to create the atmosphere and the environment that someone’s performing in. And then the second part, I think, is when you see it come to fruition. So you spend months and months planning and doing technical drawings and working out budgets and logistics and then the first day you walk into rehearsals you see it come together in real life and that’s always incredibly exciting to see, the thing you’ve discussed and created, you know, for real.
To be honest, I didn’t really know this job existed in the format that I do now. It was coming to Glastonbury when I was 15 and watching people on stage performing and I just thought ‘I just want to be a part of this’. And that inspired me to pursue music technology and then I went do work experience doing sound for shows like this. Over the years, I ended up being given more responsibility, lighting shows myself and it was through doing lighting I ended up doing set design.
There are challenges along the way but there’s also huge rewards so that’s… that sort of makes up for sometimes the very long days and short nights.
I'm trusted with someone else's art…
- Cate is lighting director for artists such as George Ezra. She works with them to understand their vision for their tours or live shows, and then helps to make it a reality through lighting, visuals and staging
- She also works at the John Peel stage at Glastonbury, creating a 'blank canvas' stage that many different artists, and their designers, can work with to create their own spaces
- Cate became inspired to work with artists after attending Glastonbury when she was 15. She went on to study Music Technology, then gained work experience working in sound on live shows. Over the years, Cate was given more and more responsibility until she began lighting shows herself, and through this moved into set design
- Cate states that there are challenges to this work - not least the long days and short nights - but that the rewards of seeing all your hard work come to fruition, creating the atmosphere and environment that someone can perform their art in, makes it all worthwhile!
Cate is a lighting director, and she's spent a number of years working up to this position. A lighting technician is a similar role, although one with arguably less responsibility. Lighting technicians set up and operate lighting for concerts, conferences and theatre, or in film and TV productions.
What to expect if you want to be a lighting technician
- Lighting technician average salary: Variable
- Lighting technician typical working hours: 42 to 44 hours per week
What qualifications do you need to be a lighting technician?
You could get into this role via a university course, a college course (such as a Level 3 certificate or a T-level in Media, Broadcast and Production - England-only, from Sept 2023), an apprenticeship, volunteering, working towards the role or through one of the new entrant training schemes that broadcasters and film bodies offer, such as BBC trainee schemes.
Sources: National Careers Service, GOV.UK
This information is a guide and is constantly changing. Please check the National Careers Service website for the latest information and all the qualifications needed and the GOV.UK website for more on T-levels.
For careers advice in all parts of the UK visit: National Careers Service (England), nidirect (Northern Ireland), My World of Work (Scotland) and Careers Wales (Wales).
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