Hanna Kittelsen Pettersen (19) is one of those who can be the savior for the festivals. Several cultural organizers are struggling with staffing. – Without people you cannot organize festivals. You can see that there is a big shortage of both crew and managers, says Pettersen. She is one of several interns at the Kongsberg jazz festival. In collaboration with Norske Kulturarrangører, the jazz festival is one of four festivals that has an internship program this year. Pettersen believes that the internship can give her some advantages. – I really want to work on this when I’m an intern here. And the staffing challenges in the industry can create job opportunities for us who are young. Hanna Kittelsen Pettersen is an intern at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival. Here she sorts old festival t-shirts. Photo: Juni Hoem / news – Keeping the industry alive There was a large drop-off in the industry during the corona pandemic. In a report from Telemarksforskning in 2022, it was documented that as much as 25 percent drop out of stage technicians. Siri Haugan Holden is general manager of Norwegian Cultural Organizers. Now they will put in the push to recruit more people into the industry. Photo: Jane Lool / NKA Siri Haugan Holden is general manager of Norwegian Culture Organizers. She believes that several of the stage technicians may have returned by now, but she still believes the numbers are frightening. Holden says that the organizers experienced some challenges with recruitment even before the pandemic. – We needed a larger and more systematized trainee programme. Recruitment is important to keep the industry alive. We are not in the same crisis as immediately after the pandemic, but the situation is so serious that we cannot wait to do something, says Holden. Part of the crew In addition to the Kongsberg jazz festival, Festspillene i Nord-Norge, Malakoff and Pstereo also have interns this year. The interns at the jazz festival are part of the crew from the time the festival is set up, until it is packed up again the following week. Along the way, they are given various responsibilities, and they observe their managers. The purpose is for the interns to get an overview of small and large tasks that must be carried out in order to organize a festival. Gets to try everything Bjørn Kristoffer Nordem Nordahl (24) is one of those who got an internship at the Kongsberg jazz festival. Organizing a jazz festival requires heavy lifting. Here, intern Bjørn Kristoffer helps Nordem Nordahl with setting up the Kongsberg jazz festival. Photo: Juni Hoem / news – It is very exciting and educational. I hope to gain contacts and experiences that I can use later in life. It would have been fun to work with festivals in the future, says Nordahl. The interns were in place on Saturday 1 July. They quickly started setting up the festival. Throughout the week, they will be able to brush up on everything from stage work and security, to catering and transport. Erik Fosland is responsible for the interns. – We have 14 interns with us this year. They will get to experience what it means to organize a festival, both good and bad, says Fosland.
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New internship program at Kongsberg jazz festival
