Breaking Into The Entertainment Industry, The Bumbershoot Way

The future of the entertainment industry is alive and well in Seattle this summer.

For the second consecutive year, the Bumbershoot Arts & Music Festival’s Workforce Development Program will teach young adults the ins and outs of the entertainment business. The six-month, tuition-free program provides mentorship and teaches the “technical, creative and business aspects” of the live entertainment industry to 19 young adults between the ages of 17 and 25.

Meet the future of music: The 2024 cohort of Bumbershoot’s Workforce Development Program.

Photo courtesy of Bumbershoot Arts & Music Festival

A key goal is to open opportunities in the entertainment industry to underserved communities. Fifty-eight percent of the cohort identifies as BIPOC, and 37% identify as LGBTQIA+. 

“Ten years from now, our dream is that Bumbershoot will be completely staffed and run by talented young leaders like the graduates from our Workforce Development Program,” says Christina Holding, marketing director at New Rising Sun, which produces the festival.

The program features workshop and job shadowing. Participants are also assigned distinct roles in this year’s festival, which runs Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 at Seattle Center. Bumbershoot officials will also work to find jobs for participants in the live-event industry once the festival ends.

Last year, 80% of cohort participants landed either part-time or regular gig work in local event production and creative industries.

The live concert industry, and the arts in general, really need reliable, skilled workers right now,” says Aaron Semer, development director at Third Stone, a Seattle nonprofit that houses the festival’s education program and runs the main festival. “We get to be the people opening those doors.”

The program is a partnership between Bumbershoot and Berkeley, Calif.-based UC Theatre’s Concert Careers Pathway program.