IN PROFILE
SPARTAN CREW Despite the current lack of available crew in the live events sector, Spartan Crew makes strides to provide better in-house training for those entering the industry.
Photos: Spartan Crew
There are few companies from the world of live events that have not diversified their business models since the emergence of COVID-19. Spartan Crew is a clear example of this entrepreneurial spirit; with its usual work within the live events sector drying up overnight, the company made strides to move into the field of agency work. After founding Spartan Crew in 2017, established crewing professionals, Paz Brennan and Ciaran Boylan had taken their business from strength to strength, until the “horrendous” effects of COVID-19 kicked in. “Not only were live events halted, but a lot of a foreign crew went back to their home countries and many of our other local crew went and found other jobs,” stated Brennan. The two founders saw agency work as an opportunity to bring their knowledge and experience into these other sectors, although Boylan was keen to emphasise the amount of training the upper management had to embark on due to the extra legislation surrounding this type of work. “It’s been a large time and financial investment to understand what is needed to do this type of agency work. So far, it’s been a very fruitful and enjoyable process,” he said, reflecting on the past 18 months. With this sidestep into agency work and the gradual return of events, the founders explained that they were trying to get as many new faces through their doors as possible and get them trained up to be job ready. Spartan Crew has always had a hands-on mentality when it comes to crew training, building a teaching facility within their warehouse. Anyone who joins is given the company’s Manual Handling Training. Boylan, who administers much of the training, explained the challenges of bringing people in at this difficult time. “We found in recent months that we have been getting a lot more younger people, whereas in ‘normal’
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