With event and hospitality jobs in the music industry highly sought-after, the chance to work at an iconic and well established music festival is an opportunity for TAFE NSW students to gain valuable experience and become more desirable to employers.

Today, TAFE NSW announced up to 65 of its students will help out at Byron Bay’s Bluesfest - to facilitate logistics, design a menu for and cook food for event staff and other volunteers - ensuring students gain crucial exposure to the industry. Some students will be lucky enough to rub shoulders with headlining musicians including Jack Johnson, Norah Jones and Ben Harper.

Excited tourism, hospitality and events students from across the Northern Rivers region in TAFE NSW Wollongbar, Casino and Lismore locations are already preparing for their five days of behind-the-scenes work this April. Catering for approximately 800 Bluesfest staff and volunteers across the festival, the TAFE NSW students are estimated to be handing out approximately 4,500 servings of food throughout the festivities.

With 25,000 new job openings in the event industry over a five year period and 70%[1] of job postings asking for a certificate level qualification[2], now is the time to get qualified.

Andrew Habner, Teacher for Tourism, Events, Cookery and Hospitality section at TAFE NSW said, “We are giving students access and exposure to actual real life events. Students will come out of this with hands-on experience and industry contacts. They will have career paths directly into the industries, whether they have studied at one of our TAFE NSW locations or through TAFE Digital.”

With spaces limited to work at the event and an influx of applicants, students who are selected to volunteer will be chosen based on attendance rates and application of themselves in classes.

20 year old Josephine Rogers who is studying a Diploma of Event Management at TAFE NSW Wollongbar has been lucky enough to have already secured work experience with Bluesfest for the past three months, after being introduced to the opportunity through TAFE NSW.

Choosing to undertake her education through TAFE NSW rather than university after deciding she learns better in a practical environment, Josephine has been assisting the Bluesfest team one day per week with marketing, ticketing and organising transport.

“TAFE NSW teachers have been really good at assisting students to get work whenever it comes up and they put us forward for events like this. They have a lot of contacts which helps with getting practical experience. I’m hoping that something might come out of Bluesfest and I could land a dream job next year,” she said.

For more detail on TAFE NSW courses, face-to-face or online, visit www.tafensw.com.au or call 131 601.

Media contact: Sarah Lievore, TAFE NSW Media Officer sarah.lievore1@tafensw.edu.au