It’s been fifteen years since a storm gust struck the temporary roof structure over the Indiana State Fair grandstand stage, minutes before Sugarland was to perform. The structure came down into the crowd. Seven people were killed and fifty-eight were injured. I was not in Indianapolis that night, but what has occurred in the wake of that tragedy changed me and the industry forever.
When the investigators finished, the story was not only about what structurally failed. The independent assessment commissioned by the state found it was unclear who or which organisation was responsible for public safety that evening. There was no emergency management protocol governing the weather decision. The people weighing whether to hold the show each assumed someone else had the final call.
Our industry responded to the structural failures. A group of us began meeting routinely to work out what could be done. That group became the Event Safety Alliance, we authored the first Event Safety Guide, and from it came a growing body of ANSI-accredited standards. In the wake of Indiana we did learn, and we did improve.
But we never insisted on matching qualifications for those who lead. That is not a knock on those who have led us to date. On-the-job training has been the accepted curriculum of this industry. That system produced extraordinary “delivery-capable” leaders that brought the industry to where it is today.
Consider the responsibility of those roles. A production manager, tour manager, promoter rep, or festival director builds the plan, sets the schedule and the budget, hires, coordinates and cares for the staff, integrates every trade from rigging to catering, negotiates with venues, promoters, and local authorities, and carries the legal duty of care for those in their charge. On show day, they decide to accept the risks; is the rigging safe, am I ready to action the weather plan, are the crowd management systems ready, are we ready for doors. In the end, they say “we’re good for show”. And remarkably, still to this day, to hold that job, the industry requires no proof of competency.
Contrast this with the trades around us. Riggers and electricians can hold ETCP certification. Anyone serious about jobsite safety can take OSHA 30. Safety leadership has the Certified Safety Professional. There is incident command training, mental health first aid, role-specific education across the disciplines. But for the person integrating all of it, the industry requires nothing and points to no standard. Those who go looking to upskill do it on their own time and their own dime.
If we can agree that leaders should demonstrate competency rather than claim it, define what the responsibility of the role actually is, and be clear about who holds the duty of care, we do not have to invent anything. For fifty years the Project Management Institute has advanced a global discipline for leading complex work where failure is expensive, visible and irreversible. Construction, aerospace, defence.
There is an existing pathway that gets us most of the way there. It is graded, from an entry-level foundations course through to the Project Management Professional certification held by senior leaders across other high-risk industries. For the next generation, it is a route into leadership that does not depend on proximity to a veteran, someone’s willingness to mentor, or luck.
I’m not claiming that this would have changed the outcome in Indiana. Anyone who does is selling something. It is also fair to say the industry is safer than it was on that day. If you have run shows for thirty years and never had anyone hurt, you have every right to ask why anything needs to change.
But the forensic record from Indiana did not find only that the structure was inadequate. It found that nobody knew who was in charge. It is a leadership systems problem, and it is the one failure from that night we didn’t address.
Systems and guidance alone are not enough.
Take a team through a challenging run. There is a heatwave, the routing has no recovery time, catering is abysmal, trucking delays compress the work further. Put informed, mature leaders in front of that team and they will make it happen. Not because they are better than anyone else, but because they know they are trusted, and the effort being made to take care of them is visible and sincere.
Now take the same team, the same run, the same issues, and put underinformed or aggressive leadership in front of them. Every day feels like a battlefield. The same people will not be as successful. And these days, some may opt to leave the project.
The variable was never the team. It was how the person in charge did their job. Jocko Willink says it more bluntly than I can: there are no bad teams, only bad leaders. The leadership coach Jill Avey puts the cost of getting it wrong just as plainly: people don’t burn out from work, they burn out from leaders who make every day a battlefield.
It is also why the provisions we built to support the team go unused. Mental health support, welfare resources, confidential communication lines. A team that does not trust leadership’s responses will less frequently report safety or personal concerns. In this example, the humans are identical. The difference in the outcome is the leader.
Project management teaches some of these foundations. It does not give judgment, humility, or the instinct to care for the people doing the work. Those come from experience, shared lessons and a high emotional quotient. What it does give is a structure that makes the good habits routine. Better-informed leaders produce healthier crews, more predictable operations and safer shows.
To those who lead, the future will ask more of you, and those competencies should be demonstrated before you are in the role. Expanding your knowledge demonstrates your commitment to your own growth and the growth of the industry. Learn the principles of project management. Practise continuous improvement. Increase your leadership skills to better care for your teams and your responsibility.
To those doing the hiring, from artist managers to promoters, demand more of the people you place in charge. The question cannot be who is available or who is familiar. It has to be who is prepared and qualified for the responsibility.
Fifteen years ago, seven people went to a concert and did not come home. This industry responded by building something that had never existed. That is proof we can respond to a need. We set a standard for the stage, the weather, and the crowd. We have never set one that requires more of those who lead.
Words: Jim Digby
Jim Digby is President of Show Makers and Co-Founder and Past President of the Event Safety Alliance. He is Tour Director for Linkin Park and a certified Project Management Professional.
