It’s been a period of healthy reflection at the Production Services Association over the past 10 months… It’s also been a busy period of communication, outreach and delivery with our members, partners and industry advocacy working groups.
As a newly elected executive team, last May we took a breath, reached out to our membership and reviewed what was important to them. With that initial work almost complete, now is the time for delivering sustained growth and evolution of the PSA.
After a successful AGM last week and attendance at ILMC, Production Futures and the Event Production Show, we look forward to maintaining a full schedule this year.
We welcome three new council members: Mark Bannister, Mary Shelley-Smith and Lisa Ryan. All of whom bring a wealth of experience to an already knowledgeable council.
We are also working on several new initiatives and forging forward with those already started; people, as always, remain our key focus. Our members, of course, but also the wider industry that we all exist within.
Our principle has been to reset and restart – we’ve taken the opportunity to go back to basics and look at what the important topics are. Some of these get little attention and that needs to change, so in the coming months we will be supporting several initiatives.
A safer workplace – Pushing for full disclosure when it matters; misogyny, assault, bullying and bad attitudes are sadly still around…. let’s call it out for what it is.
This behaviour is not acceptable and whilst we may never get rid of it, we can provide people with the tools to deal with it. As part of our website upgrade, we are introducing a ‘signpost’ page – directing people to support, training, advice and someone to talk to.
Training and development – for those members looking to broaden their skillset, our training bursary is now fully open, and we have already supported several successful applicants so far.
Having the right insurance – another topic we at the PSA will be focussing on is medical insurance – are you covered for work, and will your travel insurance cover any medical and repatriation bills?
We’ll be looking back on the safety culture of our industry, why it has evolved the way it has, and how freelancers can genuinely create a better work/life balance.
A striking observation was brought up at ILMC last week on how things are no better than they were 15 years ago, when the PSA worked with James Cobb to review how freelancers felt about working conditions – this is something we are looking to do again over the coming months.
If you have any thoughts on what the PSA should be addressing, or want to get more involved, please let us know.
Words: Liz Madden and Tom Rees
Photo: PSA
