Looking to find theater rigging courses in MA

[ccm1495]

Looking to find theater rigging courses in MA that offer some sort of certification. I have not been able to find anything.

 

[rochem]

As far as I know, you're not going to find any general rigging courses that will give you a "certification" of any kind that would be recognized outside of your venue/local/company. The only real industry rigging certifications are the ETCP Rigging Certifications, but those require extensive classes and work experience, and you definitely can't get near that with one class. While you can't get general certifications, you can get certifications from individual manufacturers to work with their products, and you can find plenty of classes that will teach you a lot about theatrical rigging, but you'll only get a Certificate of Completion.

For example, I'm currently in Wilkes-Barre, PA at Mountain School, sponsored by Mountain Productions. Over this four-day course, you receive in-depth instruction in both general rigging and in the maintenance and troubleshooting of CM chain hoist products. However, at the end of the seminar, you receive a certification from CM to work on their products, but only a Certificate of Completion stating that you took the rigging class. And just because you have a certification to work with chain hoists does NOT necessarily qualify you to actually use them in rigging situations.

 

[mstaylor]

How was school this year? I was by there the other day when they were setting up.

 

[avkid]

Rigstar in Northampton, MA.
RIGSTAR Rigging School

 

[rochem]

How was school this year? I was by there the other day when they were setting up.

It was really great, parts of it were quite challenging, but I definitely got a lot out of it. I may try to write up a full review/reflection in a few days once spring break ends and I go back to real school.