CrewCare Board Report

CrewCare/Support Act Relationship

CrewCare has been working closely with Support Act on many fronts. Tony, Howard, Sharyn and Julius have open channels of communication with Clive and a number of CrewCare directors have been assisting Lindy in identifying crew members in need of crisis relief and helping with applications. The cooperation between both parties has been positive and one of unified support.

Support Act Wellbeing Helpline

CrewCare has been distributing Wellbeing Helpline resources promoting this Support Act service. 

2,000 A3 stickers have been placed in production trucks Australia wide and 2,000 plastic 'Crew Cards' have been handed out to crew personnel at sign-on's and in the workplace. A further 2,000 of these cards are currently being distributed.

In addition, CrewCare and Support Act are currently in discussion with Live Performance Australia to have 3,000 A3 posters placed in major venues around the country. CrewCare is also reaching out to the Australian Hoteliers Association in an effort to get the posters placed in smaller venues.

Research Into Crew Welfare

A major achievement has been enlisting the co-operation of the University of Sunshine Coast and Sunshine Coast Mind and Neuroscience - Thompson Institute, to undertake research specific to crew welfare.

USC is to recruit two honours students into the project. The first will work on a large, quantitative survey of crew with the aim of documenting the problems, and what they perceive as causes and solutions. This information would be valuable to understanding and communicating to others the extent of the problem. The second will work on conducting in-depth interviews with a smaller number of participants to get a fine-grained description of the unique issues associated with the problem in crew. This will enable USC to begin planning a tailored intervention strategy fit for purpose.

Depending on the results obtained, 2021 would see them moving into projects trailing interventions. It is hoped that having scientific evidence of the issues present will provider much needed weight in lobbying and future grant applications.

Mental Awareness Workshops

Founding director Howard Freeman and Support Act Melbourne representative Luke O'Conner have been working to establish a Production Industry Mental Health Workshop. Ways in which this and other workshops can be presented to crew have been discussed with a view to securing broad acceptance and maximising participation.

Howard and Luke will also be addressing RMIT students at 2 short courses this year promoting crew welfare and wellbeing.

Mental Health First Aid Training

CrewCare has established a program of training in Mental First Aid and Mental Health First Response courses through Griffith University. Both 2 day certification courses are being sponsored by Griffith and being offered at no cost to CrewCare Members. Once proof of concept has been established, further opportunities are being discussed to broaden its scope and introduce other universities into the program.

Roady4Roadies 2020

This year's major fundraiser for Support Act is being held on Sunday 5th April in 13 cities across the nation. Jon Stevens is to be the 2020 Ambassador and has filmed a 2 minute promotional clip to be shown at major concerts in the lead up to the event. Jon will make himself available for interviews as part of a significant media campaign.

A media release has been prepared by Christie Eliezer and will be distributed by the Roady4Roady team of 7 publicists on February 18th.

AusMusic T-shirt Day - A Day with Howard Freeman

As part of the Support Act initiative, Live Nation teamed with CrewCare and Support Act to host a unique event that provided an additional $10K to the annual fundraiser.

The public were invited to bid to become a crew member at the U2 concert in Melbourne for the day, under the watchful and glaring eyes of Howard Freeman!

Live Nation provided CrewCare with comp tickets to the show that were used to encourage donations to the Crew Fund which helped achieve the final amount raised. 

Future Fundraising

Currently in the planning stages are 2 new projects. The Crew Tapes are being planned for release in the middle of the year, while in principle agreement has been obtained from 3 regional QLD Councils to host Heritage Highway and have them underwrite much of the outlay. Heritage Highway is expected to be an ongoing series of short tours by heritage acts in South East Queensland.

BIGSOUND

CrewCare has been holding a number of discussions with QMusic and BIGSOUND and is confident of establishing a significant presence at this year's convention. Also touted are fundraising ventures to be directed to the SA Crew Fund.

Entech & Support Act State Reps

CrewCare and Support Act are exhibiting at the annual Entech Roadshow trade fairs in the 5 major capitals next month.

Representatives from both organisations will be distributing resources promoting the SA Wellbeing Helpline and discussing services as well as listening to feedback from industry.

It is noted SA does not have representation in SA, Qld or WA for the events. CrewCare hope this lack of state representation will be addressed sometime in the future.