USITT and Friends Celebrate Rigging Safety Day April 24USITT and the backstage community are celebrating Arbor Day by declaring April 24 Rigging Safety Day, a day to promote safer stages by posting and tweeting with the hashtag #RigSafe. USITT got the idea from the UK's successful Stage Management Day October 10 and #LoveTheatre Day November 19. USITT hopes to make Arbor Day an annual way to support rigging safety programs and raise awareness of backstage safety. On April 24, USITT will post #RigSafe news all day and ask people to support its Rigging Safety Initiative providing free rigging inspections and safety training for school stages. See www.usitt.org/rigsafe. J.R. Clancy will share its famous Scary Rigging photos, and the ETCP -- Entertainment Technician Certification Program -- will post info on its offerings. Participants already preparing #RigSafe posts for April 24 include IATSE, the Stage Managers Association, SETC, the Association of British Theatre Technicians, Sight & Sound Theatres, InterAmerica Stage Inc., Grosh Backdrops, and TRU-ROLL Theatrical Rigging & Hardware, among others. For the last two years, USITT used Arbor Day to hold fund-raisers for its Rigging Safety Initiative, playing on the word "arbor" as a support for stage rigging. USITT executive director David Grindle said that as USITT's rigging safety efforts grow, it wants to raise awareness of that system of weights, pulleys, ropes, and machinery used to hang and move curtains, scenery, and flying apparatus over the stage. "We would love it if Arbor Day became the day for all performance venues to ask when their rigging was last inspected and when they last held safety training, just like Daylight Saving has become the time to check your home smoke detectors," Grindle said. "We want to remind everyone that there's a backstage to your favorite theatre with rigging that needs care and maintenance," he added. "We hope people will help keep their theatres safe by supporting the RSI, ETCP, and other rigging safety efforts on April 24." 
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