IATSE Local 30 · Apprenticeship Training Program
Your Next Career Starts Backstage
Get paid to learn a skilled trade with IATSE Local 30 — the professional stagehands of Central Indiana. No tuition. No student debt. A real union career.
Paid From Day One
This is an earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship. You work real shows and draw real wages while you train — not after.
3 Years to Journeyman
A structured three-year program, divided into trimesters beginning each November, with one destination: full Journeyman status.
Every Craft on the Stage
Train across the disciplines that build live events: carpentry, sound and light, video, rigging, and special effects.
Built for People Who Already Work With Their Hands
If you have swung a hammer, run a soundboard, driven a forklift, or pulled cable, you already have a head start. Local 30 stagehands come from construction sites, warehouses, welding shops, AV crews, and touring road crews — people who know how to build things, solve problems, and get a show up on time.
No theater background required. We teach the craft — you bring the work ethic.
What You Will Be Part Of
Local 30 crews build and run the concerts, theater productions, conventions, and broadcast events happening across Indianapolis and Central Indiana. As an apprentice you are on those crews from the start, learning from working IATSE professionals on real productions — then following the same path they took to Journeyman status.
Ready to Get Started?
Applications are accepted during the first full week of June each year — but questions are welcome any time.