About the Foundation
The ESTA Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization established in early 2005 to create and support educational and charitable programs for the entertainment technology industry. The primary goals of the Foundation are to fill an industry-wide need for practically educated and trained entertainment technicians, develop public and governmental awareness of the entertainment technology career path, and to assist industry professionals in times of crises.
The ESTA Foundation hopes to accomplish these goals by publishing and marketing educational programs to establish and provide the knowledge, skills and training necessary to pursue careers in the entertainment technology industry; funding research, publications and education on safety and the advancement of technology within the entertainment technology industry; providing scholarships and grants to individuals or related organizations to further education in the entertainment technology industry; and providing financial aid to members of the entertainment technology community who demonstrate need based on serious illness, accident or death.
The work of the Foundation is carried out by volunteers serving on an eleven member Board of Directors or on one of the Foundation Committees. A Foundation Administrator assists the volunteers in their work.
Learn more about the Foundation
Behind the Scenes
Behind the Scenes provides financial support to entertainment technology industry professionals when they are ill or injured. Individuals and organizations contribute money to the program, and Behind the Scenes provides grants for emergency situations. With this initiative, our industry can make sure our colleagues are cared for when tragedy strikes.
Many people in the entertainment technology industry lack health insurance and other financial support systems that are common for professionals in other fields. Behind the Scenes helps industry members through crises, such as serious illness, injury or death by fitting each grant to the recipient's needs. Funds can be used for medical care and living expenses such as rent, mortgage, utilities, food, transportation and child care. Your support of Behind the Scenes helps make an immediate impact in a time of need.
Since May of 2006, Behind the Scenes has provided over $200,000 in grants to industry professionals or their surviving family members to assist in a variety of ways including: short term living expenses such as food, housing and utilities; and assistance with medical bills, health insurance, physical therapy, and medications.
Behind the Scenes is working to raise $5 million to create an endowment so our industry will be able to help our colleagues for many years into the future. Please contribute today. Any amount will be appreciated. Every contribution will help.
eSET
eSET: Essential Skills for the Entertainment Technician
eSET will be an Internet based educational portal that will enable the user to develop a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental knowledge and skills associated with the entertainment technology industry.
The creation of the eSET program was born of the realization that many current entry-level entertainment technicians lack fundamental knowledge and skills related to the industry. The resulting goal of eSET is to provide technicians with the knowledge and skills they will need to function effectively across all fields of the live entertainment industry and a tool to organize and guide their learning.
The user of the eSET program will be able to focus on self-selected topics utilizing a sequential approach to learning drawn from a database of textual and graphical content related to entertainment technology. Further, eSET will provide tools to better assist the user in organizing selected materials in a meaningful fashion, enhancing the learning experience and providing a ready reference to important data.
For educators, the availability of in-depth materials and the ability to organize them for students will better enable them to assist and engage student learning while providing the student with the most up to date information available.
Facility managers will be able to collect venue-specific information to better assist in the training of their workforce.
Employers will have a new and powerful tool to identify employee skills and readiness for work and a mechanism to support further training of their staffs.
Individuals will have a vast source of technical support materials literally at their fingertips.
eSET will be a new benchmark of excellence in the entertainment industry and will serve as the principal gateway to knowledge essential for a successful career. Offering educators, managers, employers and individuals the definitive tool by which they can teach, learn and prosper within the industry.
eSET: Ready for today, prepared for tomorrow.
