Blog Post

Passion Meets Career - James Dewit

James Dewit, a 2014 UNI graduate, joined the Gallagher Bluedorn backstage team on an internship for his music technology major. Through his internship, Dewit did weekly special assignment audio work. Followin

James Dewit

g his internship, he stayed on as a stagehand doing audio work – eventually becoming a supervisor. 

“A big advantage of working at the Gallagher Bluedorn is the opportunity to have a broad base of training and still focus on a special interest,” Dewit said. “Working at Gallagher Bluedorn definitely helped kickstart my career.”

After graduation, Dewit spent some time working on union stagehand calls around Iowa. He eventually took a job with Disney in Orlando working as an audio engineer at Epcot in the America Gardens Theater. There, he worked on the large shows and concert series for four years.

In March of 2018, Dewit returned to his hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as a full-time engineer for the Wired Production Group. They travel through Iowa and sometimes out of state doing live audio for corporate events and concerts.

Dewit said that in addition to learning task skills, as a supervisor at Gallagher Bluedorn, he got to practice directing people – a skill he uses daily since Wired Productions hires crews for many kinds of work.

With industry experience under his belt, Dewit has some advice for current students.

“Students should take advantage of every shift they can work, every time they can ask a question, and talk to the touring staff about their work,” he said. “Stay apprised of new technologies because they will change, but learn the physics of your work-the laws of physics don’t change. The fundamentals are core. Once you have them, you can help work with confidence on what’s next in the industry.”

Now, with his impressive background and experiences, Dewit gets to help select new technologies that help move his company forward. We can’t wait to see what’s next for Dewit.

Written by Margaret Empie