Production Futures Returns to Production Park for Final 2026 Tour Stop

Production Futures has confirmed its return to Production Park, Wakefield, for the final "ON TOUR" event of 2026. This follows record-breaking attendance at Manchester's AO Arena and London's Roundhouse, where nearly 7,000 visitors engaged with the industry's leading manufacturers and production experts.

The Wakefield event will focus on bridging the gap between education and employment, offering hands-on workshops in lighting, audio engineering, and virtual production, alongside professional CV guidance. A centerpiece of the day will be the 2026 Breakthrough Talent Awards, celebrating young achievers across 23 categories and providing winners with invaluable mentorship from top-tier industry professionals.

Following highly successful visits to the AO Arena in Manchester and London's Roundhouse, which smashed previous attendance records, Production Futures promises another action-packed day which will promote employability, transferable skills, diversity, free training, and networking, as well as presenting paid work opportunities to newcomers across the live event and broadcast production industry.

A host of world-leading manufacturers, supply and production companies, venues and distributors, will have representatives present at the event to provide advice, information and insights, and discuss specific job and training opportunities. As well as manufacturers and suppliers, Production Futures also works closely with a range of organisations, initiatives, education partners and associations, connecting employment and training opportunities to a diverse pool of talent. They too will have representatives available to answer questions and offer support.

Visitors will enjoy a packed schedule, which includes special guests, talks and panels, while industry workshops will offer young visitors the chance to engage in a wide range of activities, from preparing to be job-ready with CV guidance, to hands on exploration of lighting programming, CAD, audio engineering, stage design, as well as getting under the skin of music, touring and festival production, virtual production, and event logistics and planning.

Production Futures' Breakthrough Talent Awards 2026 will once again be presented during a lunchtime slot at the event, allowing the greatest possible number of visitors to celebrate the achievements of young people across the production industries and be inspired by their success. With the support and sponsorship of key industry partners, the Awards cover twenty-three different categories, reflecting the diversity of opportunity within the production industries. Previous winners have gone on to enjoy flourishing careers with a wide range of companies or have taken up roles as in-demand freelancers with the skills and confidence to meet any challenge. This year saw two previous Breakthrough Talent Award winners secure major recognition at the TPi Awards.

Hannah Eakins of Production Futures looks ahead to the November event: "We're excited to be returning to Production Park on the back of two absolutely amazing events in Manchester and London, which saw a combined total of around 7000 visitors. The Manchester show also hosted the launch of our Make Noise! campaign - a collaboration with Audiotonix funded by LIVE Trust designed to raise awareness of the wide range of behind the scenes careers in production. Each successive event creates an even greater buzz amongst our partners, who will once again demonstrate their willingness to engage with the next generation of talent by giving so generously of their time and resources.

"Nominations for the Breakthrough Talent Awards open in July so we encourage companies, colleges and colleagues to put forward nominations, and also encourage young people who are active within the production sector to nominate themselves! Once again the Awards are centred on 'access and opportunity', with winners' prizes going beyond the traditional 'glass trophy' to include mentoring sessions with our judges and sponsors, who are leading industry professionals."

More about the event and awards here: productionfutures.com/