Chris Van Goethem

started in 1983 as a technician in a rental company, as most of us in this time. By self-education he became stage manager and travelled around Europe with a lot of Belgian companies. Later on he started to work as consultant and educator in technical theatre.

His fields of interest are light, mechanics, production and special effects. He consulted the creation of the Flemish professional profiles and standards for theatre technicians and the start-up of several education programs, in initial as well as adult education.

Van Goethem teaches at the stage management and technical theatre department of RITCS (EHB), Sabbattini Antwerp en Marotech Oujda (Marokko), three education programs he developed. He is a guest lecturer at Pianofabriek, Arteveldehogeschool, SFP, Accademia Teatro alla Scala, YRGO (Goteborg) and Frans Schartaus Handelsinstitut/Business Institute in Stockholm.

He teaches History of Technical Theatre, Research skills, production management and Special Effects. He is responsible for the expertise centre for technical theatre of RITS, school of arts, Erasmus University College Brussels and is involved in research on education, competence management, history and technical theatre. (https://www.podiumtechnieken.be/en )

He researches the history of technical theatre and was part of the “Changement a vue” research project At the moment he is part of the “Fading lights” project. Both projects are conducted in cooperation with SADA, Uniarts, Stockholm.

Van Goethem wrote “belichtingstechniek voor podiumtechnici” (Lighting techniques for stage technicians) and “Basic safety for the theatre and event industry” (ETTE) and publishes in professional magazines like Proscenium (BE), STEPP magazine (BE), Zichtlijnen (NL), Die Vierte Wand (DE) and Proscen (SE).

He is a long time OISTAT member, active in Education and Research commissions. He was involved in international projects like Scenofest (Prague), Wakha-Wakha (Morocco), Scenart (Romania), FABRICA (Brasil) and World Stage Design (Wales), ETTE (European Safety Passport), Wood and Canvas (Belgium), and the Time Line Project. He chaired the ESCO commission for Arts, entertainment and recreation, developing Europe wide occupation and skills descriptions.

He is member of the board of STEPP, the Belgian professional organization of technicians.