Live Performance Award
Covers theatrical, musical, operatic, dance, circus, comedy and stage productions. Three main employee categories - Production and Support Staff (across 4 sub-sectors: touring sound / lighting, crewing, factory sound / lighting, and other), Performers, and Musicians. Standard rate is Production Level 4. Touring sound / lighting carries higher rates with the 17.5% touring loading baked in.
Fully built. Rates, allowances, penalties and any required apprentice / junior rates are all wired to the rate resolver and have been verified against the consolidated award text and the latest pay guide.
What's built
- Production and Support Staff - Levels 1-8 plus Technical Manager, in both non-touring and touring sound / lighting variants.
- Performer classifications - C1G1, C1G2, C2, Supernumerary (on tour / not on tour), Opera Principal, plus the new Striptease Artists Part 7 classifications (bar / waiting and performer).
- Musician classifications - Conductor-Leader (corrected to weekly $1,561.00), Musician, Musician accompanying artists, Principal Musician, Vocalist, plus Repetiteurs.
- 17 performer / dancer wage-related allowances per cl. 32.2 / Schedule B.1 - Nude, ASM, Tour driver, TV / radio ad, four understudy weekly tiers, four understudy per-performance tiers, Dance Captain, Deputy / Rehearsal Director, Company dancer supervising classes, Wardrobe and make-up.
- 11 musician allowances per cl. 41.2 - Doubling 14.5% / 9.5%, Supply of music, Soloist, Setup time, Specialty +66.7%, Televised, Radio broadcast, Simulcast, AV recording, Audio recording.
- Production Part 8 allowances (Transmission, Tool weekly / daily) and 7 general travel allowances (cl. 14.3) - Airport, Accommodation tiers, Incidentals daily / weekly, Meals.
- Touring sound / lighting 17.5% loading, crewing 11pm-6am 52.5% loading, Sunday 4-hour minimum, child performer rates (45% / 55% under 14 / 16), audition paid after 3 in 28 days, sector-specific rest periods.
Known limitations
- Per-event / per-call / %-of-weekly-wage / composite '$X/hr + $Y/day' rates require the extended `award_rates` schema added by migration 2026_04_30_120000 - confirm that migration has run in your environment.
Setup & special instructions
- Each employee must be assigned a category - production_*, performer or musician - and a production sub-sector if production. Touring sound / lighting employees use a separate higher rate set with the 17.5% loading already baked in.
- Cleaners - between 6am and 7am - pay 120% rather than the higher non-cleaner rate.
- Casual loading IS paid on overtime in this award (per the audit) - opposite to many other awards.
- Conductor-Leader and the named musician classifications were previously stored as fabricated hourly × 38; they're now stored at the correct weekly figures from cl. 11.1 Level 15 with the by-the-call hourly retained as base_hourly_rate.
- • Live performance
- • Theatre
- • Opera
- • Dance
- • Musicians
- • Production crew
The consolidated award text is the authoritative source. Always confirm specific obligations against the award itself - Mployr's implementation status reflects what we've seeded; it does not replace legal advice.
Want to see this award running on your data?
We can demo a pay run on the live performance award using sample employees in a sandbox tenant - including any of the special-instruction steps above so you can see exactly what your team's day-to-day looks like.
Book a demo