AfterShock × IATSE × Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware
Amplify Buildworks
The IATSE Training Pipeline — where youth build a professional sound system, run it for pay, and step onto a union career path.
Talent is everywhere. Access isn’t.
A STEM program that ends in a paycheck.
Amplify Buildworks is an out-of-school-time program that uses hands-on audio engineering as the entry point to STEM, music, and real careers. Young people build a professional-grade sound system from scratch — learning physics, electronics, and acoustics — then operate it, earn from it, and follow a direct pathway into unionized live-production work. It grew from AfterShock’s belief that a sound system is more than gear: it’s a platform to give ideas a stage and bring communities together.
Our flagship program
Build → Operate → Earn → Career
Phase 1 · Build
Speaker Building
Ages 7–18 build a professional-grade sound system from scratch — learning physics, electronics, and acoustics. Components from B&C Speakers; designs from HOQS.
Phase 2 · Operate
Deploy & Mix
Setup, placement, tuning, phase alignment, and live mixing — signal flow, gain staging, monitors, and soundcheck on a Yamaha DM3-D console.
Phase 3 · Earn
Paid Audio Gigs
Teens (14–17) earn roughly $100 per event running real system rentals and event support. Built systems stay at the Club as a revenue-generating asset.
Phase 4 · Career
Union Pipeline
At 18+, participants enter free IATSE crew training, then a paid 6-month shadow apprenticeship ($500/mo stipend), then full-time production internships.
Components from B&C Speakers · designs from the High Order Quarter-wave Society (HOQS) · trained on Yamaha DM3-D.
One program. Three lasting wins.
Who wins when you host a build
Students
Youth gain hands-on STEM skills, real income as a teen crew, and a direct line to union careers in live production.
Clubs & Schools
The system your youth build stays at your Club — professional A/V at no ongoing rental cost, and it generates rental revenue.
The Industry
IATSE and local production groups gain a diverse, well-trained pipeline of crew who learned on real gear from day one.
Proof — it already works
The 2024 Newark Pilot
We ran the Sound System Culture & Speaker Building Workshop with Maverick Studios at the Greater Newark Boys & Girls Club. Youth built a complete sound system over the program and closed it out with a student-produced public showcase at Newark’s new playground — performing on the very system they built, mixed on a real Yamaha DM3-D console.
Backed where it counts
Endorsed by the people who matter
IATSE — the union behind entertainment
The 170,000-member stage & live-events union formally backs our work and opened a direct training pathway, including IATSE Local 8’s new Philadelphia Training & Education Center.
— Jonas N. Loeb, IATSE Communications
Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware
They formally endorse the expansion — committing students, host sites, ongoing programming, and transportation. Their teen-center director now sits on the AfterShock board.
— Bernard Parker, BGC Delaware
Growing reach
The 2026 Delaware Expansion
NEW CLUB BUILDS
STUDENTS IN THE BUILD PHASE
DOVER · MILFORD · LAUREL · BROWN-FRAIM
APPRENTICESHIP STIPEND
Working pros, not just teachers
The team behind the build
Bernard Parker
Board Member & Music Director
Elliot Mangini
Lead Curriculum & Engineering
Gio Galvez
Mentor & Founding Contributor
Louis Piotti
Founder & Executive Director
Remy Poulin
Live Audio Specialist
We don’t do this alone
Trusted partners
Let’s build at your Club
Give your youth a system — and a future.
Tell us about your site and timeline. We’ll bring the model, the mentors, and the partners.
AfterShock Fam · a Philadelphia 501(c)(3) · EIN 85-1124462 · 11844 Basile Road, Philadelphia, PA 19154 · (215) 407-5123 · ljpiotti@aftershockfam.org