A.C.T Lighting Supplies Ed Sector with Claypaky and MA Products for Photonapalooza and Stagecraft Institute

	A.C.T's George Masek and the North Carolina School of the Arts participants in the 15th annual Photonapalooza.

A.C.T Lighting, Inc. continues its support of the educational community by providing students with cutting-edge equipment used by lighting professionals worldwide. Most recently A.C.T Lighting supplied Claypaky luminaires and grandMA2 consoles to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of Claypaky luminaires and MA Lighting products in North America.

The school of design and production (D&P) at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts showcased the talents of students in the lighting department at the 15th annual Photonapalooza during its Intensive Arts mini-term.

At Photonapalooza senior lighting students and underclassmen create short, themed lighting compositions set to music. The event, staged in the Freedman Theatre, is free to the public and includes open discussions of the work and an audience vote to determine the winner.

Almost 400 people attended Photonapalooza -- the biggest turnout ever for the event. Thirty-eight students formed five competing groups, which presented dazzling lighting and projection displays set to music representing "Disneylands."

A.C.T Lighting's association with Photonapalooza dates back to 2009. For this last show A.C.T furnished students with an array of Claypaky products: six Scenius, 16 Sharpy, and six A.leda B-EYE K20 fixtures. "A.C.T loaned us Claypaky Mythos last year, and we were lucky enough to get Scenius this year," says professor of lighting technology Eric Rimes. "It was the first time that the students used Scenius; the fixture's functionality and flexibility gave them a lot of options. It's great that the students are able to use Claypaky products -- it prepares them for going out into the real world where they will spec their own fixtures."

The students also used Sharpys to create fan patterns and B-EYE K20s for colorful aerial effects.

New this year to Photonapalooza was an MDG Atmosphere hazer, also from A.C.T Lighting, which was a popular favorite. "Everyone had haze in the air," says Rimes. "It proved to be such a good product that we bought one of our own from A.C.T afterwards."

Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas was founded eleven years ago by Don and Jane Childs and a group of friends to offer a better, more efficient way to train practitioners in all areas of live entertainment. SILV is a one-of-a-kind intensive training program where students from throughout the US around the world meet, learn from, and network with leading experts in live entertainment.

A.C.T Lighting has a longtime relationship with Stagecraft supplying Claypaky fixtures and grandMA2 consoles to the school's annual Big Rig for their three-week class "Movers, Media, and Rock'n'Roll." "We want to provide students with the latest technology," says director Jane Childs. "We believe if students learn on the best, they can work with any equipment they encounter. Claypaky and grandMA2 are two of our favorite product lines for student training."

Childs notes that Stagecraft's summer term is so intense that "each week is the equivalent of and has more contact hours than a three credit college class. We are hands-on with the equipment, and our teachers are all working professionals who volunteer their time for the future of our industry. But no program can afford to have all the latest gear. That's why we are so very fortunate to have friends like A.C.T."

Approximately 80 students attend the SILV's classes annually, and 30 of those are enrolled in the "Movers, Media and Rock'n'Roll." They work in small groups on multiple equipment setups as together they load-in the equivalent of a large rock and roll tour. "We need five to ten units of everything," Childs explains. "The students work in teams of three on each two console models which feature the grandMA2 full size console. We have lots of Sharpys -- we fell in love with them when A.C.T sent them to us fresh off the boat from Italy. We love Mythos, too!"

Childs says that A.C.T contributes to Stagecraft in other ways, as well. "Our students often have questions about the equipment that nobody's ever asked. But A.C.T's technical desk is always available to answer them." In addition, she says that A.C.T's George Masek "tries to teach a class every summer when his schedule permits."

Last year A.C.T Lighting also provided Webster University's Conservatory of Theater Arts with four Scenius spots for Shakespeare's Macbeth. The conservatory, based in Webster Groves, Missouri, aims to train professionals from day one with Equity rules and the latest real-world technology. The conservatory used its own grandMA2 Light console, from A.C.T Lighting, for the production.