The ALD Recognizes Team Behind the Successful #SaveStageLighting Campaign and Launches Fundraising Support

The ALD has launched a GoFundME page (www.gofundme.com/savestagelighting-campaign) in a bid to adequately compensate the tireless efforts of the freelance members of the ALD who drove the Save Stage Lighting campaign to its significant success last year. Jumping in at a moment's notice their unfaltering commitment contributed to major exemptions being secured.

The formal fundraising enterprise was launched following the recognition of the work of Rob Halliday, Robbie Butler, and Paule Constable at the London-based annual Lighting Lunch, which brought the attending audience to its feet in standing ovation. As a mark of thanks for the outstanding contribution and hard work given by the group, ALD lifetime memberships were presented.

The volunteer trio shouldered the vast and unprecedented workload that became necessary at the beginning of 2018, to highlight the very grave situation presented by the EU's proposed Eco Design regulations. The lighting industry faced a non-discriminatory situation that would affect the largest of live production tours as much as the smallest of theatres.

With just three months to make an impact, before the consultation period for the EU proposals closed to industry persuasion, the team behind the ALD's SSL campaign catapulted the devastating significance of the potential rulings around lighting, on to the radars and priority lists of lighting professionals, manufacturers, producers, venue managements, and politicians.

The trio also pushed the #SaveStageLighting cause into the public eye via an online petition recording around 85,000 signatures and reinforced by the highly visual "Light Up" campaign where the #SSL message was projected onto the exteriors and interiors of theatre buildings across Europe.

The campaign also required the assessment and production of a wide array of written documents and briefing papers, as well as individual meetings to inform and enable wider understanding of the issues. Print articles were created, media interviews were undertaken, and public meetings were held to explain the potential damage of proposed legislation.

The awareness created, and the success achieved, is due to the extraordinary team of volunteers, none of whom have formal lobbying training or campaign experience. Mobilized purely by the desire to protect the performance lighting industry, they freely gave -- and continue to give -- months of their time.

The ALD aims to raise £35,000. The money will be used to compensate the team for some of the work they have already done. They have put their own careers and paid work on hold in order to safeguard performance lighting. The money will also provide a reserve to help educate and support others in the face of future Eco-Design challenges.

Johanna Town, chair of the ALD, comments, "These singular circumstances call for a singular solution. The entire lighting industry has benefitted from the work of a very few tireless freelance lighting designers and practitioners. I feel a debt of gratitude not only as chair of the ALD but as an individual affected by these ongoing proposals. I know others will feel the same way and give what they can."

Please give generously, at: www.gofundme.com/savestagelighting-campaign