Bandit Lites Hosts Local Children's Organization

	Bandit Lites hosts SHADES of Development for hands-on learning about color and light.

More than 100 children streamed into Bandit Lites' Knoxville, Tennessee office, pointing at gold records, autographed posters, and glowing blue LED lights. Over the course of two days, two groups of children ranging in ages from 5 to 13 were treated to a light and color presentation by a member of Bandits' engineering team, a light show by acclaimed designer Will Twork, and a facilitated practical application with lighting consoles and fixtures.

The field trip, enabled by SHADES of Development, a not-for-profit organization that works to provide afterschool and summer programming to children in several Knox county schools, endorses the idea of "adventure learning," or capturing teachable moments by connecting real-life experiences and interactions to the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical developmental goals for children.

Supplementing the curriculum provided by the children's series, The Magic School Bus Gets a Bright Idea, the children learned about light waves, how light travels, in addition to witnessing demonstrations of reflection, refraction, additive and subtractive color mixing. The children also took turns using a touch screen DMX console for their own color mixing, while another station provided hands-on use of a Martin Mini Mac to play with light movement, color, and gobos.

"The Bandit staff did an amazing job using the entertainment lighting platform to connect that experience to academic content and possible career opportunities," said SHADES of Development president, Sindy Dawkins-Schade. "Bandit Lites provided an opportunity for our children to experience firsthand how the principles they learn in science class are applied in the real world. Many children had a new world of opportunities opened up to them through their experience and interactions at Bandit Lites. Thank you for sharing your expertise with our children!"

Bandit chair Michael Strickland expressed the firm's feelings saying, "We are overjoyed to have tomorrow's future leaders in our midst. To watch the excitement and enthusiasm in the faces of these young boys and girls is one of the greatest thrills in life. We are pleased we can give back in such a way!"

See Bandit Lites at PLASA Focus: Nashville, February 18-19, 2014.