The main funder of the operations of the Newseum is The Freedom Forum, a non-partisan foundation. Jim Updike, vice president of technology for the Freedom Forum and for the Newseum, points out, "doing the outside news broadcasts and programmes from here is an important part of our mission. We have done any number of television shows here from network newscasts all the way to our own programming, which we do in conjunction with other foundations and museums. We have two studios."
Updike has been with the Newseum project since it began in Arlington, VA. "We had our first little starter-museum over in Arlington, where Barbizon provided all of our studio lighting. It was natural when we came here, to bring Barbizon along with us. This was a huge project with a lot of different elements that Barbizon stepped up to and took ownership."
Barbizon provided the lighting and rigging integration for the Annenberg Theatre, which is a 535 seat, multi-purpose venue. "Its main function during the Newseum hours is the I-Witness 4D: A Time Travel Adventure," says Updike. The show was produced by Cortina Productions with lighting design by Nancy Schertler.
Barbizon, with its subcontractor Pook Diemont and Ohl (PDO) furnished and installed an integrated motorized rigging system consisting of DeSisti batten hoists, Trumpf 95 and Cue-Track curtain track systems from Gerriets, various J.R. Clancy winches, and custom roll drops built by Hawkeye Scenic. A custom logic cabinet by PDO provides the control integration which is in turn controlled by an ETC Congo Light Server. The Congo Light Server is triggered via RS-232 from the Electrosonic show control system.
(Jim Evans)
