The equipment will be installed by the end of October, and will provide theatre and studio lighting, as well as furnishing the lighting playground where undergraduate and postgraduate students can work alongside practicing professionals to push the lighting equipment to its limits. It will be situated in newly refurbished buildings, which include a lighting playground, two-floor design studios, editing suites, as well as music practice rooms and brand-new rehearsal spaces.
Lighting tutor Nick Moran says: "Thanks to the award of Centre for Excellence, we have been able to spend over £100k on state-of-the-art lighting and video equipment. This will enable students to develop and extend their technical and artistic capabilities. It will also further Central's links with industry both as a technical proving ground for new and developing equipment and as an experimental space for practicing professionals and staff working alongside highly trained students."
This will mean, says Moran, that from the very beginning of their training students will be practising on equipment akin to that used by the BBC and West End theatres. "Leading dynamic lighting manufacturer Martin Professional and installer Stage Electrics have been instrumental in providing the technology to make this happen. The Martin fixtures chosen were Mac 700s which are virtually silent."
Moran says of the fixtures: "We needed hard-edged moving lights that we could use in our theatre - that meant it had to be quiet, which the Mac 700 can be, as well as offering the student and professional designers as many options as possible. Apart from quiet operation, the smooth, even CYM colour, even for paler shades, and the effects wheel both offer great possibilities for lighting designers. The Mac 700 offers high end performance that we can use in our intimate theatre space."
Stage Electrics' business development manager Darren Beckley commented: "We are thrilled to support the CSSD with this project and have worked closely with the school to choose technical equipment at the forefront of the industry. This will create a state of the art training environment allowing students to uniquely benefit and gain invaluable knowledge aiding their future in the industry."
(Lee Baldock)
