Community Bible was the first major project for Morris Integration, a branch of Morris. In specifying the Clay Paky fixtures, Morris had to meet Community Bible's goals of lighting the Sunday worship services and occasional special musical programmes, the live music and DVD recording sessions it hosts for outside artists, and community events that might be scheduled during the year.
"We had to create a reliable, flexible system that could handle any type of event in the auditorium," says Danny Rosenbalm, COO of Morris Integration. "Several criteria existed for selecting products: reliability; flexibility of looks, colors, patterns and movement; and efficiency - both in power consumption and weight."
"The need for flexibility in lighting was essential," agrees Philip Hagood, director of business development at Morris Integration. "Sunday worship services require a more conservative approach to lighting while the music tapings and DVD productions need an impactful concert lighting package."
Since Community Bible live streams its worship services and other church events on the Internet "special attention was also paid to how the live service translated to TV," says Rosenbalm. "Hanging positions and lighting angles were carefully selected to create interesting looks that translated to both the live audience and the cameras."
Morris chose 16 B-EYE K10s and 10 Mythos fixtures as the new complement of moving lights. The auditorium has a network of seven catwalks over the stage and house. Hang bars at the bottom of the catwalks provide two hanging positions for the fixtures on each structure.
"The rental inventory of the light and sound division of Morris has K10s, so we've seen how powerful they are in a large concert rig," notes Hagood. "The K10 is a premier, concert-quality light with a complete range of capabilities that give Community Bible the best bang for their buck in a professional fixture. It's a great stage wash, has wonderful prism and beam effects, and is extremely bright for its size."
Just a few months after their installation, the new lighting fixtures have already "settled in well," says Hagood. "Community Bible has had nothing but good things to say about the impact of the lights," he reports. "They've even changed the tenor of the summer Vacation Bible School. The lights gave a fun, upbeat, exciting look to a roomful of kids - adding a lot of motion and colour has revolutionized that program."
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky area manager for North and Latin America, added, "Morris has been a great partner in many of their ventures and we're very pleased to see how they're using our lights for this new renovation."
(Jim Evans)
