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More Speakers Announced!
Sonja Walker • January 20, 2025
More Speakers Announced!
The countdown to Showlight 2025 is upon us and it’s time to announce the next round of speakers engaged to share their experiences over three glorious days in Dijon this May.
With topics drawing from innovations in mixed and multimedia lighting, the illumination of spaces from the smallest venue to the wide open sky, and the subject of climate change and sustainability initiatives, here’s the next selection to tantalise and titivate your technical tastebuds!
Lighting ‘Cine-Theatre’
Nick Schlieper, one of Australia’s most highly awarded designers, will examine the considerable challenges posed by lighting Cine-Theatre, a style of production which utilises live feed video combined with pre-recorded footage with which the performers constantly interact. The term was coined by a critic, writing about a ground-breaking production of The Picture Of Dorian Gray
in Sydney, in 2020 and applied to subsequent productions of Jekyll and Hyde
and Dracula.
Small Venues, Gigantic Ideas
Argentinian lighting designers, Sophya Acosta
and Luciana
Suppicich
from Sophya Acosta Lighting Design Studio, specialise in creating unique magical moments within the spacial and technical constraints of small venues. Together they will disclose how these restrictions can inspire the most extraordinary and ingenious ideas.
Embracing the Blue Hour – lighting design under an open sky
Phil Supple
has created outdoor lighting designs for large scale performances, artworks, public and private commissions for over 25 years. Celebrating the rewards of an outdoor lighting design practice, he will explore the delivery of landscape lighting and lighting artworks under transitional, dynamic, and sometimes unruly conditions in both urban and rural contexts.
Not the End of the World
Inspired by Hannah Ritchie’s book of the same name, Bryan Raven, erstwhile MD of White Light and champion of sustainability, takes a more positive and optimistic view of the battle against climate change and the wider sustainability topic with examples taken from his experiences with White Light and working with various organisations in the live events sector.
The musical 40-45 brings 360 Degrees of Emotion
With over 30 years of experience in creating immersive visual experiences, founder and creative director of Painting with Light, Luc Peumans, will use the new-style immersive musical experience of the musical, 40-45, to show how he blended emotional storytelling with high-tech motion technology, innovative lighting and multimedia design to maintaining the fluidity and intensity of the narrative.
More speakers will be added to the website in the coming weeks and months – keep checking in here www.showlight.org/speakers
to find out more, or better still, join the Showlight Mailing List (www.showlight.org) to be amongst the first to know!
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Showlight Bursaries are now available for early career delegates! Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Diamond Sponsor, Ayrton, Showlight has a limited number of reduced priced conference places available to early career freelance professionals. To apply for these places please submit a resume/CV, portfolio or website, along with a maximum 200-word (1200 character) statement describing your career and interests, and why you would like to attend Showlight 2025 in Dijon this May. The deadline for applications is 15 March 2025. Showlight wants to encourage as many people as possible to be able to attend this unique conference and appreciates that, for those early in their freelance professional career, the cost of attending can be daunting. Showlight already has a well-established Student Sponsorship scheme in place for which applications are already open. The Emerging Professional Bursaries form a completely new initiative, made possible by Ayrton’s generous support, that complements this scheme, enabling an even greater range of delegates to participate and enjoy Showlight. “Ayrton is proud to support emerging professionals at Showlight,” says Ayrton CEO, Chris Ferrante. “Access to industry events is crucial for early-career freelancers, yet often financially challenging. By sponsoring these bursaries, we’re helping remove barriers, ensuring emerging talent can connect, learn, and contribute to the future of lighting design. Investing in the next generation benefits the entire industry, and we’re delighted to play a part in shaping its future.” Applications and 200-word statements can be submitted directly via the Showlight website here Showlight would like to acknowledge the amazing support it receives from all its sponsors, a list of whom can be found on the Showlight website ( www.showlight.org/our-sponsors ). Their generosity allows Showlight to maintain the standards education, entertainment and networking expected of this unique lighting quadrennial, and we look forward to delivering another sparkling event in May. More announcements will be made in the lead up to Showlight 2025. Join the Showlight Mailing List ( www.showlight.org ) to be amongst the first to know all the breaking news as it happens.
Calling All Students! The Showlight Student Sponsorship deadline is near! Don’t delay! Get your application in today! Applications close on Friday 31 January 2025. Tutors – please make sure your students are aware of this fantastic opportunity! Showlight’s sponsorship scheme is open to students and recent graduates of lighting for the performing arts, events, broadcast, film and architecture. Successful applicants enjoy free-of-charge entry to Showlight 2025, with access to the full Programme of Papers, admission to the exhibition of major lighting equipment manufacturers, networking opportunities during the daily breaks and lunch, as well as a place at one of the Company Dinners on the Tuesday evening and the Conference Dinner on Wednesday evening. Around 30 places are available but spaces are filling up fast. Here’s what former Showlight student participant and presenter of Sweeney Todd – A Site Specific Experience , Amy Mae Smith, had to say about Showlight 2017: “Showlight is an inspiring few days where you can meet and learn from lighting designers, programmers and video designers that you would never normally be able to meet, from all over the world. People from Theatre, TV, live events and more. It is a great chance to meet a mix of people with different views, approaches and styles to design. A brilliant event with the right mix of talks, exhibitors and tours.” Amy Mae Smith You can see a snippet of her presentation here – just after Durham Marenghi’s paper about lighting the Olympics! Amy Mae Smith at Showlight 2017 Students - don’t miss your chance to be part of this unique lighting quadrennial networking event. Each successful applicant is sponsored by one of the Showlight exhibitors and will receive a £500.00 stipend to put towards their travel and accommodation. In return, each student will be expected to help their sponsor with the exhibition stand fit up on Monday 19 May and the de-rig on Thursday 22 May and will benefit from being part of the team during the exhibition opening times. Stands are small so this is an easy set up and a chance to build a relationship with your sponsor, get to know key people from their team and what it is to take part in a bespoke exhibition. Showlight is an invaluable environment for those just starting their careers in lighting to network with and learn from established professionals and potential future employees within the industry. It also enables you to make new friends from other educational establishments who will be going into the same industry as you. If you are attending – or have recently graduated from – a lighting course and want to be involved, submit your application via the link on the Showlight website at www.showlight.org/students no later than 31 January 2025 . Please answer all questions and provide a link to your portfolio and/or LinkedIN profile, or other professional social media site, as part of the selection process. Showlight only comes round every four years, so don’t delay in getting your application in today!
Showlight is extremely excited to announce the first of its speakers who will present Papers in May. The selection draws from a mixture of lighting disciplines covering site specific installations, mixed lighting challenges, product innovation and circus spectaculars with speakers, new and familiar, travelling to Dijon to be part of at this exceptional networking quadrennial. Here’s the first of what the Showlight 2025 line-up has to offer: The Magic of Cirque du Soleil Mikki Kunttu will explain how he turns magic into reality as the lighting & set designer and programmer for a number of spectacular Cirque du Soleil shows. The Power of Light – From Myth to Science to Control Anne Militello will examine how lighting techniques used today to stir emotional reactions, date back centuries to when man first incorporated light into ritual. From narratives based in mythology and science, these techniques were later adapted with technology to induce awe, ecstasy and fear as a more efficient way to exert power and control. Though Dusk into Darkness Simon Corder will present some musings on design practice, working with daylight becoming night, the natural marriage of set and lighting design, long-throw follow spots, and not being fully in control…using his work at the Hedeland Arena in Denmark as an example. MAYRIT. Light and Vibration Ezequiel Nobili , from the Spanish lighting association (AAI) will engage us with a site-specific work for the LuzMadrid 2023 Festival which used olfactory, tactile, visual and auditory devices to create a multisensory experience to leave a lasting mark in the memory of the audience. The Role of Dynamic Lighting in Two Iconic Milanese Sites: The Cathedral and the Shoah Memorial. Marco Miglioli examines how lighting in architecture transcends the mere function of illuminating spaces, changing and guiding visitors through their journey. Much like in theatre, it creates different scenes evoking emotions and memory. Creating Light Without Electricity…and an 828m facelift David Gray will take us on a journey through fictitious worlds where the original IP has no ‘electricity’, bring us custom character fixtures created for the Smurfs, Kung Fu Panda and Shrek, and finish with the construction challenges and recent control upgrade of the 1000 exterior strobe installation on the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. The Showlight Papers Committee continues to work its way through an entertaining swathe of submissions but is always looking for more! If you have an idea or a project to present, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a brief outline here: papers@showlight.org More speakers will be added to the website in the coming weeks and months – keep checking in here www.showlight.org/speakers to find out more, or better still, join the Showlight Mailing List ( www.showlight.org ) to be amongst the first to know!
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