Anne Militello, president of Vortex Lighting in Los Angeles and head of the graduate lighting department at California Institute of the Arts, returns as a faculty member for the second annual Live Design Concert Master Classes December 11 and 12 at USC in Los Angeles.
Militello will present The Art of Thinking Differently on December 3 during the Concert Master Classes. She will discuss the concert design process and how to avoid "the formula," including a discussion of finding the most artful solution for any budget and how to find creative inspiration for designs.
Having started her career in San Francisco in the '70s as a roadie for major acts, she was told point blank that she could never advance to lighting designer because of her gender. She then began working at the Magic Theater where she started her ongoing collaborative relationship with playwright Sam Shepard. While her theater career moved from the off-off Broadway to the Broadway stage, she continued to light bands in music club in the '80s at places like Danceteria, CBGB and the Mudd Club to name a few.
Years later, with the music business emerging from the dark ages of sexism, she resumed her concert career, this time as a designer and has lit such acts as Pearl Jam, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Robert Plant, Leonard Cohen, KD Lang, and more.
Militello has received numerous awards including lighting designer of the year at LDI, an OBIE award, the Waterbury Award, several Joseph Jefferson awards, and an American Theater Wing nomination.
For more information or to register, check out our CMC web page. Check out the full schedule here.