Sometimes what happens in Vegas leaves Vegas. Just ask the participants of Stagecraft Institute Las Vegas 2013 (SILV) who left town with valuable knowledge about live entertainment production they didn't have before. Once again, A.C.T Lighting, the exclusive distributor of Clay Paky and MA Lighting in North America, was pleased to be among the representatives involved with SILV providing equipment and participating in sessions.
SILV annually strives to fill a need that traditional schools cannot provide. In a full range program made up of a series of eight independent one-week summer sessions, which begin in early June, students receive valuable training for employment in state-of-the-art live entertainment production. SILV takes a hands-on approach to education with working professionals sharing their knowledge and experience about what it takes to develop today's skills.
"SILV is a great program that attracts some really talented young people who have a future in the industry," says George Masek, vice president of automated lighting at A.C.T Lighting. "The event helps create a solid knowledge base and trains future users of Clay Paky fixtures and grandMA2 consoles. It also strengthens our bonds with the designers and programmers who staff the classes." Many instructors hail from Disneyland, Disney Imagineering, Cirque du Soleil, anddomestic and international concert tours, he notes.
Chaos Visual Productions provided a large complement of Clay Paky fixtures to SILV 2013: six Sharpy Washes, 18 Sharpys, 18 Alpha Spot HPE 1200s, six Alpha Spot HPE 300s and 12 Alpha Profile 700s. On the control side A.C.T Lighting supplied three grandMA2 consoles.
"SILV 2013 was the biggest I've seen yet in terms of equipment and participation," says Masek. "The response to the quality and performance of the largely Clay Paky rig was very positive. The gear worked exceptionally well, especially considering the heat of the venue and the fact that everything ran all day for weeks."
Accoridng to Director Jane Childs "Watching the students go from bad (watch your finger) typists on a console to full-out on-the-fly-touch-typing while watching the images they were producing was truly amazing. This is the kind of hands-on learning experience that my husband Donald envisioned when we started SILV!"