UK - The International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference is now less four weeks away and the daily timetable is revealed, showing where more than 30 sessions have been placed in the three-day schedule.
Since the first programme announcement and with Mark Rylance and Graham Vick as confirmed keynote speakers and the news of the Bridge Theatre session and visit, the Editorial Board has been working hard to confirm the speaker line-up.
Hot industry topic of the moment, lamps for stage lighting and the threat posed by new EU regulations, will be discussed in Bursting the Bubble: LED, Regulation and the Future of Lighting, when the question of how specifiers deal with a rapidly changing world in which environmental and regulatory factors are becoming ever more significant, will be investigated.
On the flip side, Raising the Standard will review the hard work of many individuals within the entertainment industry who have created and implement a raft of engineering standards over the last 20 years in both Europe and the USA.
Heavy Lifting: Stage Engineering, is it worth it? will examine the technologies behind three very different stage engineering systems and how the venues get the most out of them.
In The Move to Automation Product and the Connected Theatre, the views of the panel will be heard on custom theatre automation systems verses the move to standardise systems, which may see the engineering equivalent of open lighting and sound protocols, whilst Is it Real? The Use of Digital Technologies to Enhance Performance looks at the complex tools being used to create ground-breaking visual enhancements to the audience experience.
How ‘circular’ can the Theatre Industry be? will explore industrial strategy to transition towards a circular and sustainable economy; how ‘circular’ the entertainment sector currently is and what system shifts are required to gradually decouple business activity from the consumption of finite resources in our particular industry.
A selection of very diverse projects will be considered in New Theatres Showcase, balancing agreeably with The Role of Theatre Architecture in Creating Meaning, which will evaluate how theatre architecture can affect the language and meaning of performance.
Artistic directors will tell what they have learned from the buildings they run and how it impacts on the work they do in The Artistic Directors’ Perspective. Following on, dancers and choreographers in Bodies in Space will review rehearsal spaces they have loved working in, spaces that have inspired them and the practical features of a rehearsal room that support their wellbeing.
(Jim Evans)

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