White Light LED lighting for ATG Venues
- Details
When Stuart Graham, head of technical operations at Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), was looking to begin an LED upgrade at the group’s venues, he contacted WL.
WL’s business development manager Jonathan Haynes comments: “Stuart got in touch saying that ATG wanted to implement an LED upgrade and had chosen two theatres as a starting point: Aylesbury Waterside and Grand Opera House York. The organisation wanted to upgrade its offering to support its diverse range of productions, as well as reduce the energy consumption of the house equipment in order to make the rig as green as possible.”
WL was asked to put together an LED upgrade package. This meant substituting the tungsten rig with LED, replacing the overhead and cyc lighting. WL worked closely with Graham and the technical managers in each venue to ensure they created a package that would fulfil both theatres’ needs. Haynes explains: “We worked with Jacob Edmonds, technical manager at the Waterside, and Mark Waters, technical manager at the Grand Opera House.
“The initial brief was for us to come up with a lighting solution, choosing fixtures and products that we felt would offer the most flexibility, but at the same time provide longevity; as well ensuring that they remained ‘theatrical’. The equipment would need to support a diverse programme of entertainment ranging from, dance, music, comedy and musicals - all of which rely on the in-house kit from both respective venues.”
WL then carried out a demo for ATG at its Studio15 facility, presenting a range of options Once the selection had been honed down, WL arranged follow up demos in each venue to see how the fixtures fared in the environment they were destined for.
It was eventually decided that the High End SolaFrame 1000 would be the flagship of the new rig. ATG opted for the high CRI version which offers a more refined quality of light and a CRI of 90+, as well as 16,000 lumen output. Jonathan explains: “Seeing the SolaFrame in-situ, it became clear that this was the perfect fixture for both Aylesbury and York.”
In addition, WL also supplied 48 ETC ColorSource Par, 42 ETC ColorSource Spot (complete with a mix of profile and fresnel lenses), 32 Robe LedBeam 150s, eight High End Shapeshifters and 11 Chroma Q ColorForce II RGBA cyc fixtures, as well as all the ancillary cabling and rigging across both venues.
Alongside supplying the equipment, WL offered a three-day training package for each venue.
The fixtures have now been fitted in both venues and have immediately been used on a host of shows.
(Jim Evans)
