The campus, located in the heart of Dallas’ Arts District with the new Winspear Opera Hall as their next door neighbor, now consists of a new Academic & Performance Building, a renovation of the original historic school building buit in 1922, and a new performance hall – the Montgomery Arts Theatre.

This 200,000 sq. ft., $55 million project was completed in May 2008. We have added all three project phased facilities to our “Portfolio” section of our website recently with more information on each venue.

Special guests speaking at the ceremony included the Chancellor Lassiter, Board of Trustees member Metzger, Dallas Councilmember Jasso, and Texas State Representative Alonzo. Other prominent local colleges, universities, churches, government, and business leagues were in attendance as well.

Following the ceremony, the newly renovated Performance Hall presented a video tracing the historic roots of the MVC Performance Hall followed by various performances to a full audience. Included in the performances were the MBC Chamber Music Ensemble, MVC Vocal Ensemble, MVC Dance Company, the Tectonic Theatre Company, and more.

Learn more about the Performance Hall Renovation (here).

The USITT has recommended the practice of painting the last 24″ ends of pipe battens a safety-yellow color color to allow higher visibility for those backstage. This helps backstage folks from walking into lowered battens in lower-light situations, and allows the flyman or rigging controller to have a visual reference as to the locations of the battens during a show.

We recommend this practice, but also feel that the addition of yellow vinyl pipe-end caps can not only help the batten’s visibility, but softens the potentially dangerous pipe end itself. Most theatre technicians have bumped their head on a pipe end at some point during their career. The end cap can soften that blow to the head and since battens can be somewhat sharp on the ends, it can reduce the chance for the need of a band-aid to close up a laceration!

Various manufacturer’s offer vinyl end caps. J.R. Clancy, one of the world’s oldest rigging manufacturers provides these end caps along with space to label both the Lineset Number and the Maximum Lineset Capacity. Having both of these bits of information on each pipe batten provides quick reference for riggers.

“The IALD is extremely pleased that the combined grassroots efforts organized by the architectural and theatrical lighting design communities have paid off,” IALD President Jeff Miller stated. “We will continue to work with the Texas legislature and executive branches to insure the continued economic and creative health of our industry.”

There are various technical steps to be completed in the next few days as the Texas legislative session reaches its statutory end-of-life on 31 May, but the bottom line is that lighting designers will be able to continue to practice in Texas.

On May 27, 2009, the Texas State Legislature passed legislation drafted without any input from lighting designers, restricting the practice of lighting design to members of other professions and trades, such as architects, engineers and electricians. There are no provisions in the legislation for establishing a licensing standard for lighting designers.

The International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) has urged the Texas Senate Business & Commerce Committee remove language restrictive to the profession in Texas House Bill 2649 as a “technical adjustment” when the bill is prepared for Gov. Rick Perry’s signature, or the eventual veto of the bill by the Governor should no changes in language be made.

Members of the IALD abide by a strict code of ethics and bring both technical knowledge and artistic sensibilities to bringing out the best in buildings and outdoor spaces. IALD professional lighting designers dedicate their careers exclusively to the art and science of lighting. There is no substitute for their level of expertise and professionalism.

The economic impact of the proposed legislation would be extensive: many lighting designers practice in Texas, and hundreds of projects in the state depend on professional lighting designers for their full architectural expression.

Allegedly, the legislation stemmed from failed football stadium lighting standards in Houston, Texas. And in the process of making sure that outdoor specialty lighting structures do not fail again in the future, the legislation is wide-sweeping affecting nearly all other types of lighting design consultants.

There is now a movement to lobby Texas’s Governor, Rick Perry, for a veto to this bill. Please help by contacting the Texas Governor’s Office (here).

Senator Kip Averitt sponsored the bill in the Senate. His office declined to comment on the legislation. The bill will now go to the House for consideration. Smith can either concur or not concur with the Senate version. If he does not concur it will likely fail to become law. Smith’s office reported receiving many calls in opposition to the bill.

(as reported by Stage-Directions Industry News, www.stage-directions.com)

It is important to we consultants, our clients, and product manufacturers that we help prevent this law from being enacted.

For example, Shure is offering up to $1,000 for the trade-in of their 700MHz microphone systems purchased before February 1, 2007.

Other manufacturer’s that are offering similar programs in response to the FCC White Space ruling are: Lectrosonics, AKG, and Sennheiser.

Check with your system’s manufacturer to learn more about their specific rebate and trade-in programs.

West Side Systems, a developer and publisher of personal computer products for entertainment lighting design, has released three of these handy apps specifically for iPhones including DMXCalc, PowerCalc, and BeamCalc.

DMXCalc is a DMX address calculator that helps you with all basic DMX address arithmetic for entertainment lighting system setup such as: the first dimmer number in a particular rack, the address for a particular luminaire, and the proper dip switch settings for a particular address.

PowerCalc is a basic watts/volts/amps calculator. Many of us have those formulas memorized, but it is still handy to have the math done for you quickly and error free. It can help you determine total power needed for a light rig, total wattage for a particular 12V supply, and how much wattage a multi-phase service can handle.

BeamCalc is a beam calculator for stage spotlights using basic beam geometry. With it you can determine how large of an area a luminaire can cover, angle of a lighting position to the stage, and what lens will work best at for a particular throw.

For less than $2 each, these application tools can come in quite handy while on stage working through your lighting design. You can learn more about the applications and West Side Systems at their website (here).

The word podium comes from the Latin expression pes pedis meaning “foot”. Other terms such as podiatrist have the same root. Podium is the English version of the Latin term “podion” meaning “base”. Keep these root meanings in mind when considering the correct definition of this word:

Podium: An elevated platform, as for an orchestra conductor or public speaker.

The word lectern comes from the Latin lectus, past participle of legere meaning “to read”. Other terms such as lecture have the same root. Keep these root meanings in mind when considering the correct definition of this word:

Lectern: An upright desk or stand, usually with a slanted top, used to hold text or music for a public speaker.

Sadly the word podium has been so misused in the general public, that its definition has been altered in some dictionaries to incorrectly include the definition of lectern. In the professional world, the meanings of these words are quite different - you stand on a podium, you stand behind a lectern.