Central Hosts the New Technology Showcase 2022

Student working on the New Technology Showcase

On 28 January, Central hosted the Association for Lighting Production and Design (ALPD) and White Light Limited New Technology Showcase 2022. Run jointly with the ALPD and White Light Ltd, the Showcase provides top industry professionals and those currently in formal training with an opportunity to explore and compare the latest lighting technology available on the market.

Central has been pleased to host the annual showcase for the past several years, particularly as it provides Lighting Design and Production Lighting students with the opportunity to design, plan, rig, and programme the event alongside their course tutors and professional event staff from White Light. This unique learning experience allows Central’s students to work on a high profile, public facing event alongside some of the industry’s leading professionals.

The last Showcase was held at Central in January 2020, and the School was delighted to welcome the event back to the Embassy Theatre this year following two years of disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year’s Showcase was put together by students from across all three years of Central’s Lighting Design and Production Lighting courses, with support from White Light Limited and their project manager Tom Tomkins, The Association of Lighting Production and Design, Central Staff including Gareth Wide, Mark Cunningham, Phil Rowe, Sam Smith, Malachy Orozco, Ros Sobotnicki and Nick Moran.

The Showcase was hosted by Dave Isherwood and Stuart Porter from White Light.

Of the Showcase Nick Moran, a Senior Lecturer at Central as well as the Course Leader for the Lighting Design and Production Lighting courses, said:

“It was really great to be able to host this event once again, and to see so many professionals on site again after what has been two really tough years for the students and the industry as a whole. It’s hard to overstate what the students get from taking on responsible roles in an event like this as part of their training. The increased confidence it gives them is really great to see, too.

We also had a student team lighting the outside of the building, making a huge impact with LED fixtures and drawing an admiring crowd from the Hampstead Theatre across the road and a student team live streaming the show on Zoom.”

You can find out more about Central’s Lighting Design and Production Lighting Courses by visiting their respective course pages; you can also learn more about the work of a professional lighting designer by reading Nick Moran’s piece ‘What is a Lighting Designer?’ here.