Texas Legislature Votes to Regulate Lighting Designers
May 27, 2009
The Texas Senate today passed legislation that will prohibit anyone from practicing lighting design except for registered architects, landscape architects, engineers, interior designers, and commercial electricians. H.B. 2649 was authored by Representatives Wayne Smith, Bill Callegari, and Senator Bob Deuell to amend the current state law relating to the regulation and practice of engineering and lighting design. Three different sections of the legislation prohibit a person from performing or offering to perform lighting design service unless the person is licensed as an engineer under this chapter; registered as an architect, landscape architect, or interior designer under Subtitle B (Regulation of Architecture and Related Practices), Title 6 (Regulation of Engineering, Architecture, Land Surveying, and Related Practices); or licensed under Chapter 1305 (Electricians). The sole exception is for the preparation of shop drawings or other directions from a manufacturer for the installation or operation of lighting fixtures.
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.
Wireless Microphone Rebates
February 4, 2009
Due to the FCC ruling on freqencies and white space, several wireless microphone manufacturers are offering 700MHz rebate incentives.
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.
Allied Works Architecture Honored for BTWHSPVA
October 20, 2008
The American Institute of Architects/Portland honored Portland Oregon’s Allied Works Architecure with the Built Honor Award for the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts project located in the Arts District of Dallas, Texas. The firm was presented the award at the October 18 AIA|IIDA 2008 Design Awards Gala. As the theatre consultants on the project team for this project, Encore Design Group congratulates Allied Works Architecture and Brad Cloepfil for this award.
iPhone Apps for Lighting Designers
October 14, 2008
Many lighting designers carry an iPhone in their pocket each day – and now that Apple has finally allowed third party developers to create applications for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 software, some handy lighting tools are now available to these LD’s – right on their own iPhones.
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).
Podium or Lectern?
October 3, 2008
The word “podium” is one of the most misused terms in the public assembly world. It is common to hear this word misused in church, government, auditoria, and schools. The proper use of terms is one way of separating the professionals from the rest. Let’s consider the roots of each word:
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.