The Roadshows are an expansion of the popular Wednesday Workshops, open training sessions held at White Light's Fulham base during 1999 and 2000. Intended to allow the Workshops to reach a wider audience, the Wednesday Roadshows brought the familiar faces of White Light, plus established industry professionals, directly to drama colleges.
Over five consecutive weeks, the Roadshows visited the Bristol Old Vic College, Rose Bruford College, LAMDA and Croydon College as well as holding a specialist moving light session at The Moving Light Company's new demonstration suite in Parsons Green.
Aimed at students and young professionals who are keen to find out more about the industry, topics included 'Pyrotechnics', hosted by Le Maitre and Just FXs, 'Health and Safety in Theatre', 'Using Scrollers and DMX Devices', 'Moving Light Operation' taught by lighting programmer Rob Halliday, a specialist workshop on 'Using Colour and Gobos' with DHA Lighting and Rosco, and a seminar on Lighting Design Practice presented by lighting designer Jenny Kagan.
The sessions have proved to be extremely successful with tutors and students alike. White Light's Training Co-ordinator Jason Larcombe commented "the sessions were extremely well received by students. The courses' mainly practical nature meant that they could gain hands-on experience and skills to help them with their lighting design and production work. Students also had the opportunity to make valuable contacts with industry professionals - as well as giving them a fantastic opportunity to visit other college facilities and meet their peers".
White Light are already planning similar seminars to run in tandem with future college semesters, and would also like to extend the Roadshow schedule to include other colleges - who are invited to contact Jason Larcombe (Jason.Larcombe@whitelightgroup.co.uk) or Gale Goodwin (Gale.Goodwin@whitelightgroup.co.uk) for more information. They can also be reached by telephone, 020 7731 3291, or fax, 020 7371 0503.
In addition to the Roadshows, White Light also offers a comprehensive range of specialist training workshops, with The Training Initiative set to expand further in the New Year, in particular offering a comprehensive range of courses on Strand's popular 300- and 500- series of lighting consoles. Details will be available here on the web site.