Blog

It becomes so clear to me how lighting designers’ buyout fees are not fit for purpose when producers and institutions ask if I would work with an associate to increase the access and opportunities for emerging designers into buildings and productions that they wouldn’t have the opportunity to be working on at the stage they are at in their careers. The gesture is absolutely brilliant and comes...

The ALPD are delighted to announce that we are now recruiting for our Design Lumière Scheme 2022. This year we are thrilled to be working in partnership with Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Applications are open now! Click here to apply. We are pleased to be returning to our 6-month format for the next Design Lumière Scheme 2022. A pathway scheme for emerging lighting designers, it gives them...

The conversation around changing the name of the ALD was bubbling around when I first joined the exec in 2020. I’m told it’s been coming up since 2008 - but as I was getting involved, it got bumped down the agenda as coronavirus hit and we had pressing issues to discuss about how we could support you, our members, through the pandemic. From the ALD coronavirus financial guide, the step up in...

What's the latest on the EcoDesign front? Has it all been forgotten about during to Covid? Rob Halliday supplies an update for both the EU and the post Brexit UK.

The ALD is looking to appoint a Freelance General Manager / Administrator(s). The role is to administer the day to day running of the association within a fixed budget. Duties include looking after its membership, subscription renewals and expansion of the existing membership. To co-ordinate and administer the Executive Committee and its board of Directors, planning the agenda and keeping minutes...

To raise funds to run the Lumière Scheme in 2022 and to support the much-needed work of Backup, we will be doing a sponsored walk from the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon to the National Theatre in London.

The ALD’s history to be an association that truly represents everyone in the lighting industry and to be at the forefront of a successful future for us all. We are proposing therefore to update our name, and to bring production into the heart of the ALD , making us the Association for Lighting Production and Design, or the ALPD .

As our industry begins to restart we have a unique opportunity to think about things in a different way, and to incorporate more sustainable practice into our work. The ABTT and the Theatres' Trust have been compiling the first of a three volume Theatre Green Book.

Call out for Theatre Freelancers to become BECTU Reps - to help form a new branch.

Looking back over a year like no other, there’s no doubt the pandemic has exposed the precarious position of the live events and theatre-based workforce. We exist as a huge tribe of freelancers but I don’t think we ourselves had realised how disparate the industry had become.

As our industry slowly returns to work, AAPTLE members are eager to make theatre again and to collaborate with our fellow artists and theatre workers. Let’s work together to share best practice and create vibrant, inclusive, accessible and representative theatre and live entertainment of which we can all be proud.

Trade shows are a great opportunity for us to chat and engage with potential members. But with all of the 2020 events having being cancelled we are running a promotion this month for those who may wish to join to experience what we can offer.

Remember when protecting the light bulbs we love from the EU regulators felt like the most pressing thing in the world....? How times change! However, even as Coronavirus has taken over everyone’s attention, work has continued on the Ecodesign regulation to limit its impact on stage lighting, so that we’re free to continue to use the lighting tools we love whenever we get to do lighting again!

On Tuesday 23rd June 2020 a meeting was convened between the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), the Association of Sound Designers (ASD), Costume in Theatre Association (CITA), the Production Managers Forum (PMF), the Society of British Theatre Designers (SBTD) Stage Directors UK (SDUK), the Stage Management Association (SMA) and the newly formed campaigning groups Scene-Change and...

Our industry was brought to an abrupt, dramatic stop by the coronavirus and the measures being put in place to help control its spread. Those in jobs are suddenly finding themselves without jobs; those who are self-employed, suddenly finding themselves without work. The important thing: you are not alone. Everyone in our industry is in the same position. Many beyond our industry too.

The ALD is well aware that this is an extremely difficult time for all our members of any category. As shows and events are closing or being postponed around the world we are seeing our work and income streams being cut. The ALD are here, listening, and offering advice where we are able to.

So while I don’t like being nostalgic, I think that now it is 50 years since I left the Central School of Art to begin working professionally, there is no harm in being reflective. When you begin you only look forward, one project leads to another. A single decision can change your direction entirely. Your life or your next piece of work. A chance meeting can turn into a relationship that will...

We've often been asked whether we might ever create a podcast as another form of content to get our message across. Finally, we have and the first episode is now live!

The ALD Lumière Scheme is a pathway scheme for emerging lighting designers, giving them valuable experience of working professionally as an assistant lighting designer. Some Lumières may have the opportunity to take on associate lighting designer roles toward the end of their attachments. The Lumière will be matched with a number of established lighting designers and will spend six months...

Moving into the middle of 2019, the situation with Ecodesign remains roughly where it was in January. We have now seen the full final text of the Ecodesign regulations. The text is as discussed in the 5th January entry below, which is to say generally good news but with some very particular issues caused by the way the EU have changed one section of the text the entertainment lighting industry...

As is tradition, we offer new members joining between January and March up to 15 months of membership for the price of 12 months. So joining now (in whichever category is suitable) means you will pay a single fee to have your membership run through until the end of March 2020.

The start of 2019 brings some good news - with, inevitably, a caveat. We haven’t seen the official final version of the text yet. We have, however, been given a peek at the changes which affect entertainment lighting.

Many of you will know that this campaign came at a personal cost to the people involved. The ALD want to to say thank you to the #SSL team members by raising some funds to compensate them for the costs over months of their lives.

On Monday, December 17th, EU member states get to meet with the EU to discuss final concerns with and changes to the Ecodesign Lighting regulation, before a final text of the regulations is produced and voted in to law.

For four weeks, from 12 October to 9 November 2018, the EU ran a Public Consultation on the current (October) draft of the Ecodesign lighting regulation - this part of their ‘better regulation agenda’ intended to let the Commission ‘listen more closely to the views of citizens and stakeholders.' On behalf of its members, the ALD submitted a response to the survey...