MIDDLETON, WI – The Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield, Wisconsin a venue that supports arts programs in area schools, as well as local artists – has employed ETC lighting solutions in its theater spaces for the last decade. The complex caters to a broad range of events, from high school musicals and student orchestra recitals, to dance productions and cabaret acts.
To provide the best possible lighting for each performance or special event, the technical staff uses a range of ETC lighting control consoles, including Element, SmartFade ML, and Congo jr. The Wilson Center also became the first venue to use ETC’s newest lighting control console, Congo Kid.
The technical staff originally selected their Congo jr board for the 619-seat Kuttemperoor Auditorium – the Wilson Center’s largest stage – because they were using a large amount of dynamic effects and wanted a console to provide speed and efficiency while programming. They needed a board that could seamlessly control their rig of conventional fixtures – including ETC Source Four ellipsoidal and PAR fixtures – as well as intelligent fixtures occasionally brought in for dance shows.
When the Wilson Center was selected to be a beta test site for the new Congo Kid console, the staff decided to use it as the main lighting controller in the Kuttemperoor Auditorium. The Congo Kid has the same facepanel controls and software as the Congo jr board, so the Wilson Center staff needed no formal training. Says Wilson Center Technical Director Chris Blad: “It’s been really cool playing with the board. I’ve never had the opportunity to test out a new console before.”
The venue has gotten a lot of use out of the 40 masters that Congo Kid offers. “We can change the function of the masters,” explains Blad. “I tend to make the masters inhibitive to do houselights and independent controls. I can glow my houselights without putting them into cues. That’s the best feature I’ve ever seen on a console for concert lighting.”
When the in-house technical staff at the Wilson Center lights concerts, they usually load a sheet of lighting cues into the Congo Kid console, and then run the show while using the board’s masters to mix on the fly along with the music. When they light a complex dance piece, they use a mix of preprogrammed sequences and masters. When visiting lighting designers come in to do a show, they can leave the programming up to Blad who maintains the rep plot and maxes out all of the masters on the Congo Kid platform, or they can run the board themselves. “I would recommend the Congo Kid for stages of similar size and setup to ours,” says Blad. “It’s been a great board for our theater.”
ETC is always looking for beta test sites around the world. When opportunities for tests of new products become available, ETC announces them on the product forums at www.etcconnect.com/Community/.
For more information, please visit www.etcconnect.com.
