Adding LED fixtures to the lighting plot at North Lincoln High School was a massive upgrade and one of my biggest achievements for the program. After years of working with our school administration to apply for grants and make requests to the county for funding, we received the first money to purchase brand new lighting. When selecting the fixtures to purchase, getting the most for the money allotted to us was the biggest priority. We wanted to select fixtures that were great quality and would serve the school and its students for years to come.

After talking to many lighting designers and installation companies and seeing demos on numerous fixture types, we decided to purchase 16 Chauvet Professional Ovation P-56FCs along with all of the cabling and accessories needed. We combined this with 15 used ETC ColorSourcePars that were donated to the school.

The lights arrived in September right after school started, and the LED install was the week of September 9-13. After calculating how many lights would be needed across each electric, and how far apart they would need to be, we started hanging. Seven fixtures across each electric is what was needed to correctly and evenly light the stage, leaving 2 left over for specials to be hung for the next show. To prepare for the hang, VectorWorks drawings and LightWright paperwork were created to keep track of each fixture, and each fixture was well labeled for future technicians. Cables were cut to length and connectors installed to make this as neat as possible. At the same time, the conventional lighting system was relabeled to make it easier to use. We used Rosco OptiSculpt lenses/diffusion to focus the LEDs to create an even stage wash.

After 2 days of hanging, the drama club was brought in to the auditorium and we put on a show. Every person in the audience was recording and sending it to their friends and other theater kids. They were genuinely excited about the improvements to the theatre that they care so much about. This is a huge improvement for the entire school. Not only will it light musicals; the lights will also be in every presentation, ceremony, dance recital, or other function that our school hosts. In fact, its first event was just a few days later during the National Honors Society induction.