NEW YORK — On Jan. 1, Bill de Blasio took over for Michael Bloomberg as Mayor of New York City. As part of the process of welcoming the first new mayor since Bloomberg took over for Rudy Giuliani in 2002, a non-partisan citywide project, “Talking Transition,” invited New Yorkers to share their views about the city’s future. The project was based within a temporary tent-like complex at Hudson Square at Canal and Varick Streets in Manhattan. WorldStage supported the temporary location’s lighting needs.
More details from WorldStage (www.worldstage.com):
The nonpartisan project, produced by Jennifer Kurland of production glue, was brought to NYC by the Atlantic Philanthropies, Brooklyn Community Foundation, Ford Foundation, NYCT, New York Foundation, The New York Women’s Foundation, North Star Fund, Open Society Foundations and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. It was designed to initiate conversation amongst New Yorkers about what was important to them in the next administration.
The Duarte Square headquarters consisted of a 500-person meeting space that hosted programs and conversations on a wide range of public policy issues from taxes and infrastructure to lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy. UVLD supplied the lighting design for the “Talking Transition” HQ; production glue produced the event.
“We did the environmental lighting, the general illumination and lit the signage,” says UVLD lighting designer Greg Cohen. “In addition to the main stage, where headliners like Matt & Kim did a special DJ set, there were two large environmental tents that called for both accent and mood lighting. WorldStage and its vice president/director of lighting Terry Jackson gave us great support.
Cohen was challenged by the fact that the “Talking Transition” headquarters was a temporary structure – in a season where winter set in well before its arrival on the calendar. “The weather and wind determined how much gear could be hung,” he notes. “Tom Bussey at production glue encouraged the team to ground support – rather than hang – most of the fixtures. While there was never a question of safety, no one wanted the audience to wonder at the lighting rig swaying in the wind..”
Cohen points out that the scenic design evolved as the priorities of the initiative changed. “We thought there would be a lot of LED and video, so initially we were concerned about controlling daylight. But as the client honed their interests and made the space more about community dialogue and a well-illuminated public space than about technology, we opted for a clear tent roof so the daylight would just stream in. We made no attempt to control the lighting during the day. We prioritized lighting around the available light and gave it an environmental feel at night.”
The central scenic element was milk crates,. “We made milk crate chandeliers using WorldStage’s Color Kinetics iColor Cove fixtures,” says Cohen. “Outside there were big milk crate arrows with iColor Coves for chasing light. We also were able to add bare bulbs to milk crates on site to give the accent illumination a found object feel.”
Cohen also deployed a number of Martin MAC Aura washes, which he calls “very camera-friendly LED fixtures, which are extremely lightweight. We were thrilled that WorldStage was able to provide them in quantity.”
WorldStage also supplied Vari*Lite 2500 spots, Elation EPAR QA LED PARs, Litepanels1x1s and Source 4 ellipsoidals and PARs. The company provided a full grandMA console and a grandMA2 Light for lighting control.
At production glue, Jack Hilley was technical director.
