A substantial donation from Phillips Color Kinetics will light up the Londonderry Arts Council’s Concerts on the Common series this summer.
Stephen Lee, principal mechanical engineer at Phillips Color Kinetics and a member of the Arts Council, developed with his co-workers the lighting design for the bandstand as part of a seven-week course led by their Lighting Designer in Residence, Etta Dannemann.
“This is our 14th season of Concerts on the Common. We realized early on the lighting could be a lot better. The lights there are really behind the performers. It’s a difficult stage to light because the stage goes past the roof,” Lee said. “It did make it a little challenging.”
Everyone who participated in Dannemann’s training was tasked with designing their own lighting of the bandstand and presenting their ideas to the group.
“Some designs were very theatrical, with spot lighting; some were white washing. It was one extreme to the other and everything in between,” Lee said. “(Dannemann) really did the final design, then we did an on-site mock-up in April. We gathered the lights we picked for the design and had to wire them up. We were out there with ladders, holding lights up and seeing if they were doing what we thought they were going to do.”
The Town helped by hiring an electrician to wire the bandstand, installing six branch circuits, along with 35 electrical boxes at a cost of $4,139.
Electrical junction boxes on the bandstand are ready for the multi-purpose, outdoor, architectural lights Phillips is donating to the Town, which Lee said he hopes to install before the third concert in this summer’s series.
The new lighting design features white light on all the performers, with color lighting on the side, ceiling and back wall that’s programmable and controllable, according to Lee.
“Performers on stage will always be in different types of white light,” he said. “It will be really cool once we get it going.”
The design also features lighting that will wash the trees behind the bandstand with a white glow.
The programming of the lights will be user-friendly and accessible to high school students interested in learning about lighting.
Lee hopes the new lighting will not only enhance performances on the Common, but also bring attention to the summer concert series.
“There are still so many people who are unaware of the Concerts on the Common. It’s such a great facility and a great venue where people can bring their families. Kids are out throwing balls and Frisbees, while others are listening to music,” he said. “The new lighting will definitely make the concerts more interesting.”
For more information about Concerts on the Commons and a schedule of performances, visit www.londonderryartscouncil.org/wordpress/ and see calendar item on page 20.