Welcome
The Association of Lighting Designers is a professional body representing lighting designers working in the live performance industry in the United Kingdom and many other parts of the world.
Its aims are to further the art of lighting design and to raise the professional status of the Lighting Designer as a member of the creative team.
The majority of its members work in Theatre (including Opera and Dance), but there are many others working in Television, Architecture, Rock and Roll Concerts, Education and Corporate Presentation.
The ALD is the mouthpiece of the performance lighting industry and a resource for information on the wide range of lighting design topics that affect designers in the lighting profession.
ALD 50th Anniversary Medal for Outstanding Achievements in Lighting Design
Rick Fisher Become Latest ALD New Fellow
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ALD 50th Anniversary Medal for Outstanding Achievements in Lighting Design
As part of their 50th Anniversary celebrations, The Association of Lighting Designers is proud to announce a new international award which honours practitioners who have made a sustained and significant contribution to the art and esteem of theatre and live performance lighting design.
The recipient of the Anniversary Medal for Sustained Excellence in Lighting Design for Live Performance is Jennifer Tipton, who has been at the top of her profession for a number of years and engenders a philosophy and practice which has inspired generations of theatre makers, especially in the world of contemporary dance.
Tipton’s distinguished career includes many Tony Awards for winning Broadway designs, as well as long term creative relationships with American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor Dance Company, and choreographers: Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dana Rice and Shen Wei.
As Adjunct Professor of Design at the Yale School of Drama since 1981, Jennifer has trained many of the top lighting designers working around the world today, and continues to inspire respect and admiration amongst the emerging generation of theatre makers.
As part of the 50th anniversary the ALD will be holding a series of events in the highly esteemed Embassy Theatre located within Central School of Speech & Drama, University of London.
Events during the conference include a Master Class for students on Friday 13th January 2012, while on Saturday 14th January, there will be an open master class in lighting for dance – aimed at lighting and dance practitioners, as well as the presentation of the Medal to Jennifer Tipton, which will also accommodate a panel discussion on “Light for Dance,” featuring top lighting and dance practitioners in conversation with Jennifer.
More details on the timetable for both sessions and to book tickets for the events can be found here.
Rick Fisher Become Latest ALD New Fellow
At the recent Christmas Lighting Lunch for Lighting Industry Professionals, the ALD announced that their former Chairman, Rick Fisher, was the latest member to be given the honour of becoming a Fellow of the ALD. It is the highest Award the Association can award to its members and is presented in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the art and business of lighting design. He joins the company of such luminaries as David Hersey, Robert Bryan, Andrew Bridge and Francis Reid, who presented the award to him.
Another Fellow and ALD President Richard Pilbrow sent a message from the US which was read by MC for the event, Mark Jonathan.
“Great moments in the theatre stick in my head. As Billy Elliott soared magically into the air, my soul soared with him. Light, story, music, performer, magic: all fused into an ecstatic moment.
We are very fortunate to be lighting designers. We explore the cutting edge of art where it bonds with technology, in aid of telling stories on the stage. We manipulate light itself to evoke the imagination. Illumination to reveal our way in the world of theatre and beyond. Rick Fisher is one of the greats of our profession.
Light matters. Rick's leadership of the ALD has made it matter so much more. Take it from me, starting an organisation is quite easy. Taking a mature one, and kicking it into a whole new life is hard. The ALD has always had enthusiastic members, but Rick, as our Chairman, has given it a whole new life . . . And an entirely new importance.
As an organization he has led us into greater responsibility. The foundation of Light Relief was pivotal in saying: "We are a profession and we must take seriously our members' really long term needs." Progress in improving our immediate needs . . . like more money (!), has been slow, but steady. The battle for true recognition for our profession goes on. But nobody has done more to open up the world to lighting's real role. Rick's initiative in seeking a meeting of minds with theatre critics was surely brilliant. Under his leadership, FOCUS, has simply become the best magazine in the world about our art of light. We are marking his retirement as our Chairman. He has our thanks.
In 50 years, his extraordinary contribution will be remembered. Lighting designers will still wonder about how such perfection could be achieved . . . A boy soaring into the air . . . A spirit soaring above our sometime mundane world. That is what theatre can do. That is what light can do.
New ALD Chair, Peter Mumford also sent a message from his production desk.
"I can't think of a more appropriate choice to award an ALD Fellowship. Rick's commitment to the art of lighting design goes way beyond his own personal work which has been so successful and extends to a generosity and enthusiasm for the furtherance of the profession as a whole.”
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