TPAC Lighting Campaign
The Templeton Performing Arts Center (TPAC) was built through a combined effort of the Templeton Unified School District (TUSD) and the community. The basic structure was finished in 2002-03 while a special committee took several more years seeking alternative funding to construct the interior of the theater--furnishing the auditorium with seats, and outfitting it with sound and lighting systems. There wasn’t enough money at the time to completely finish the lighting system, however. As a consequence, the theater has been in “make-do” mode with the lighting since it first opened. In the intervening 20 years, the original incandescent lights have not been updated much and are no longer industry standard. They are hot, expensive to run, and not as functional as modern lighting systems with LED lights.
The TPAC is a hub for cultural events serving all the people of North County, as well as providing an institution for career and vocational technical education for Templeton High School students. Our students and our community deserve a complete, state-of-the-art stage lighting system.
The Templeton Performing Arts Center Foundation and TUSD have been working hard to upgrade the stage lighting! So far we have bought a new state-of-the-art and industry-standard light board, two new touchscreen monitors to fully utilize the vast array of features on the light board, and upgraded lighting circuits throughout the theater. We have also purchased eight cyc lights (of 16 needed). With all the groundwork laid, it's now time to purchase the remaining LED stage lights!
Priority #1: Wash Lights-$29,025
Wash lights are installed above the stage and shine downward. We need 15 Chauvet Rogue R2X Wash lights ($1935 each). These LEDs are extremely bright, have a moving head that can be controlled remotely from the light board, can cast nearly any color imaginable, can be used as standard backlight, AND act as a 'special' (a light dedicated to illuminating a specific moment/person/prop/set piece typically used only a few times during a show). In a non-LED and non-moving head world, for every “special” needed for a show, it takes a light mounted just for that specific moment which cuts into lighting resources immensely. These Rogues offer a solution to this common dread for lighting designers and maximize important donor dollars. The list of benefits from the Rogues is countless, however, a final point to mention is their ability to act as front light to the furthest areas upstage, which is a familiar issue in theaters with a deep stage.
Priority #2: Sidelights-$30,800
Sidelights shine onto the stage from, you guessed it, the sides! Sidelight plays an extremely important role in dance shows and musicals, bringing another level of dimension to the performance. Our goal is to purchase 16 sidelights like the Chauvet E-910 ($1670/ea) plus lens tubes ($250/ea). Since these sidelights are LED they can also change any color remotely, once again saving time and resources of physically changing the color gel on each light.
Priority #3: Front Lights-$49,600
Since front light illuminates the face, interacts the most with skin tones, and is the most noticeable to audience members, it is highly necessary to get quality lighting fixtures that give designers intricate control over the finest color selections remotely from the light board. The ETC Source Four LED Series 3 will do just that; it’s the flagship LED version of the standard incandescent lights currently in the TPAC. To replace the entire front light array above the audience, we need 16 lights at $2700/ea, plus lens tubes at $400/ea.
Priority #4: CYC Lights-$14,688
CYC lights are used to light up backdrops and cycloramas which are giant white sheets that hang on the back of the stage. CYC lights hang above the stage directly in front of the backdrop/cyclorama to illuminate it. Being able to change the color of light allows designers to establish time of day or create beautiful color gradients. We have purchased 8 ETC ColorSource CYC lights to replace our incandescent ones, but we still need 8 more at $1836/ea.
To summarize, we need about $124,000 to get our lighting system completely modernized. We can save some money by purchasing in bulk, but even buying a few at a time will make a huge difference in what we can do with our stage lighting. Any contributions to this Donorbox Campaign will be used specifically to upgrade our stage lights. We are also looking into some grants to potentially help offset the cost of these important upgrades.
Theatre DNA TPAC Lighting Plan
#1 Console
Console
Theatre Cable
#2 Lighting Network/DMX
To stage area/catwalks
Network infrastructure
#3 Fixtures
3a: Cyc fixtures and cables
3b: Wash fixtures and cables
3c: LED Caps for ellipsoidals, with network cables (to be completed after #4)
#4 Houselights
Replace 12 fixtures, reuse existing power/dimming
Installation
#5 Dimmer Fix
Dimmer modules/electronics