Check out Protocol's Fall 2024 publication featuring The Lighting Lab: A space for everyone to give it a try by USITT Member, Barbizon Outside Sales Associate, and creator of the LumenLab, Kearston Dillard-Scott.

In her piece, Dillard-Scott talks about the history and creation of lighting labs, how they bring tactile and immersive education to students, educators, and entertainment equipment manufacturers, and how the LumenLab has sparked curiosity and inspiration in attendees who want to touch, test, play with, and try new lighting technology in a comfortable, intimidation-free space.

Excerpts from The Lighting Lab: A space for everyone to give it a try by Kearston Dillard-Scott for Protocol:

"Lighting labs or lighting workspaces have existed in various forms since well before I became a part of the industry. I never had the opportunity to experience a space like this—just various mini-setups at the few smaller regional conferences I attended as a student and end user. I, like many in our industry, am genuinely a visual learner. I enjoy the opportunity to be hands-on with equipment on my own without someone showing me how to handle, manipulate, or program the light. While always appreciative of someone showing me products, I prefer my own time to spend with the gear—for me, that was the best way to retain information, and it still is."

"Being that the USITT conference was in Baltimore, MD, which is near our Mid-Atlantic office, I spearheaded the opportunity to create the next iteration of LumenLab: to sponsor the Barbizon Lighting Lab for the USITT Lighting Commission. Again, we had two goals in mind: 1. Create an open space for individual learning, and 2. Absolutely NO selling in the lab. We did not feel the need to have structured training in this space. This was already being accomplished in many of the manufacturer-led console training sessions at the conference. This space allowed students to take what they learned and have private, individual practice time. The lab included eight stations, each with a lighting console or controller with approximately thirty lights hung on a truss and additional uplighting next to each station. Each desk controlled at least three different types of luminaires: a wash, an ellipsoidal, and a moving light. The goal was to allow the students just to spend time with the gear. We designed and staged the entire lab space in our demo room in DC—every instrument is tested for console compatibility, labeled, organized, repacked, and shipped to the conference location."

To continue reading The Lighting Lab: A space for everyone to give it a try and the full Fall 2024 issue of Protocol, click here.

Kearston Dillard-Scott is a graduate of Randolph (Macon-Woman’s) College. Her 20-plus years of experience includes Assistant Lighting Designer at the Virginia Opera in Norfolk, VA, and with the Atlanta Ballet in Atlanta. Her versatile nature also brought her into the world of film, having worked on several film projects in the Hampton Roads, VA area as Art Director and Assistant Stunt Coordinator. She also designs lighting for dance programs across the Mid-Atlantic. She is a master lighting programmer with in-depth experience on various consoles. Her deep understanding of lighting, rigging, projections, sound, and video shines through in her Barbizon role of the past six years as Outside Sales Associate, dedicating herself not only to helping venues enhance their lighting but also educating individuals to better utilize lighting to help tell a story. Besides being a wife and a mother, she enjoys video games and doing art with her vast collection of Sharpie markers.