LDI In Partnership With TSDCA And USITT Announces The Fourth Annual Pat MacKay Diversity In Design Scholarships
March 24, 2022
To encourage diversity in the design community for live events, LDI2022, in partnership with TSDCA and USITT, announces the fourth annual Pat MacKay Diversity In Design Scholarships for undergraduate students.
Founded in 2019, and funded by LDI and Live Design, the goal of these unique Diversity In Design scholarships is to support underrepresented and unique voices in the field of entertainment design. The scholarships are named for Pat MacKay, former publisher of Theatre Crafts and Lighting Dimensions magazines and founder of the LDI Trade Show and Conference. MacKay is a USITT Fellow and has served as a mentor for multiple generations of industry professionals. The scholarships are awarded to students currently enrolled in lighting, digital media, and sound design programs on an undergraduate level, as well as high school seniors who have been accepted to an undergraduate college or university design program.
The portal for scholarship applications is now open, and will close at 11:59 p.m. on May 27, 2022.
Two of last year’s scholarship recipients talked to Live Design about winning and attending LDI2021 in Las Vegas, NV.
Mia Teboe said of the experience, “Receiving this scholarship and traveling to LDI gave me the chance to make meaningful connections with other young technicians and designers who are also passionate about promoting diversity in the industry. Their insights allowed me to have a greater understanding of the broad scope of diversity.” Teboe is in the Sound Design BFA program at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where this year she was in charge of the d&b soundscape curing for Pippin and is now working as assistant designer on Sunday In The Park With George at CCM,
Taylor Gordon, who is on the lighting design track at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, is currently the lighting designer for Mother Tongue, a show written and developed by students at the school. She called being awarded the scholarship “an honor and highly encouraging.” Saying, “It gave me a voice as an aspiring young woman who will soon join the lighting and video design field. At times I find myself being the only woman in the room and I am encouraged to learn that the industry is more and more inclusive to allow so many creative voices in a production.” Gordon was one of the six scholarship recipients who were able to go to LDI2021. “Attending the LDI conference was a great opportunity to meet professionals who have been in my shoes and who gave me inspiration and advice in preparation for joining the field. Everyone I spoke to was happy to take the time and answer questions and to help the next generation!”
Criteria:
- Presently a senior in high school or enrolled in an undergraduate design program.
- Must be involved in study—or if a senior in high school, must have accepted admission to—an appropriate area of study related to design, technology, or other production program in entertainment technology and performing arts, including theatre, concerts, architainment, or venues.
- Interested in further study in lighting, video/projection, or sound disciplines, including design and programming.
- Meets the diversity criteria as described: “… to encourage the involvement in the profession of a variety of people in terms of race, ethnic background, religion, age, sexual orientation or gender identity, and those differently abled, as well as the diversity of geography, employer groups, philosophies, and career choices within the broad field of entertainment design.”
- LDI and Live Design do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, mental or physical disability, political belief or affiliation, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under state or federal law.