Scotland Up in the Air (Your News)
By Paul Johnson
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), one of the busiest and most celebrated performing arts venues in the UK, has purchased a SIXTY82 Model M Tower System as part of its ongoing drive to give students and schools access to state-of-the-art backstage technologies used in major productions worldwide.
Founded in 1847, RCS in Glasgow is consistently ranked as one of the world’s top-performing arts education institutions.. Each year it welcomes students from more than sixty countries to receive the very best education in music, drama, dance, production and film.
A major performance venue with world-class facilities, and an industry-endorsed provider of courses covering backstage equipment training, RCS invests in the very latest technologies to deliver a learning environment geared towards careers in production backstage as well as on the stage.
When RCS received outreach funding from the William Grant Foundation to run performing arts-based schools engagement activities, it decided to invest a tower lift system to showcase RCS’ production programmes in a more varied and interesting way.
Malcolm Stephen, Stage Supervisor and Tutor of Stage Technology at RCS, told Sardines: “Taking the system out to schools allows us to bring theatre technology to students who may otherwise not be aware of the industry, giving them an insight in to the backstage world of the performing arts.
“It also allows us to take shows to a wider range of venues, as well as creating pop-up venues within the RCS. And of course, having the system means that we can train technical students on its installation and use.”
Easy to use and assemble, the SIXTY82 Model M Tower System can be raised and lowered as appropriate, depending on the requirements of the specific performance or event. This provides users with an elegant solution for raising and supporting a temporary or permanent truss lighting rig.
Malcolm added: “We chose SIXTY82 as the tower system is compatible with truss that we already own. In my opinion, it has many benefits over other systems I’ve used, not least of all, how light the bases are. This certainly makes it easier to lift and transport it from site to site.”
RCS’s Model M Tower System was supplied by SIXTY82 distributor, A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd.
Malcolm commented: “I’ve been delighted with all my interactions with AC-ET. Its rigging team stepped in to provide the tower system at the last minute and managed to get the system to us in time for its planned debut at RCS. The team were extremely helpful and professional throughout.”
SIXTY82 is an alliance featuring innovators from three countries with over 100 years of entertainment industry leadership between them. They came together to bring a fresh view into the market, providing innovative, next generation trussing and staging systems.
More information is available at: www.rcs.ac.uk and also by visiting www.ac-et.com