Participants will be given a range of opportunities to further their technical knowledge in sessions on video wall rigging, automation and motorization, performer flying and rescue, and types of ropes. They’ll have a chance to learn about how the installation of a tension grid is working in a major facility, to get their questions answered by a panel of the industry’s most knowledgeable structural engineers, learn about working in cinema rigging, and how to be aware of and address the mental health impact of the pandemic. Visit www.esta.org/nwrs to see a complete schedule, session descriptions and presenters.
The symposium has been expanded to three days to allow more time for discussion and virtual networking over lunch and during the Rigging Cornucopia Happy Hour that will close each day’s sessions. During the 6 April Happy Hour, Roy Bickel will receive the ESTA Lifetime Technical Achievement Award which will be presented by Rocky Paulson and Chris Schmidt.
The keynote speaker will be Jeanette Farmer, whose career spans three decades of professional theatre technical support, show production, concert and theatre lighting design, theatre consulting, themed entertainment project management and supplier and manufacturer business development. Her background includes Las Vegas mega-spectacles Siegfried and Roy at the Mirage, Cher, and Disney on Ice. She also supported Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas productions for 18 years as a theatre consultant, lighting director, and production master electrician.
Symposium sponsors are: Stage Rigging, ETC, Certex, Geiger Engineers, Kish Rigging, TAIT, CM-ET, H&H Specialties, J.R. Clancy, Reed Rigging, Reliable Design, Sapsis Rigging, and Texas Scenic Company.
Tickets for the symposium include the full schedule of sessions, which is available at www.esta.org/nwrs