Hi everyone! Welcome to CUE and a whole new year.
It seems like the whole world is wondering, “Is this the year we get back to normal?”
Well, we’re hopeful to see COVID-19 move past us
and we can learn to live with our new normal.
Even last autumn I got to see shows on Broadway, in theatres, with real people.
I have purchased summer concert tickets and I’m looking forward to experiencing the music live.
And I expect to see some of you at trade shows this year.
So in a sense, things will start to feel normal and that will feel good.
But, I have a view that may challenge your thinking.
And it goes like this: We shouldn’t go back to normal
because these COVID times have shown us how we can – and how we should be better.
And now that we’ve acknowledged what’s been broken, we have a chance to fix it.
Think about this:
The events of 2020 and 2021 changed everything.
They allowed us to see ourselves, and our lives and our industry – differently.
Many of us experienced furloughs and layoffs, our livelihoods felt so insecure.
But we also learned about work/life balance, the importance of family,
our interdependence on one another.
Many theatres ceased old labor practices that overworked production staff.
Other theatres stopped things like unpaid internships
and hopefully everyone took a closer look at how we work and value each and every profession.
Many venues took advantage of the time away from productions to start
community outreach programs, online arts education,
and others were able to find the time to do renovations that may not have otherwise been possible.
These kinds of events have been inspiring to watch.
But not everything was so peaceful.
In the United States, we watched the murder of George Floyd and others from underrepresented communities.
And while these events were not new, with our own lives on pause, we noticed,
and it shook us to our core.
They pushed forward the process of owning up to the racial disparities in our world,
our country, and even the theatre industry.
People took action.
Theatres took action.
Corporations took action.
And while these issues are far from resolved,
the process of creating greater equity has gained more light.
In large cities around the world, we put much of our activity on pause.
And because of it, we saw cleaner air from Los Angeles to Shanghai.
And we've continued to see the effects of climate change on our lives across the world.
Whether we agree, or not, on what's causing it,
we can agree that human activities and our individual choices make a difference.
By pausing the normal activities of life,
we were able to stand back and see things through a different lens.
And if we hold that perspective in other parts of our lives, we can become a fundamentally different society.
Arguably, a better society.
A forward-thinking society.
So, what’s next?
What now?
The civil rights leader Martin Luther King spoke of “The fierce urgency of now.”
He said: “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off
or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”
We have choices and we can make a difference.
And now that we have seen what we can be, we should embrace the change and move forward with progress.
Because we CAN change our labor practices.
We CAN create greater diversity and equity within our own industry.
We CAN improve our world through sustainable energy planning.
But first, we have to talk about it, and that's what we are doing at CUE.
We hope you will join in the dialogue– because it’s people like you who are actively pursuing knowledge,
actively dedicating time to learning and growing that keep this industry
moving forward and changing in all of the best ways.
You are the people who will make the difference.
And I have another challenge for you.
Over time, ETC has been involved in protecting tungsten lighting sources,
because we value the quality of light and the massive investment our theatres have made.
We got involved in the Save Tungsten movement.
We helped change the Eco-design standards across Europe
to keep tungsten stage lighting viable for a few more years.
But we also feel its time for change.
So, I am encouraging you to make a plan.
Eliminate 50% of the tungsten source from your stage over the next five years.
It may sound a little crazy to many of you
because it involves a lot of change and money.
But it is possible.
And we all know that every watt we reduce
leads the way for a better future society as a whole.
We can’t just minimize the impact of tungsten wattage on our stages
because we use it on dimmers, or we only use it for short periods of time.
I know theatre is a community where we tend to keep what we have
and use it until it's completely used up.
I get it.
And that’s why we created the Source 4WRD product line.
Using the 4WRD adapters you can keep the housings, reflectors lens tubes –
– and reduce your connected wattage by 75%.
You can use them in color, or in a high-output white.
And, when you use 4WRD fixtures in combination with our ColorSource and Series 2 and 3
– you maintain a high quality of light on your stage while saving 75% of the energy.
Now, I’m not asking you to do this just to sell you LEDs.
I’m asking you to make a plan to reduce your tungsten fixtures by 50%
so we can hang on to environmental awareness we gained in 2020.
And we’re going help some you get started.
So we are giving away 24 Source 4WRD color adapters – 1 for every hour of CUE.
We’ll be awarding them in sets of two so you can see for yourself how easy and delightful
it is to reduce your carbon footprint.
All you need to do is attend a class during the 24 hours of CUE.
ETC staff will select winners from session live chat throughout the day.
We are hopeful that this will open the door
to a movement that has been slowly gaining traction for years.
We are looking “forward” to doing our part to create a greener world and greener stages.
Like Martin Luther King Jr. said, "it would be fatal to overlook the urgency of the moment."
So, join the dialogue, or start your own.
But let’s not get back to normal.
We have have the opportunity to move forward in a big way,
to make progress in multiple areas of our life’s work.
Hosting sessions at CUE about diversity and sustainability-
it's outside of what we “normally do"
But we know that these topics are important and will keep our industry heading in the right direction.
Over the next 24 hours, I encourage everyone to attend the classes that grow your technical knowledge,
but I also encourage you to attend the classes that grow our communities.
And as a company, we at ETC vow to continue to ask the hard questions
and bravely tackle the solutions. Even when they're not easy.
We promise to keep asking if we could do better.
I want to thank you for your continued support of ETC –
– your dedication to our amazing, inspiring industry.
We look forward to seeing you in sessions over the next 24 hours
and we can't wait to give away Source 4WRDs!