A grandMA was the choice to run lighting for the prestigious 2009 Dubai International Poetry Festival, staged in the Rashid Hall and Hall 4 of the Dubai World Trade Centre. Instituted by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the event featured 100-plus regional and international writers from 45 countries. The festival is a unique literary gala uniting poets from around the world in one city. Based on a lighting design by Sonu A.B., the show was controlled by 1 x grandMA ultra-light with a grandMA 2Port Node PRO and grandMA onPC as backup, plus 2 x MA Digital Dimmer Rack 48 x 2,3 kVA.
Sonu A.B. explained: “It was challenging to use the same lighting setup in another venue just 15 hours later. The poetry festival started in Hall 4 exclusively for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Fazza’a), Crown Prince of Dubai, after which the venue was shifted to the Sheikh Rashid Hall for one day, and then back to Hall 4 for the remainder of the festival. We had the same show running in the two different venues.”
“We had almost no time for programming, as the very precise key lighting focus was so time consuming, with both Sheikh Hamdan and Sheikh Ahmad bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Azzam), Chairman of the Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, reciting that night,” Sonu continued, “His Highness Sheikh Mohammad also attended that same poetry evening. On the programming side, the grandMA came in handy as we just had to update the presets and that was done in no time. We used different fixtures in the two venues, so the fixture exchange option also made life quick and easy. More than anything else, it was reliable.”
Amongst other lighting fixtures there were 12 x Clay Paky Alpha Spot 1200s, 12 x Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1200s, 6 x Clay Paky Alpha Spot 575s and 6 x Clay Paky Alpha Wash 575s installed in the rig.
The Show was televised on Dubai TV. The lighting equipment was supplied by Events Productions to organisers Done Events.
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