MA Lighting Inspires Indian Lighting Designers To Rediscover
The Art of Lighting
Organizes workshop on lighting design by Ed Sheeran's Lighting operator Jeremy Van Delft
Jeremy Van Delft delves into the nuances of designing and operating the lights for Ed Sheeran's
+-=÷× Tour
MA Lighting, one of the leading entertainment lighting brands in the world, in association with
official Indian distributors Hi-Tech Audio & Image and co-partners Production Brew, organized a
workshop by Jeremy Van Delft - who is the lighting operator for Ed Sheeran's +-=÷× Tour - hosted by
the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC), on 18th March, 2024.
Aloysius Dsouza, Harshavardhan Pathak, and Bunty Raj join Jeremy Van Delft in a panel discussion on
the art and craft of lighting, customized to enlighten lighting designers, yielding an intelligent
conversation
During the first half of the three-hour intensive workshop, held from 10:00 AM to 01:00 PM at The
Studio, NMACC, Jeremy took the stage to elucidate his audience, consisting of both established and
aspiring lighting designers, about the opportunities and challenges he faced while operating the
lights for Ed Sheeran's +-=÷× Tour, most specifically his recent India leg, which took place on 16th
March, 2024 in Mumbai, India.
Attendees, comprising of professional lighting designers and students carving a career in lighting
design, gather around Jeremy Van Delft as he showcases his show files on MA Lighting's console
Post a short coffee break, Jeremy once again spoke extensively about the nuanced technical lighting
production that brought the tour to life with flying colours. He was later joined in a panel
discussion by Aloysius Dsouza, Harshavardhan Pathak, and Bunty Raj, two well-known Indian lighting
designers and a representative from MA Lighting, who shared their own experiences while designing
the lights for a variety of events.
At last, the floor was opened to questions from the audience, which became the driver for further
intelligent discussion, as the curious questions allowed the panellists to explore and expand on
their own craft while sharing key wisdom on the art and science behind professional lighting design.
Franco Zaghini, speaking to the PALM Expo Magazine Team at the culmination of the workshop, shared
the idea behind organizing a workshop for lighting design in India on such a grand scale, "The idea
is not new for MA Lighting, because we have done similar events before in China, Singapore, Vietnam,
Indonesia, inviting lighting designers from abroad. And the scope is to bring education or a
different point of view to inspire youngsters or local lighting designers. Few markets in Asia have
amazing talents, but on a general level, they are not as developed as the Western world when it
comes to lighting for entertainment. The scope is just to give our contribution to make the market
grow."
Zaghini adds, "In this specific case, we see India turning into one of the main markets in the
future in terms of size, because India is a big country. India will be one of the main markets for
lighting. After China, I would say, India is the biggest market in Asia for entertainment lighting.
But we see that the general overall knowledge on lighting is not as in-depth here like in other
countries. Of course, India has a massive talent pool in the pro lighting industry, but the overall
level of awareness and education still needs to grow a lot."
Jeremy Van Delft poses with Franco Zaghini, the team from Hi-Tech Audio & Image, and the attendees
of the workshop to mark the end of a successful event at NMACC's The Studio Theatre
Apart from organizing informative workshops for lighting designers, MA Lighting is also involved in
developing the software and hardware for its products to cater to varied markets and users, as
Zaghini puts it, "We have done software and hardware specifically dedicated for a simple use of the
console. In the past, MA Lighting products were synonymous to something like a space shuttle, and
the user felt the need to be an expert and learn for ages. That's why, we develop software and
hardware to have wider range of users and wider markets."
"The lighting workshop by Jeremy Van Delft", informs Zaghini, "was meant for anyone related to the
lighting market from beginners to experts. I've seen the youngsters were also more timid to ask
questions in the fear of sounding silly, but it is actually never like that. But ultimately, the
whole interaction today was quite good. We have done similar events in many other places in India,
but it was much limited, like in our distributors' demo room, so an event open to anyone in a place
like the NMACC was one-of-a-kind. We, at MA Lighting, hope to organize more workshops such as this
and that other manufacturers follow our footsteps to help bring more professionals under one roof,
sharing their knowledge and making the market grow further and further."
PALM Expo Magazine's Team conducted an in-depth interview with Jeremy Van Delft on his craft as a
lighting operator, the challenges he faces on field, some major trends and technologies he believes
are here to dominate the pro lighting industry, and more. Turn to page 00 to catch the full
interview.