 | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Stage & Television Lighting |
| Founded | 1914 (London) |
| Headquarters | Dallas,Texas, United States |
| Parent | Signify, N.V. |
| Website | http://www.strandlighting.com |
Strand Lighting is an international theatre and television lighting company founded in 1914 in London's West End that supplies lighting fixtures and controls for the entertainment industry. Strand's products have been used on countless theatre productions and TV shows worldwide.
Strand Electric and Engineering Company, as it was originally named, was created in 1914. Arthur Earnshaw and Phillip Sheridan were both London theatre electricians when they set up their company. [1] [2]
In 1932, Frederick Bentham joined Strand. He would go onto revolutionise theatre lighting with his designs. [3] The Light Console was the first remote control theatre lighting console, while Pattern 23 (the first mass-produced spotlight) and Pattern 264 spotlights were further creations. [3] The company incorporated as Strand Electric Holdings in 1936. [4] [5]
In 1968, Strand Lighting was purchased by The Rank Organisation and thus became Rank Strand. [1] [6]
In 1969, Rank took over Century Lighting (Started in New York in 1929) which became Strand Century in the US. [1]
In 1976, Rank acquired Stagesound Ltd from Theatre Projects and created Rank Strand Sound.
In 1986, Rank Strand bought Quartzcolor, an Italian-based manufacturer of TV & film lighting. [1]
In 1990, Strand Lighting became the first company (and only North American company) to achieve ISO9000 Quality certification.
Strand was bought from Rank by a venture capitalist group called Schroder Ventures in 1996. [7]
On 11 July 2006, the Genlyte Group, a US company, announced its acquisition of Strand Lighting. Genlyte was acquired by Royal Philips Lighting in 2008. [8] The lighting division of Philips was spun off from the parent company in 2016, and in 2018, Philips Lighting became Signify. [9] Strand Lighting is run as an independent brand within Signify, along with Vari-Lite, and continues as a leading name in stage, television, motion picture, and architectural lighting and services. Following the shift from Philips to Signify, Vari-Lite and Strand regained their standalone brand status in 2019, with a renewed commitment from the business to innovate and support the visions of creative artists worldwide.
Koninklijke Philips N.V. is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is still in Eindhoven. Philips was formerly one of the largest electronics companies in the world, currently focused on the area of health technology, with other divisions being divested.
Stage lighting is the craft of lighting as it applies to the production of theater, dance, opera, and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in this discipline. In addition to basic lighting, modern stage lighting can also include special effects, such as lasers and fog machines. People who work on stage lighting are commonly referred to as lighting technicians or lighting designers.
The General Electric Company, or GEC, was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250,000 employees in the 1980s, and at its peak in the 1990s, made profits of over £1 billion a year.
Eaton Corporation PLC is an Irish multinational power management company with 2020 sales of $17.86 billion, founded in the United States with global headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, and a secondary administrative center in Beachwood, Ohio. Eaton has approximately 92,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 175 countries.
A lighting control console is an electronic device used in theatrical lighting design to control multiple stage lights at once. They are used throughout the entertainment industry and are normally placed at the front of house (FOH) position or in a control booth.
Regal Cinemas is an American movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. A division of Cineworld, Regal operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with over 7,200 screens in 549 theaters as of October 2019. The three main theatre brands operated by Regal Entertainment Group are Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, and United Artists Theatres.
A lighting control system is an intelligent network based lighting control solution that incorporates communication between various system inputs and outputs related to lighting control with the use of one or more central computing devices. Lighting control systems are widely used on both indoor and outdoor lighting of commercial, industrial, and residential spaces. Lighting control systems are sometimes referred to under the term smart lighting. Lighting control systems serve to provide the right amount of light where and when it is needed.
Intelligent lighting refers to lighting that has automated or mechanical abilities beyond those of traditional, stationary illumination. Although the most advanced intelligent lights can produce extraordinarily complex effects, the intelligence lies with the human lighting designer, control system programmer, or the lighting operator, rather than the fixture itself. For this reason, intelligent lighting (ILS) is also known as automated lighting, moving lights, moving heads, or simply movers.
Graham Media Group is the television broadcasting subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Chicago, after being co-located for several years with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV in Detroit.
Stage lighting instruments are used in stage lighting to illuminate theatrical productions, concerts, and other performances taking place in live performance venues. They are also used to light television studios and sound stages.
In theatre, an electrician is a person who works with the various aspects of lighting. Some of the positions among electricians include the lighting supervisor, master electrician, deck electrician, light board operator, moving light programmer, followspot operator, as well as simply electricians. This group is generally known as the "Electrics" Department or LX Department.
The Genlyte Group was a company that manufactured and sold lighting fixtures and controls. Products designed by the Genlyte Group include indoor and outdoor fixtures for the commercial, residential, theater, and industrial markets. Genlyte was bought out by Royal Philips Lighting on January 18, 2008.
Lee Electric (Lighting) Ltd was incorporated as a business in 1961 by John and Benny Lee, two film lighting electricians. Lee Electric was primarily involved in the rental of lighting equipment for commercial and documentary productions, as all principal film and television studios were at the time equipped with their own lighting equipment.
Cambridge Arts Theatre is a 666-seat theatre on Peas Hill and St Edward's Passage in central Cambridge, England. The theatre presents a varied mix of drama, dance, opera and pantomime. It attracts some of the highest-quality touring productions in the country, as well as many shows direct from, or prior to, seasons in the West End. Its annual Christmas pantomime is an established tradition in the city. From 1969 to 1985, the theatre was also home to the Cambridge Theatre Company, a renowned national touring company. The Cambridge Arts Theatre was founded in 1936 by the famous Cambridge economist and statesman John Maynard Keynes.
Vari-Lite is a brand of automated, variable-colour stage lighting systems. Their intelligent lighting fixtures are commonly used in theatre, concerts, television, film and corporate events.
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High End Systems is an Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of entertainment lighting and control systems. The embryo of the company, Blackstone Audio Video, was founded in 1972 by Lowell and Sue Fowler. Later on High End Systems was founded, owned, and managed by Lowell Fowler, Richard Belliveau, David Blair, and Bob Schacherl before it was bought by Belgium-based Barco in 2008.
Kliegl Brothers Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company was an American manufacturer of electrical stage lighting products in the 20th century. The company had a significant influence in the development of theatrical, cinema, television, and specialty lighting. It equipped many major performing venues in the United States and its products were used in several other countries as well. Their eponymous product, the Klieglight, was the trade name for two quite different production lights manufactured by the company, and survives today in both industry argot and in popular idiom as a synonym for "spotlight" or "center of attention".
Signify N.V., formerly known as Philips Lighting N.V., is a Dutch multinational lighting corporation formed in 2016 as a result of the spin-off of the lighting division of Philips. The company manufactures electric lights and light fixtures for consumers, professionals and the IoT. In 2018, Philips Lighting changed its name to Signify, though the company still produces the lights under the Philips brand.
Frederick Bentham FABTT FIES was a British theatre lighting designer and engineer who created the Light Console in 1932 and continued to influence lighting in theatres into the 1970s, firstly as the chief engineer before becoming the Research and Design director of Strand Electric and Engineering Company. Bentham would go onto to become the editor of TABS, Strand's technical journal, and Sightline, the ABTT's journal, as well as an author specialising in writing on the subjects of theatres and lighting. In 1969 he was elected as master of the Art Workers Guild.
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