Civic Christmas Lighting Part 1
Monday, April 29, 2013
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Civic Christmas Lighting
Our Approach and Method
Efficiency with infrastructure
As we have established in recent articles, Christmas Lighting in many UK towns needs a new approach for the 21st century.
Here at Fantastic Illuminations our background is rooted in the live entertainment industry. We have experienced first hand the growth from cottage style business into a global industry.
Events and concert touring in the early days was shambolic. Venues and facilities varied between one day and the next. Dependant on what facilities were provided would dictate the length of the working day. This would cause havoc with show times, travel and accommodation arrangements.
As the acts became more ambitious, touring became international and so efficiencies had to made in order to keep to schedules. Promoters realised that the way to do this was to make sure that venues provided the same infrastructure to allow the visiting company to quickly set up and take down the technical equipment to a schedule.
The once cocky and mildly fascistic venue managers had to improve their infrastructure. Those that didn't have the foresight or the inclination to improve were simply left out of the tour booking process as the liabilities were too large for the promoters to contemplate playing an under equipped venue.
Until recently, major Uk cities such as Liverpool and Bristol were omitted from major touring event suchedules as they were without a suitable venue. Our local city, Exeter has no touring venues capable of hosting a world class orchestra, opera or ballet company, international music artist or major art exhibition resulting in a cultural vacuum. Oh well, at least we have award wining sausages and clotted cream and oh yes, obesity.
I now see parallels with the above with conversations that I have with town centre managers who have the attitude of the early venue owners with a very much, this is what the job is, take or leave it, other companies can do it so why can't you approach. Hasta la pasta, baby.
Quite simply, at best it wastes time and money. At worst, it results in a poor display and treats tax payers with contempt as a huge proportion of the Christmas Lighting budget will be wasted in installing and taking down unnecessary infrastructure time and time again and not spent on improving the display to encourage more traffic to what is more likely than not a failing high street peppered with charity and betting shops.
It is also very likely that the Christmas Lighting contractor will be based many miles away resulting in no one locally benefitting from the Christmas Lighting budget. What part of this approach is working?
We have close connections with other Christmas Lighting companies and our grumbles do not appear to be unique to us.
It is time that the skills and methodical approach to working methods that have been learned by the entertainment industry over the last 30 years need to be adopted by civic Christmas lighting providers.
If you don't you will be left behind in a very gloomy high street.
Please see out next article which outlines our new approach for 2017.
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