The Age of Enlightenment

The IALD’s 50th anniversary celebrations took off in style at its Enlighten Americas conference, this year hosted in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The IALD brought its annual Enlighten Americas conference to Albuquerque, New Mexico in early October. Hosted at the Hotel Albuquerque in the city’s Old Town, the event welcomed more than 400 lighting professionals, including designers, architects, students, educators, manufacturers and suppliers, from around the world.

Coinciding with the IALD’s 50th anniversary, the boutique conference also celebrated a half-century of thought leadership and the incredible achievements in lighting design.

“2019 has been a special year for the IALD, with its 50th anniversary celebration,” said David Ghatan, IALD President. “At Enlighten, we were honoured to spend time with the IALD founders, and the many past presidents - luminaries of our profession - and I am grateful to their work laying the foundation on which so many lighting designers are able to practice today.”

IALD CEO Marsha Turner added: “The past 50 years have been extraordinarily evolutionary for the profession and the IALD. The one thing that bound the IALD together 50 years ago binds our members together now: the passion for and about light.” The conference, held from 3-5 October, kicked off with a multigenerational panel on the history, present and future of lighting design. The six-person opening keynote panel featured IALD founders Howard Brandston and David Mintz, alongside mid- and earlycareer lighting design professionals.

During the conference, the IALD awarded its Lifetime Achievement award to Stephen Lees, founding Principal at Horton Lees Brogden (HLB) Lighting Design. Lees is the seventh IALD member to receive the Lifetime Achievement award, which is presented to designers whose body of work over a lifetime supports the lighting profession.

David Ghatan also formally inducted two new members to the IALD College of Fellows at the event. Rosemarie Allaire, owner of Rosemarie Allaire Lighting Design, and Andrea Hartranft, Principal of Hartranft Lighting Design, were recognised for their valuable contribution to the art and science of lighting design, and for their continued service to the IALD.

Throughout the course of Enlighten Americas, the conference offered three session tracks for attendees – Art, Technology and Professional Tools. Session highlights included, from the Art track, Futuristic Visions of Light: Sci-Fi Movies’ History and News by Anne Bureau; while in the Technology track, Rachel Fitzgerald, Katherine Stekr and Andrea Wilkerson discussed how to make research applicable to design practices in their session Bridging the Gap from Research to Design.

Cy Eaton, an LIRC member from Osram Traxon, and Benjamin Pilat led a rich discussion in the future of lighting in What Will Light Become? While in the Professional Tools track, Andrea Hartranft and Maureen Moran shared insider stories and advice on The Myth of Reality of Starting Your Own Firm.

The Enlighten Americas conference also welcomed back the annual Business Owners Forum for its ninth year. The half-day workshop is designed to give lighting professionals the chance to gain insider information and get hands-on experience with the latest tools. The DMX in Architectural and Commercial Lighting Control Systems workshop was led by Bill Tubb and Brian Wiley, other sessions included Certified Lighting Designer Speed Domain-ing, where lighting designers could find out more about the certification process.

During the conference, the IALD Education Trust - which supports educational opportunities and key connections to the lighting profession, and raises funds to give students the opportunity to meet key lighting designers and learn from experts, with the hope to inspire their passion for lighting design – raised a record number of gifts, totalling more than $13,000 through its General Fund with the Peerless Lighting Matching Program. IALD Enlighten Americas also welcomed the next generation of lighting professionals, thanks to the Emerging Lighting Design Professionals Initiative. Launched in 2011 by IALD’s Lighting Industry Resource Council, the initiative supports professional development for early career staff by financially supporting designers within their first five years of on-the-job practice to attend IALD Enlighten conferences around the world. This year, the Emerging Lighting Design Professionals Initiative supported 35 emerging professionals from 22 firms.

As with all of the IALD’s Enlighten events, the conference also provided ample opportunities for networking, with a number of evening events. This year’s conference coincided with Albuquerque’s International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta, and IALD closed the event with a fiesta of their own – the Golden Anniversary Blowout Closing Party Extravaganza. Here, the whole lighting community came together – past presidents, lighting designers, students, educators, manufacturers and suppliers – to enjoy a spectacular evening celebrating the past, present and future of the IALD.

www.iald.org