By: David Grindle, USITT Executive Director
It’s a daunting task to add a symposium to the USITT calendar. Yes, the logistics and planning are a challenge, but the real challenge is that for many, many years, the word symposium has been associated with one event — Costume Symposium.
Costume Symposium has a long history of challenging topics, quality presenters, and engaging conversation. This year’s symposium in Maryland will be no different as participants explore corset making. The group planning the Digital Media Symposium in September knew that they had to live up to the standard established by the Costume Commission over the years.
We will be bringing Ana Herruzo and Finn Ross, two top designers in digital media for two amazing intimate keynote addresses that attendees will be be able to experience. Technicians will help show how different software and servers can be used to create a wide array of effects so participants can engage in both content and gear.
We set the Symposium in Binghamton, N.Y., because that is the home of the LUMA Festival. This festival of projection mapping brings artists from across the world to transform buildings in its downtown in to new works of art using light. By partnering with the producers of the festival we are able to include their artists among our presenters as well as a “Tech Crawl” to explore set up and gear on the first night of the symposium.
That said, I’m sure that the team putting our new symposium together will insure that it lives up to the standards established by their colleagues. And I hope, if you are projection person, you will be able to join us. It will prove to be an engaging time of learning and networking with some of the finest professionals in the industry.
