The Production Arts department welcomed lighting and video designer Ziggy Jacobs-Whyburn to Bridgwater & Taunton College following the Easter break.
Ziggy came directly from lighting the winner’s podium at the F1 Grand Prix in Bahrain to deliver a presentation of her uniquely distinctive work. She also facilitated a masterclass in lighting design to the students in preparation for the respective Performing Arts and Dance final major projects.
Lighting lecturer Matthew Aung said,
“Every one of Ziggy’s productions have such distinctiveness and it was great for the students to see examples of her work, hopefully inspiring them when designing the College’s upcoming productions. I’ve been wanting Ziggy to visit the College for a very long time, but her extremely busy schedule and the fact that she works all around the world always hindered this. I’m so glad she was able to talk to the students and view the College facilities, including the McMillan Theatre”.
Ziggy specialises in collaborative production and has worked with the English National Opera, English National Ballet and the Dutch National Opera. She is also a programmer for Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC) whose lighting software is extensively used by the Production Arts students.
Production Arts student Peter Waite commented,
“It was really impressive how she made her own custom fixtures for her productions rather than always relying on conventional ones. She gave me a lot of ideas for designing the lighting for future shows and it was great to get some one-to-one tuition on the lighting desk from someone who actually helps design the software.”
Ziggy said,
“Providing a masterclass for the Bridgwater & Taunton College students was a pleasure. They have a level of technical knowledge, confidence and professionalism which is rarely seen amongst their age group. Their ability to both execute production tasks to a high standard and engage deeply with advanced theatrical design concepts is clear.”
“As someone who provides professional lighting design and production training internationally and for all levels of user, I can say with confidence that the training students receive on the course at Bridgwater & Taunton College is on par with university-level courses, and leaves the students well-prepared for the most advanced university training or apprenticeships and professional roles in their fields.”
“Both the students and the staff should be incredibly proud of a course which imparts such a high standard of training in the arts, and I’m excited to see what these graduates accomplish in the future.”
