(Left) Andy Rushing, Lighting Designer, Lauren Daigle and Kari Jobe (Top) Bobby Dennis, Technical Director, The Heights Baptist Church, Richardson, Texas (Right) Craig Rutherford, Lighting and Set Designer.
Christmas concerts are a highlight on the calendars of many churches. However, although they're exciting, these events often involve elaborate stage productions and appearances by guest artists, both of which can create new sets of challenges for a church's tech team.
Chauvet Professional is addressing these issues with some very special guests at this week's WFX Conference panel session. The educational event will look at Christmas concert lighting from two different perspectives: the lighting designer's and the technical director's. Taking place at demo room SWC102 at the Kentucky Exposition Center from 4:30 to 5:30 pm on Wednesday September 21, the session will feature lighting designers Andy Rushing and Craig Rutherford, along with Bobby Dennis, technical director of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas, outside Dallas.
Rushing is the full-time lighting designer for two Grammy Award winning Christian music artists: Lauren Daigle and Kari Jobe. Rutherford has been a lighting and set designer for Christian bands like Big Daddy Weave in addition to working for country music legend Allen Jackson. The two lighting designers have worked Christmas concerts at churches of all sizes throughout the US. They will discuss how they and their clients prepare for Christmas tours, exchange ideas on designing shows and offer advice on how host churches can help ensure that their holiday concerts go smoothly.
As Technical Director of one of the largest churches in the US, Dennis has extensive experience hosting artists like Aaron Shust and Point of Grace for Christmas concerts. He will offer insider tips on how a church tech team can prepare for concerts and other events during the Christmas season, while balancing all of the demands during December.
“Christmas concerts are among the most important, and the most demanding, events that church tech teams encounter during the course of the year,” says Berenice Chauvet, vice president of Chauvet. “As a company that's committed to promoting education in the church market, we're happy that we've been able to bring together such accomplished panelists to offer their insight into this topic. I'm confident that tech directors and volunteers from churches of all sizes will benefit from this session.”
