OF SHOWLIGHT THE FUTURE

Showlight has been a highlight of the lighting calendar since it started back in 1981, created out of part of the entertainment section of the National Illumination Committee. Only happening every four years – it is far too much work to have it more frequently – it has become a highly-valued institution, bringing together lighting people from across the spectrum into a unique atmosphere of learning and networking with a careful balance of lighting professionals, lighting companies, and lighting students. Under a succession of chairmen and committees we have been treated to excellent papers both amusing and informative, retrospective and innovative. In my time under the management of John Watt, Ian Dow, and John

Allen we have been treated to some memorable occasions in spectacular surroundings, and every time we have had three days of papers by speakers from around the world in a mix unmatched at any other event. If proof was needed of its success just look at the people who would make sure they would get to every Showlight once they had experienced it.

So what has happened and why is it going wrong now? There is no doubt that the pandemic has had its part to play in the latest decision, with many lighting practitioners having to be cautious about committing to an additional expense as well as blocking out time in an increasingly freelance world. It’s not that they won’t come, but they appear to be leaving it a bit late to commit. Showlight in its current format bears a huge financial responsibility, relying on several things to make it work:

• Speakers: Showlight needs about 30 papers to fill the schedule, and they need to be of the quality and spread of interest that delegates have come to expect

• A main venue: somewhere with a wow-factor

• A conference dinner venue, also with its own wow factor

• Enough tours that can be offered for the ‘visits’ afternoon

• City infrastructure; hotels, restaurants and transport links

• Sponsors with deep pockets!

To start with the last of those, ‘Robert Juliat’ were already committed to be the latest in a line of extremely generous benefactors, not just offering very large sums of money but also giving practical help with local contacts and influence, and a host of other sponsors had already expressed their wish to contribute. But despite the help of sponsors Showlight still relies on a heavily subsidised venue to make the event work, and on this occasion we had the free use of a small theatre in Fontainebleau, with just staff costs to pay. The venue even had the required wow-factor not least for being next to the medieval Palace of Fontainebleau. The Showlight committee had every reason to be optimistic that 2021 would be another conference to remember, right up to 2020 and the outbreak of Covid-19. For a while there was hope that the pandemic would go away in months which of course did not happen. But even then there was concern that the impact of Covid to the financial state of the industry might have affected the numbers wishing to commit to attending, and Showlight 2021 was postponed. Many of you will have joined in with the first Virtual Showlight which replaced Showlight 2021, meeting the fashion for networking from the safety of your own computer, and the papers were excellent and are still available to watch on the Showlight website. But of course we missed the networking, and the virtual chat-rooms included with the event proved not as popular as the bars and the captive audience at a live event. It was also not without its costs, and it was felt Showlight could not charge for attendance, instead asking for voluntary donations to lighting charities.

So that brought us to the end of 2022 with the next Showlight being planned for May 2023, when the financial modelling started to look worrying, not the least as Showlight is not a company with the option of insolvency. The UK’s separation from Europe was making movement of equipment to France for the event much harder, the financial crisis was making financial planning less certain just at a time when some substantial payments would be due, and the committee began to be concerned about who might actually be able to come. Coupled with a few uncertainties with the location (for one, the local restaurants all traditionally closed on Sunday nights) a decision had to be made, and Showlight 2023 was postponed. Many people have since asked what went wrong, and I suppose the answer is not so much what actually went wrong, but more what might well have happened that would be very undesirable, and postponement again seemed the only choice. But I think the recent history of what has happened does raise questions about the future of Showlight, and whether the traditional Showlight template used up to now is fit for the future.

My view is that Showlight has become too expensive to be affordable in current times. Delegates have to not only pay to attend, they have to block out the best part of a week of their time months in advance, pay for transport and hotels, and without that early commitment from delegates there is a danger of the event not meeting its ambitions, let alone its financial needs. Yet cutting any of the parts of Showlight in an attempt to save money will no doubt dilute the event itself, with it becoming more affordable but less attractive. There is no doubt some serious decisions need to be made to keep this wonderful institution going, and if you have views on this I would be really interested to hear them. Maybe you would consider offering your time to help organise Showlight – new committee members with new ideas would be very welcome. Showlight has lost a little momentum for now but with some enthusiasm, some fresh thinking, and not a little hard work, there is no reason why it can’t come back as big as ever.