Description
A 3-hour intensive with Giovanni Allegro — your first real step into professional lighting design.
Light shapes every show you’ve ever seen — the drop when the bass hits, the wash that turns a stage into a different world, the single spot that makes a crowd go silent. Someone builds that. This course is where you learn how.
In one focused session, you’ll go from zero to actually patching and controlling fixtures on grandMA3 — the same console system used on major concerts, theatre productions, and TV broadcasts worldwide. No prior experience needed.
Who this is for
- Beginners curious about lighting for live events, theatre, concerts, or entertainment
- Technicians looking to move into lighting
- Students wanting a real introduction to professional lighting control
- Anyone who’s ever watched a show and wondered “how did they do that with the lights?”
What you’ll walk away with
- A clear understanding of what a lighting designer actually does — and how they fit into a production team
- Real insight into the workflow behind a lighting project, from first concept to show day
- Working familiarity with the grandMA3 interface
- The fundamentals of fixture patching — DMX, universes, addresses, and how it all connects
- Confidence navigating fixture attributes and control parameters
- A basic show file you’ve built yourself, with fixtures under your control
The Program
Module 1 — What Does a Lighting Designer Do?
Roles and responsibilities, working with artists, directors, and production teams, and how a creative concept becomes a lit show. We’ll cover the different worlds lighting designers work in: concerts, theatre, corporate events, TV, and architectural lighting.
Module 2 — Understanding the Production Process
Reading plots and documentation, the advancing process, communicating with venues, fixture specifications, and how to prepare a show before you ever set foot on site.
Module 3 — Introduction to grandMA3
A hands-on tour of the software — interface, windows, layouts, show files, and basic navigation.
Module 4 — Patching Fixtures
What DMX actually is, universes and addresses, fixture profiles, adding fixtures in grandMA3, the mistakes almost everyone makes when patching for the first time, and how to verify everything’s actually talking to each other.
Module 5 — Fixture Attributes & Control
Intensity, position, colour, beam, focus — and an introduction to presets and basic programming concepts.
Q&A
Bring your questions. Giovanni sticks around to answer them.
Details
Duration: 3 hours
Instructor: Giovanni Allegro
Location: ACUD Kunsthaus, Veteranenstraße 21, Berlin-Mitte
