“Finian’s Rainbow” is a musical (written by E.Y. Harburg – University of Michigan 1918) that tells the story of an Irishman named Finian McLonergan who comes to the United States with his daughter Sharon to bury a pot of gold stolen from a leprechaun. Finian believes that if he buries the gold in the soil of Fort Knox, it will grow and multiply, allowing him to live a life of luxury.
However, the town they settle in, Rainbow Valley, is owned by a racist senator named Billboard Rawkins, who wants to evict the sharecroppers living on the land. With the help of a local activist named Woody, Sharon and the sharecroppers team up to stop Rawkins’ eviction plans.
Meanwhile, Og, the leprechaun whose gold Finian stole, comes to America to get his gold back. Og meets and falls in love with Susan, the mute daughter of the sharecropper Woody, and realizes that he wants to stay in America with her.
The story deals with themes of racism, prejudice, and the American dream, and features memorable like “Old Devil Moon,” “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” and “If This Isn’t Love.”
“What art is, in reality, is this missing link, not the links which exist.
It’s not what you see that is art; art is the gap”
— Marcel Duchamp
Today we refresh our understanding of the literature that guides the safety and sustainability goals of lively art and special event setting on the #WiseCampus. Consortia have evolved quickly in recent years, leading and lagging changes in the content creation and delivery domain. With this evolution a professional discipline has emerged that requires training and certification in the electrotechnologies that contribute to “event safety”; among them:
ASHRAE International
Standard 62.1: This standard establishes minimum ventilation rates and indoor air quality requirements for commercial buildings, including theaters and auditoriums.
Standard 55: This standard specifies thermal comfort conditions for occupants in indoor environments, which can have an impact on air quality.
RP-16-17 Lighting for Theatrical Productions: This standard provides guidance on the design and implementation of lighting systems for theatrical productions. It includes information on the use of color, light direction, and light intensity to create different moods and effects.
RP-30-15 Recommended Practice for the Design of Theatres and Auditoriums: This standard provides guidance on the design of theaters and auditoriums, including lighting systems. It covers topics such as seating layout, stage design, and acoustics, as well as lighting design considerations.
DG-24-19 Design Guide for Color and Illumination: This guide provides information on the use of color in lighting design, including color temperature, color rendering, and color mixing. It is relevant to theater lighting design as well as other applications.
Dance and Athletic Floor Product Standards: ASTM F2118, EN 14904, DIN 18032-2
Incumbent standards-setting organizations such as ASHRAE, ASTM, ICC, IEEE, NFPA have also discovered, integrated and promulgated event safety and sustainability concepts into their catalog of best practice titles; many already incorporated by reference into public safety law. We explore relevant research on crowd management and spectator safety.
The circumstances of the pandemic has made “re-rationalization” of education community spaces an urgent priority. Today at 15:00 UTC we pick through the concepts in play. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
Performance in the Bolshoi Theatre Theateraufführung im Moskauer Bolschoi-Theater (Chromolithographie)
Even before the pandemic, massive open online curriculum, continued growth of consumer demand for “content” and the expansion of college and universities cultural and entertainment activity, drove our interest in the technologies that make it possible to produce and deliver “content” from facilities that are safe and sustainable.
As covered in our other Lively colloquia there are about 20 accredited standards developers that claim some part of this domain, or expanding their charter to meet the demand for best practice titles. To repeat: “Standards are the seed corn for compliance revenue. They fertilize the land for litigation.” These generally well-meaning organizations only invest in the administration of best practice discovery and promulgation if they see demand for conformance revenue in their future.
Education communities in every nation are also conformance organizations.
Cultural content discovery, creation and delivery depends heavily on electrotechnology.
To paraphrase the IEC TC 108 Committee Scope Statement:
Horizontal safety function: Methods of measuring touch current and protective conductor current. This includes, for various types of equipment, methods of measurement of touch current with regard to physiological effects and of protective conductor current for installation purposes. The methods of measurement consider both normal conditions and certain fault conditions. Safety of equipment electrically connected to a telecommunication network
Group safety function:Audio, video and similar electronic apparatus – Safety requirements Audio/video, information and communication technology equipment and safety of remote power feeding.
Vancouver Film School
According to its Strategic Business Plan, the need for standardization in this technology shows up in unexpected places such as 3-dimensional printing and wearable smart devices; both of which are of interest to faculty, students and the staff that supports the physical infrastructure.
We generally refer action in global electrotechnology standards to any one of several IEEE Societies and collaborate with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee (IEEE E&H). We also track and participate in the standards action of several trade associations that service some part of this space; all of whom are sensitive to the international electrotechnology standards action. Colleges and universities with federally funded facilities may need to be attentive to Trade Agreement Act matters when acquiring equipment of this nature.
As of this posting there are no Committee Draft Vote (CDV) documents released by TC 108 seeking public comment but we include it in our periodic scan of best practice literature. We generally refer to the tracking facility available with the IEEE E&H hosted on a University of Michigan server for educational purposes. IEEE E&H meets 4 times monthly European and American time zones.
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
We always encourage subject matter experts with front line experience planning, designing building, operating and maintaining these growing and complicated spaces. We recommend US-based experts contact Tony Zertuche, Director, International Policy and General Secretary, USNC/IEC ([email protected]).
We renew our understanding of electrotechnology standards for Lively Arts at least once a month. See our CALENDAR. The IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee meets online every other Tuesday in both Central European time American time zones. Its meeting dates and login credentials are available on its home page.
Issue: [Various]
Category: Electrical, Infotech, Global, Lively Arts
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Giuseppe Parise
“ I think that the theater is the initial glamorizer of thought; where it can be told – without too much disguise but without too much directness either – the secrets, and thereby its antipathies and sympathies – the secrets and the knowledge of the human heart…
…I think that makes the art of the theater as important as the doctor or the psychologist or the Minister…
…I think it’s vitally important that the world knows itself and I think the theater is one of the most immediate means of expression towards that end…”
Set design model by Marcel Jambon for an 1895 Paris production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello
Demand for live events in college towns — what is now called”entertainment content” — is gathering pace; owed somewhat to an older demographic that prefers expanded social interaction to the online entertainment offerings that the younger demographic prefers*. We see an expansion of the market in the construction of architecturally astonishing buildings; though the circumstances of pandemic has changed everything.
Today our interest lies in the complex safety and sustainability characteristics of the physical infrastructure — with particular interest in the fire protection, environmental air and electrotechnologies required to make them safe and sustainable. This facility class is far more complicated technologically and operates at significantly higher risk than, say, classrooms or office space.
The Entertainment Services and Technology Association is one of the first names in trade associations that support the ‘business of show business’ through networking, safe practices, education, and representation. We follow the standards making activity of its technical committees and monitor public commenting opportunities. ESTA releases markups of its consensus products for public comment at a fairly brisk pace on its standards development landing page:
You may obtain an electronic copy at the link above, along with a comment form. Send your comments to Karl Ruling, (212) 244-1505, [email protected] with an optional copy to [email protected]). We encourage our colleagues in school districts and in colleges and universities large and small; with responsibilities for the safety and sustainability of cultural resource properties, media centers, performance venues to participate in the ESTA technical standards development program.
Glorya Kaufman School of Dance / University of Southern California
We keep the ESTA suite on the standing agenda of our Lively Arts colloquia; open to everyone. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.
Since the electrotechnologies for the lively arts have evolved into complex, interoperable systems we also collaborate with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee on technical specifics. That committee meets online four times per month in European and American time zones.
“We’re all actors: We all play different roles in different situations.”
Marlon Brando
Issue: [Various]
Category: Electrical, Infotech, Lively Arts,
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Christine Fischer, Mike Hiler, Nehad El-Sherif
“View from the Ancient Theater in Taormina to Mount Etna” c. 1880 Carl Wuttke
Safety and sustainability for any facility begins with an understanding of who shall occupy it. University settings, with mixed-use phenomenon arising spontaneously and temporarily, present challenges and no less so in square-footage identified as performing arts facilities. Education communities present the largest installed base of mixed use and performing arts facilities. A distinction is made between supervised occupants that are in secondary schools (generally under age 18) and unsupervised occupants that are in university facilities (generally above age 18).
First principles regarding occupancy classifications for performing arts facilities appear in Section 303 of the International Building Code Assembly Group A-1. The public edition of the 2021 IBC is linked below:
Each of the International Code Council code development groups A, B and C; fetch back to these classifications. You can sample the safety concepts in play with an examination of the document linked below:
Each of the foregoing documents are lengthy so we recommend using search terms such as “school”, “college”, ‘”university”, “auditorium”, “theater”, “children”, “student” to hasten your cut through it.
We find continuation of lowering of the lighting power densities as noteworthy. Technical committees assembled and managed by the International Code Council, the American Society of Heating & Refrigeration Engineers and the Illumination Engineering Society are leaders in developing consensus products that drive the LED illumination transformation.
The revision schedule for the next tranche of ICC titles that are built upon the foundation of the IBC is linked below:
We encourage experts in education communities — facility managers, research and teaching staff, architectural and engineering students — to participate directly in the ICC Code Development process at the link below:
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Richard Robben
The International Code Council (ICC) develops its codes and standards through a consensus-driven process. The ICC Code Development Process follows these major stages:
Code Change Proposal Submission
Stakeholders (e.g., government officials, industry professionals, and the public) submit proposals to modify existing codes or introduce new provisions.
Committee Action Hearing (CAH)
Expert committees review and evaluate submitted proposals.
Public testimony is allowed, and committees vote on whether to approve, disapprove, or modify the proposals.
Public Comment Period
After the CAH, the public can submit comments or suggest modifications to the committee’s decisions.
These comments help refine the proposed changes before final voting.
Public Comment Hearing (PCH)
ICC members discuss and vote on public comments.
This step ensures that all voices are heard and debated before finalizing changes.
Online Governmental Consensus Vote (OGCV)
Governmental members vote on the final code changes electronically.
Only governmental voting members (e.g., code officials) participate in this stage to ensure the process remains unbiased.
Publication of New Code Edition
Approved code changes are incorporated into the next edition of the ICC codes.
The ICC updates its codes every three years (e.g., 2021, 2024, 2027 editions).
This structured process ensures that ICC codes remain comprehensive, up-to-date, and responsive to industry needs while maintaining safety and functionality.
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
Abstract: People who began their careers in television broadcasting before the 1990s should have seen television and media technical infrastructures endure three significant transitions: standard definition (SD) analog to SD digital; SD digital to high definition (HD) digital; and HD digital to media carried over an Internet Protocol (IP) network in multiple formats. Each transition involved either an infrastructure replacement or a complete rebuild of their technical facilities. Most of the gear and much of the cabling likely had to be replaced, updated, or refined. As changes to the system were made, compressed video, storage, and data management adjusted accordingly. New terminologies evolved, sometimes heightened by “marketing hype,” that drove users to amend workflows, processes, and capital budgets like revolving doors in a hotel.
We live in an age of continual transformation where formats, transport methods, and delivery have moved in full strength to yet another dimension—the era of IP. Yet again the industry is being thrust into yet another significant change in infrastructure, which now includes cloud, realtime over-the-top (OTT) streaming, and virtualization. How does one design a facility for these kinds of transitions without needing a forklift upgrade every decade? These are serious topics that impact return on investment (ROI), timing, and capital versus operational alterations. This article examines new hybrid models for media production, explores their components, and gives examples of how to compose the media future for live production environments at the studio and enterprise levels.
Have you seen the renovations to the @COMatBU studios yet? Students and faculty are super excited by a half-a-million dollar investment in Studio West, podcast studios, and more.
“Chanson de Matin” is characterized by its light, lyrical, and charming melody, which evokes a sense of freshness and optimism associated with the early hours of the day. Elgar is known for his ability to capture various moods and emotions in his compositions.
Background: The use of older data and references is becoming increasingly disfavored for publication. A myopic focus on newer research risks losing sight of important research questions already addressed by now-invisible older studies. This creates a ‘Groundhog Day’ effect as illustrated by the 1993 movie of this name in which the protagonist has to relive the same day (Groundhog Day) over and over and over within a world with no memory of it. This article examines the consequences of the recent preference for newer data and references in current publication practices and is intended to stimulate new consideration of the utility of selected older data and references for the advancement of scientific knowledge.
Methods: Examples from the literature are used to exemplify the value of older data and older references. To illustrate the recency of references published in original medical research articles in a selected sample of recent academic medical journals, original research articles were examined in recent issues in selected psychiatry, medicine, and surgery journals.
Results: The literature examined reflected this article’s initial assertion that journals are emphasizing the publication of research with newer data and more recent references.
Conclusions: The current valuation of newer data above older data fails to appreciate the fact that new data eventually become old, and that old data were once new. The bias demonstrated in arbitrary policies pertaining to older data and older references can be addressed by instituting comparable treatment of older and newer data and references.
Education communities provide a locus for lively art production, enjoyment and instruction. It is both a consumer and producer; with the expansion of massive open online curricula drawing from the visual arts of cinematography.
The International Organization for Standardization administers leading practice discovery and promulgation of the standards in these enterprises through Technical Committee 36. From the ISO/TC 36 prospectus:
Standardization of definitions, dimensions, methods of measurement and test, and performance characteristics relating to materials and apparatus used in silent and sound motion picture photography; in sound recording and reproduction related thereto; in the installation and characteristics of projection and sound reproduction equipment; in laboratory work; and in standards relating to sound and picture films used in television.
The American National Standards Institute is the ISO TC/36 Secretariat and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) is the US Technical Advisory Group Administrator (US TAG). We find SCTE present in safety and sustainability standards settings forums in many facility types in the education industry. It provides expertise to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, the National Fire Protection Association, and the International Code Council, among others.
As commenting opportunities that are relevant to the US education industry present themselves, we will identify them here. As data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates, the demand for skill in this discipline is accelerating; with the education industry itself as a large consumer. We encourage students, faculty and staff to communicate directly with Mr. Thomas Bause Mason at SCTE, 3 Barker Avenue, Fifth Floor, White Plains, ny 10601, Phone: (914) 761-1100, Email: [email protected]. Educational institutions in other nations should contact their national representative to ISO TC/36
We sweep through all international standards that affect the education industry every nation. The time and date of our next teleconference on international standards is shown on our CALENDAR.
Category: Academics, Arts & Entertainment Facilities, Electrical, Telecommunication
Contact: Mike Anthony, Sanne Clare Anthony, Jim Harvey, Richard Robben
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
