WINSTON-SALEM – Officials at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) have announced the school’s third annual Entertainment Innovation Conference (EIC). Formerly known as the Southeast Regional Entertainment Technology Conference, EIC will be a three-day event hosted by UNCSA’s School of Design and Production from Sept. 8-10, 2011.

Cirque du Soleil and its corporate partners will lead workshops at EIC covering the use of the cutting-edge technologies in Cirque du Soleil productions.

The conference is open to industry professionals, including students and faculty members of university theatre departments. 

The UNCSA Entertainment Innovation Conference is one of several regional conferences highlighting the unique, extensive, and carefully orchestrated technological requirements that go into a Cirque du Soleil production. The conferences are a rare opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at Cirque du Soleil productions – perhaps some of the most complicated entertainment experiences being performed today.

Conference topics include Stage Properties, Scene Design, Stage Management, Company Management, Show Operations, Wigs/Make-up, Multi-Media, Sound/Audio, Automation, Rigging, Artistic/Performance, and Research and Innovation in Performance. 

Presenters at the 2011 conference will include:

·        Rochelle Wolfe, Cirque du Soleil Resident Shows Division;

·        Stacy Meyers, Cirque du Soleil General Stage Manager;

·        Sharean Oxley, Cirque du Soleil Assistant Company Manager, “O”;

·        Chris Velvin, Cirque du Soleil Health and Safety Manager;

·        Tisha Tinsman, UNCSA alumna and Cirque du Soleil Lead Wig/Make-up Technician, “Viva Elvis”;

·        Eric Ludacer, UNCSA alumnus and Cirque du Soleil Head of Projections, “Love”;

·        Mac Johnson, Meyer Sound Labs;

·        Gemma Guy, Stage Technologies; and

·        Casting Directors, Cirque du Soleil.

For more information about the UNCSA Entertainment Innovation Conference, including registration and hotel information, please visit http://eic.uncsa.edu/

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established as the North Carolina School of the Arts by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, UNCSA opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from high school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. UNCSA is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

 

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