The week of Feb. 3, the Manitou Springs School District Auditorium in Manitou Springs Elementary School received an update to the stage lighting and control board due to safety and quality concerns. 

A basic training on the new system was held on Feb. 12, where the Auditorium Manager, the Media Tech for the elementary school, the Booth Tech, and the Theater Arts Instructor attended.

Suzi Thompson, the Chief Financial Officer for the Manitou Springs School District, was approached with capital requests for the auditorium lighting project. “A number of people were involved in getting the needs assessment done. Ultimately, capital requests come to me, Stuart Cross, Director of Buildings & Grounds, and Sean Dorsey, the Superintendent,” Thompson said. “We prioritize based on our budget and bring it to the Board of Education for final approval, as a part of the district’s adopted budget.”

There was a needs assessment done on the auditorium, and lighting was a high priority among others. Due to limited resources, the district is unable to complete all of the updates currently but knew that lighting needed to be done to improve the quality and safety of the auditorium.

According to Thompson, there are 3 stages to the lighting project, and the first has been completed.

The school received the money for these improvements through a budget that is distributed across the district for projects that improve the value, ultimate lifetime, or methods of use throughout the buildings. “The district has a budget for capital improvements,” Thompson said. “Each year, we try to spread this money throughout the district as much as possible. We have more capital needs than resources, so it takes a lot of work to balance and prioritize each year.”

Wendy Harms, the Theater Arts instructor, feels that these lighting improvements will contribute to a higher production quality in future shows in the district. “For theater, lighting can be an incredible component of a show, and it gives and supports the emotional qualities of the show,” Harms said. “This is going to allow our audience to experience shows differently, and it’s going to allow us to do specific shows that we couldn’t do previously because they’re so heavily lighting dependent.

Harms also feels that productions that require more basic lighting will benefit as well. “For the basic things coming in that need to be lit, like concerts and choir and things like that, It’s going to give them cleaner visuals,” Harms said. “It can also give them colors and things like that, so it just makes for a more professional production.”