Professional Lighting & Production - Fall 2020 | Page 29

members back into the auditorium to be part of the livestream experience .”

One of the big questions that keeps coming up as more and more artists take to streaming their content is how exactly to monetize their work . Musicians especially have already faced an uphill battle to make a living in the age of streaming music and now it looks like they may have to rely on intimate ( read : small ) audiences and streaming shows for the foreseeable future .

“ As a venue , we ’ re in a unique position in that we don ’ t actually generate any content ourselves ,” says McKendrick , “ Yet , we now have the capability to help other artists distribute their work and partner with them in the creation of new content . Obviously , it would be great to be able to generate enough income that everybody benefits , so we ’ ll continue to pursue new opportunities in all markets .”

ROY THOMSON HALL

As performing artists , venue owners , and production staff from across Canada and around the world contemplate the next steps of reimagining the live entertainment industry , many venues are already following in the footsteps of places like Roy Thomson Hall and installing their own content capture and streaming systems . At least two different sales reps we contacted , both of which deal mostly in stage lighting gear , have noted that nearly all of the quotes they ’ re preparing now are predominantly for video switching systems and cameras . Whether this becomes the new normal remains to be seen but , no matter how the industry chooses to deliver content – live , broadcast or streamed – let ’ s only hope that we can all get back to work sooner rather than later .

Brad Trenaman is a Vancouver-based lighting designer . He can be reached at bradtrenaman @ gmail . com , or visit his website at www . batlighting . com .