A Robe lighting solution for De Vooruit
De Vooruit in Ghent, Belgium is an award‐winning and historically significant festival and arts centre – originally built for the Flemish labour movement between 1911 and 1914 – as well as an interesting and eye‐ catching building containing multiple halls now mainly used for concerts, club nights, live performances and assorted cultural events. The 1100‐capacity Concert Hall venue has recently received a complete lighting upgrade, with Robe chosen as the moving light brand with a mixture of 31 x T1 Profiles, 12 x Spiider wash beams and 22 x LEDBeam 350s.
These were specified after discussions between De Vooruit’s technical crew co‐ordinator Karel Clemminck and lighting expert Jarne Pollet, together with Peter Vanhove from locally based rental company, Euro PA. Peter has been involved with De Vooruit in different technical capacities since the 1980s.
The Concert Hall is one of four main functioning venues – plus the Grand Café – which, in a normal non‐Covid year host over 700 shows and events. It is the main venue for music shows and club nights, with incomingproductions utilising the house lighting and sound rigs augmented as necessary.
Before the lighting upgrade, Karel and Jarne brainstormed all the things that were most important for offering the best lighting options both for their clients and their own shows and wanted Robe T1 Profiles from the off.
“We loved the finesse of white light ranges and the T1 colour mixing generally,” stated Karel. While they originally thought this an ideal fixture for front lighting in the Theatre Hall, the intention was to use the new lights venue‐wide, so with all the other features and they knew T1 Profiles would be great for the Concert Hall as well.
That Robe is a genuinely European designed and built brand was another critical factor for their decision, along with the excellent service they knew they could expect from Robe’s Benelux distributor, Controllux.
left to right: Controllux’s Kris Noerens, lighting expert Jarne Pollet, Peter Vanhove from rental company, Euro PA, De Vooruit’s technical crew co-ordinator, Karel Clemminc
Karel comments that they are already seeing a “huge difference” in the quality and dynamics of the light shows that can be produced – as performances are gradually re‐starting in different formats and we start to move ‐ tentatively ‐ beyond the pandemic. “It’s been a big investment but well worth it,” he commented”. The new lights are controlled via the house ChamSys console.
Photos © Louise Stickland
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