Northern Light Sparkles at the Gilded Balloon

5 September 2007

As the key supplier to one of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s most popular venues – the Gilded Balloon – Northern Light is proud to have been a part of a record breaking year for the arts festival.

Overall, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2007 has reported an increase in ticket sales of more than 10% in comparison to 2006.  An estimated 18,626 performers trod the boards this year, in 31,000 performances at over 2,000 shows.

Northern Light was responsible for the supply of a multitude of hire kit to ensure that the Gilded Balloon – hosted in the University of Edinburgh’s Student Union – exceeded performers’ expectations in terms of quality and specification.  On site support was also offered, with one of the company’s event managers available for technical advice and support for the duration of the four week event.

Northern Light worked with technical staff at the Gilded Balloon to ensure that each of the nine performance spaces was equipped to manage with every show taking place there.  Additionally, Northern Light was responsible for exterior lighting of the venue.

Northern Light provided a total of nine lighting control desks, including ETC SmartFades, SmartFade MLs and Congo Juniors, as well as an Avolites Pearl Expert.  Lanterns included ETC Source 4s, Strand SLs and Selecon Acclaims.  Add to these James Thomas Pixeline, multiple dimmer racks, miles of cable, tons of mains distro and multicore, rigging, trussing, hoists, drapes, emergency lighting and effects including VariLite spots and washes and Martin MAC 600 washes, and you’ve got quite a lot of kit.

Calder Sibbald, Event Manager at Northern Light, said:  “As Northern Light’s ‘man on the ground’ at the Gilded Balloon I can fully appreciate the expertise and professionalism of the technical team at the venue.”  

He concluded:  “With turnaround between shows in each performance space of just fifteen minutes, it was imperative that equipment was in optimum working order at all times, which we managed to deliver.  It was a challenge, but one that I thoroughly relished.”

Colin Cuthbert, Managing Director at Northern Light, said:  “The Gilded Balloon is a Fringe institution and the diversity of the acts that perform there embraces the very spirit of this arts festival.  Northern Light was delighted to work with them to ensure one of their most successful years to date, and hope to continue working with them in the years to come.”