December 2013

Shaun Fillion, LCLighting Project Design Manager, OSRAM SYLVANIA – General Lighting
 
Q: How did you first get started in the lighting industry?
After studying drama at NYU and receiving an M.F.A. in Lighting Design and Integrated Media at CalArts, I became a theatrical lighting designer and for over a decade, I worked on over sixty productions and installations. One of the highpoints of my career as a theatrical lighting designer was when I received the Fabergé Award for design the Princess Grace Foundation in 2004. While teaching theatrical lighting at SUNY Stonybrook, I responded to a posting that Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design (CBBLD) was seeking part-time interns. Even though I had no experience in architectural lighting design, CBBLD took a chance on me and under their wing, I became a staff designer. In 2012, after five years at CBBLD, I became the first Lighting Project Design Manager at Osram Sylvania. In this position, I’m able to use my design experience to shape products and tools.  I was recently awarded the NAFTA Innovation/Entrepreneurial Spirit Award from Osram Sylvania for bringing forth ideas that challenge the norm and carrying them through with determination.

After studying drama at NYU and receiving an M.F.A. in Lighting Design and Integrated Media at CalArts, I became a theatrical lighting designer and for over a decade, I worked on over sixty productions and installations. One of the highpoints of my career as a theatrical lighting designer was when I received the Fabergé Award for design the Princess Grace Foundation in 2004. While teaching theatrical lighting at SUNY Stonybrook, I responded to a posting that Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design (CBBLD) was seeking part-time interns. Even though I had no experience in architectural lighting design, CBBLD took a chance on me and under their wing, I became a staff designer. In 2012, after five years at CBBLD, I became the first Lighting Project Design Manager at Osram Sylvania.In this position, I’m able to use my design experience to shape products and tools.  I was recently awarded the NAFTA Innovation/Entrepreneurial Spirit Award from Osram Sylvania for bringing forth ideas that challenge the norm and carrying them through with determination.

Q: How did you first get involved in the IESNYC?
In 2008, I attended the section’s Sunset Cruise of Olafur Eliasson’s Waterfalls along the East River. Getting up close to the waterfalls was breathtaking, and the camaraderie with the other lighting professionals on the boat made me want to do more than just attend other section sponsored programs.
 
Q: How long have you been active in the IESNYC and what prompted you to become involved?
I was invited to attend a volunteering party hosted by the Membership Committee. The purpose of the party was to introduce members and potential members to the committees of the IESNYC. There were a number of committees which interested me, but it was the Student Lighting Competition and the Education Committee that were most attractive to me. Brian Belluomini (now the section’s vice president) invited me to be his co-chair of the Student Lighting Competition Committee. Since committees chairs must be members of the IES, I became one and in doing so, I felt validated for all of my prior volunteer work. I am going on my third year chairing the student lighting competition, and I am also a member of the Programs, Education and Control This! committees.  At the 2013 Lumen Awards Ceremony, I was honored by receiving the Section Service Award.  In addition, I am being profiled as a “Future Luminary” in the December issue of LD + A.
 
Q: In your opinion, what are the best assets of the IESNYC?
Volunteers and volunteerism. I became a volunteer filled with the desire to get involved in the lighting community and make things happen, even before I was a card-carrying member of the IES. There are many people who, like me, started their involvement with the section by joining committees and devoting a significant amount of their time and energy. The volunteering opportunities paved the way for me to become a member. I also think IESNYC members do a great job in welcoming new volunteers who are not yet members. This is one of our best assets. 

Q: How do you see your role as a member of the BOM?
If there was one cause which I could champion as a board member, it would be public outreach, to introduce lighting awareness to the NYC community at large. I have been happy to have the board's support on an initial grassroots effort in partnership with the Brooklyn Brainery. Increasing dialogues with kindred organizations such as DLFNY, Green Light New York, New York Festival of Light, and desigNYC, will only improve our total outreach. As a new member of the board, I have been excited by the increased discussion outside of formal meetings - email threads which build the discussion points which are hammered out in meetings. I think this structure can become an efficient way for me as a board member to respond to ideas and propose new topics without the prior constraints of meeting agendas. @ShaunFillion