The Fabric of our Society

March 2023

IESNYC Student Lighting Competition Inspires at LEDucation

Shaun Fillion, LC, Educator IALD CLCP (top left)
Director, Lighting Design, RAB Lighting  |  Program Director, NYSID Masters of Professional Studies in Lighting Design  |  Co-chair, IESNYC Student Lighting Competition

John Delfino, LC, IALD (top right)
Senior Associate, Available Light  |  Adjunct Faculty Member, NYSID, FIT, and Pace University  |  Co-chair, IESNYC Student Lighting Competition

The IESNYC Student Lighting Competition attracts students from diverse backgrounds. It’s often their first taste of the lighting industry, and our big chance to capture talent.

Because it is a light art competition, the IESNYC Student Lighting Competition takes all comers. Students are creating experiential, artistic interpretations to be presented online at studentlightingcompetition.org and displayed in-person at LEDucation. The competition attracts students from diverse backgrounds: perhaps a third of are currently enrolled in lighting-centric educational tracks. It’s their first taste of the lighting industry and the opportunities it offers. And our chance to let the next generation inspire us right back.

The 2023 theme, Circle of Light, challenges the students to capture light’s relation to rhythm, life cycles, or sustainability. The student submissions are illuminated sculptures and art installations, each a beautiful moment unto itself. So be sure to come by the exhibition in Americas Hall 2 during LEDucation to enjoy the experience and meet many of the students in-person. The sculptural entries differ from theoretical lighting design competitions like the IESNYC Thesis Prizes and Howard Brandston Student Lighting Design Education Grant, and the competition draws more than 100 students from lighting, architecture, industrial, and theatrical design. Just as lighting professionals come from diverse backgrounds, our industry has room for both design and research prizes and this broader light-art competition.

The members of the IESNYC Student Lighting Competition Committee work directly with area professors to help them weave our broad theme into varied curricula. We can’t wait to meet the students and see where they’ll lead us. Sustainability issues? Circadian entrainment? Join us for the exhibition and share your feedback with the young professionals. The Student Lighting Competition will be held from 4:30pm–7:00pm on Tuesday, March 7, in the Americas Hall 2 at LEDucation, in the New York Hilton Midtown.

With Gratitude to Past Leaders

Randy Sabedra and Patricia DiMaggio founded the program in 2000. Each year, the program is dedicated to Patricia’s memory, and Randy continues as an important board liaison and advisor. There were only 12 students that first year. For 2023, we’ve received entries from Parsons, Pratt, New York School of Interior Design, Fashion Institute of Technology, School of Visual Art, New York Institute of Technology, and New York University.

This year will be our first in-person program since 2020. LEDucation brings students a whole new level of engagement with lighting professionals, giving young people and other students in related design fields the chance to explore the many facets of lighting. Many industrial and interiors grads have had limited exposure to lighting manufacturers or design consultants. LEDucation can open a lot of doors for students and communicate the unique and rewarding benefits of a career as a lighting specialist.

When COVID hit, we were forced to migrate to an online presentation platform. The in-person experience and meet-and-greets were sorely missed, but the projects are still thought-provoking as digital presentations. Archiving the projects this way gives more insight into the student mindset. This documentation can capture different points of view of the project, without impacts from surrounding brightnesses and soundscapes.

We’re determined to keep that online component because it provides broader exposure. Truthfully, parents and potential employers both appreciate it. Online also offers expanded networking via LinkedIn and email, especially for remote-learning students. The 2022 website alone resulted in hundreds of connections and multiple job offers.

And Hope for the Future

We plan to continue expanding the Student Lighting Competition, involving more students from more diverse local universities and multiple departments. Our committee is always looking for current lighting professionals with connections at a local alma mater. And we’re exploring avenues to go global in the future, as the remote workforce expands. We feel that we can scale the program fairly easily to reach many more students, but there are always opportunities for volunteers to pitch in. Judging is a particularly challenging role. The submissions are so wide-ranging that you have to look at them creatively. And then it’s super-fun to hand out $9000 in prize money.

Any community of industry professionals is naturally going to gravitate inward, cultivating similar networks, mindsets, and workflows. New folks approach problems from fresh directions and with wider perspectives – particularly these students, who come from educational institutions with exceptional racial and gender diversity. Our quickly evolving industry can only benefit from different viewpoints and backgrounds. In our experience, youth are invaluable to any company trying to innovate and stay relevant in the global marketplace.

Hidden Talents Brought to Light

These students display an amazing breadth of knowledge and skill sets, beyond what you’d see from just lighting-centric degree programs. In this competitive recruiting market, you might be looking for video or VR skills, or familiarity with origami, CNC machining, or 3D printing. Certainly, we get multiple inquiries from colleagues every week, seeking promising students or alumni for junior positions. The Student Lighting Competition showcases both MFA students and undergraduates. All have an interest in, if not a passion for, lighting.

This is a once-a-year opportunity to pull students in when they’re right on the threshold of their careers. It’s our industry’s chance to capture a fabulous interior designer or talented architect and show them the importance of lighting. They’re already engaged and interested, so please, please come by the gallery at LEDucation and welcome them. Take a student aside and let them know what it means to have a long and rewarding career in lighting. If you can’t visit, check out the website and reach out via LinkedIn. You’re planting a seed for the future.