Academy, Canberra is the city’s leading nightclub destination, ensconced in a subterranean shell below the Canberra Centre retail experience, its lively programme of commercial house and EDM is a big hit with both locals and the student population from two major university campuses.
As the 600 capacity venue has been a big success for its independent owners, they have always been keen to keep the production values high, and around four years ago a technical upgrade involved the installation of Robe moving lights for the first time.
This was undertaken by rental and production specialist, Elite Sound & Lighting. The arrangement was based around supplying a flexible quota of kit which could be adapted and moved around the space to accommodate different club nights and the requirements of the Friday night live performances.
More recently, the lighting rig was refreshed again to keep moving-and-grooving with the times, and this time Elite supplied Robe LEDWash 600s and DLS LED profiles.
It was originally a movie cinema – what is now the VIP bar used to be the cinema’s tiered seating – so the large void behind what was once the screen had new columns of LED screen panels added toge
ther with other lights and some LED effects panels over the main dancefloor.
The LED sources have been also pixel mapped so video clips can be played through all of them if desired.
Lighting and visuals are operated by Atley Jones using a ChamSys control system and he also co-ordinates all the technical production elements for the venue.
He had used Robe a few times before working at Academy, but since then has really had the opportunity to get the know the fixtures and the brand, which he’s found “Extremely reliable” … especially considering the lights are worked extremely hard for the three nights a week that the club is open!
He particularly likes the Robe DLSs which, apart from helping to create stunning looks that really enhance the atmosphere in the room, have also helped towards the overall power savin
g together with the LEDWash 600s.
Academy’s lighting installation will again be transformed in the coming months, with Elite intending to install Robe’s brand new Spikie and Linee products, both also LED based and launched at Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt last month.
“The agreement with Academy means we can consistently showcase new and exciting products which ensures that the environment stays visually dynamic in a highly competitive marketplace,” says Elite’s MD Darren Russell, “This is especially important for regular guests, and it keeps Academy right up with the latest technologies”.
Photo Credit: Louise Stickland
