Nominations of outstanding young professionals for USITT's 2007 Rising Star Award sponsored by LDI2006/Live Design are now being accepted. Visit www.usitt.org/activities/awards/RisingStar for information and an application. The Rising Star Award recognizes young professionals in the first four years of their careers for artistic excellence in the areas of lighting, sound, scenic, and projection design or a convergence of those design disciplines.

Current USITT members are invited to nominate deserving young professionals for this award. Once nominated, individuals will be contacted by USITT for support materials used in the jury process. Nominees will be asked to supply a professional resume, letters of support, an application, and no more than eight work samples. A jury of professional theatre designers and technicians and the editor of Live Design magazine will review submissions. Nominations will be accepted until October 25, 2006.

The Rising Star Award was created and is sponsored by LDI 2006 and Live Design magazine. In addition to a $1,000 award, the winner will receive a one-year membership to USITT, and be a guest at the USITT Annual Conference & Stage Expo in Phoenix, Arizona where the award will be presented.

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ETCP is adding options for those interested in taking its certification examinations. While the application deadline for exams at LDI has passed, those already signed up may opt to instead take the exams at two locations on Saturday November 11. The electrical, arena rigging, and theatre rigging examinations will be offered in New York City, New York (for IATSE Local 1 members only) and the Los Angeles, California area. Submit a completed application, postmarked on or before October 1.

The ETCP Council has reduced the examination retake fees. Previously, the retake fee was $400 and $500 for non-constituents. The retake rates are $150 for constituents of ETCP Council member organizations and $200 for non-constituents.

For more information, including candidate handbooks or application forms, contact Katie Geraghty, ETCP certification director, at 212-244-1505 or kgeraghty@esta.org.

It is vital to ETCP that both the development process and the examinations themselves are professionally sound. The ETCP Council's highly regarded subject matter experts (SMEs) include: Rick Baxter, Eric Bouchard, Jeanette Farmer, Ian Foulds, David Hatch, John Huntington, Tony Giovannetti, Dave Loftin, Jim Maloney, Alan Rowe, Nancy Shaw, and Ken Vannice (Chair).

The ETCP Council members are key leaders drawn from entertainment business, labor, facilities, associations, and academia representing the diversity of the entertainment industry. Membership includes AMPTP, CITT, ESTA, IAAM, IATSE, InfoComm, The League, Live Nation, PRG, TEA, and USITT.

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National Exhibit designers whose work was selected for inclusion in the USITT PQ USA 2007 exhibit should be in communication with their individual curators to plan the layout for panels and determine the sizes of photos to be printed and framed.

Student Exhibit Schools designated for cubicles in the theatre training display are reminded to have their exhibits prepared to the sizes and specifications designated in their acceptance letters.

All materials for displays need to be sent in one package by November 1, 2006 to: Tom Korder, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 South Goodwin Ave., Urbana, Il 61801-3788

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The Seminars & Training Committee of The ESTA Foundation will offer two day-long rigging classes at LDI2006 in Las Vegas. On Wednesday, October 18, Eddie Raymond and Bill Sapsis will team teach a course in Arena Rigging, while Jay O. Glerum will present his Stage Rigging Fundamentals Workshop on Thursday, October 19. Both courses are part of the annual LDInstitute which provides in-depth professional training in various facets of entertainment technology.

The Arena Rigging course covers the basics of fall protection, hardware, hoists, trusses, and the math involved as well as effective methods to communicate the standard to be met to the crew, the work to be done, and the roles in getting it done. The course is designed for riggers with one to three years of practical rigging experience. The instructors are rigging experts Mr. Sapsis of Sapsis Rigging and Mr. Raymond of IATSE Local 16. For more information, visit ldishow.com/conference/ldi_arena_rigging/.

Mr. Glerum, of Jay O. Glerum & Associates Inc., will present a full-day Stage Rigging Fundamentals Workshop for rigging in theatres, concert halls, studios, churches, and schools. This course is intended for anyone who wants to learn the essentials of stage rigging. Topics covered include: the physics and metallurgy of rigging; hardware selection and application; and counterweight system operation procedures. For more information, visit ldishow.com/conference/stage_rigging_fundamentals/.

Both courses take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and are limited to 50 participants each. The cost is $450 including lunch and coffee breaks. For online registration, visit ldishow.com/registration/register/index.html.

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Student Performances
The planners of the USITT PQ USA '07 are also looking for design-based performance pieces up to ten minutes long that can be performed within the USA Student Exhibit while in Prague. All schools are invited to submit a DVD of a specific performance for consideration for inclusion in the Student Exhibit. Organizers have added this performance component to encourage more students to travel to Prague to participate in the Scenofest workshops and events during the ten days of the PQ Exposition, June 14-24, 2007. Deadline for submitting DVDs is November 15, 2006.

Exhibits Tour All exhibits will be available for display in locations around the country from fall 2007 through fall 2008. If you have a venue or know of one that might be interested in showcasing one or more of the USITT PQ USA 2007 exhibits, please contact Bob Scales at rscales@usc.edu.

Go to http://pqusitt.okstate.edu/ for more information about USITT's involvement in PQ 2007.

Study Tour Students are also eligible to apply for scholarships to join the official USITT Study Tour. Four students will be chosen to receive awards of $2,725 towards the total cost of the three-week tour to Central Europe. The application deadline is October 1, 2006.

More information is available here.

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