The new Liberty Arena at Liberty University’s Lynchburg, Virginia campus seats 4,500 spectators and is the home of the university’s men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams whose games are broadcast on ESPN+. But even though sporting events are currently sparsely attended, plans for crowd-pleasing spectator sports at Liberty continues.
“Although the coronavirus pandemic means there are currently very few fans present during games, that actually has given us time to really dial in the production in the new Arena,” says Amy Caun, Lighting Director and Tier 2 Production Technician in Liberty’s Event Production department.”
Liberty University has invested in a complement of 20 Ayrton Khamsin-S LED profile luminaires for the new arena. ACT Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton fixtures in North America.
“We wanted bright LED fixtures that would really pop and enhance the fan experience in our new dedicated sports arena,” says Amy Caun, Lighting Director and Tier 2 Production Technician in Liberty’s Event Production department. “Once more fans are able to attend again, we know they’ll enjoy a high-quality, in-person experience and the Khamsin fixtures play an important role in helping us create a thrilling game experience.”
Designed for scenic applications, the Khamsin-S is equipped with a new LED module with metallic white light, an output of 40,000 lumens and a color temperature of 6500 K. Liberty University previously purchased Ayrton Mistral fixtures for a multi-use event space, which hosts a wide array of entertainment programs and gatherings.
“We like to stay with one product line, and ACT Lighting arranged a shoot-out with Khamsin and another Ayrton fixture,” she explains. “We were really impressed with Khamsin’s design, how sleek and compact it is for such a powerful fixture. Khamsin also had great saturated colors, and, being an LED fixture, we don’t have to worry about lamp life.” The Khamsins were purchased from Whitlock, now AVI-SPL.
In addition to the Khamsins, the new arena boasts a Daktronics center video board stanchion displays, court table, a 360-degree video ribbon display plus four 4K laser projectors for court projection, all of which play a role in creating an immersive fan experience. During the starting lineup the Khamsins, which are mounted on truss on either side of the court, illuminate the players and court and build excitement. Custom gobos featuring the Liberty Flames logo and mascot project onto the court and seating. The Khamsins are also deployed going in and out of halftime and for celebratory effects after a win. Liberty Arena also has a grandMA3 replay unit and two MA3 nodes to drive and control lighting in the space.
“Before a game starts all of those elements work together to excite and engage fans and players alike,” says Caun. “We’ve designed each of these elements to complement each other and together create a thrilling environment.”
ACT Lighting is the exclusive distributor of MA Lighting products in North America. The Arena’s grandMA3 units were purchased from 4Wall.
For more information, visit www.actlighting.com .
