# Grants for Technology



## shiben (Apr 26, 2010)

Does anyone know of any good places to find groups giving grants for technical improvements to theaters, IE, LEDs, MLs, Fixture upgrades, etc? Our lighting inventory is pretty much stuck at the invention of the source 4, and we have an increasing number of students interested in doing technical theatre, rather than just acting, and are interested in upgrading to a few (2-4) MLs and getting some LEDs, mainly to get students used to using them, and to teach the design classes about the newer tools for designers. However, no one here really knows where to get grant money for this type of improvement, most of our grants go to funding professor's research projects, and thats all they know how to write. Any resources on the Web or at a library or something? We dont even know where to start looking.


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## sk8rsdad (Apr 26, 2010)

Try municipal, state, and federal government looking for grants for either energy efficiency, the arts, youth development, and anything else that might fit your situation.

Check with Detroit Edison, Consumers Energy, or whoever provides electricity to your facility to see if they have any energy saving programs that you could tap into. My facility tapped into Ontario Hydro's program to get Source Fours on lumens-per-watt energy savings some years back. There may be other "green" initiatives that you can qualify for.

There may be private endowment funds. Partnering with a registered charity or service organization may be required to get access to some grants and matching programs. YMMV


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## JChenault (Apr 26, 2010)

Another place to look. Most major cities have an organization that acts as an umbrella for charitable giving. ( In Seattle it is the Seattlefoundation.org ). These can work as great resources to find folks who may be willing to give you money. They may have a donor interested in these kinds of grants, but even if they do not, they are well hooked into the grant making community in your area.

Good luck in your search.


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## sdauditorium (May 11, 2010)

In the county our theater is in, we have a foundation set up that donates money to non-profits for various purposes. While not specifically stated for technology, it is one of the things they have given us a few thousand for which helped us with a large purchase of Source 4s recently. However, it will vary depending on where you are of course.

I would look at your local power utility. Sometimes they will have programs or grants that will cover upgrading older, inefficient lighting fixtures to newer stuff. You may want to look at that route as well.


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## chris325 (May 13, 2010)

sdauditorium said:


> I would look at your local power utility. Sometimes they will have programs or grants that will cover upgrading older, inefficient lighting fixtures to newer stuff. You may want to look at that route as well.



My school's gyms had all lighting fixtures replaced with new flourescent fixtures a few years ago with a grant from the state based on energy conservation. How would this possibly effect (better or worse) the chances of the school's auditorium recieving such grant, or another grant, to upgrade fixtures. We're using Colortran 5/50s, and a switch to Source 4s would be result in a drastic reduction in electricity costs.


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## Les (May 13, 2010)

chris325 said:


> We're using Colortran 5/50s, and a switch to Source 4s would be result in a drastic reduction in electricity costs.



How so? Using fewer Source Fours?


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## sdauditorium (May 13, 2010)

Les said:


> How so? Using fewer Source Fours?



Potentially. But also because the common finding is that a Source 4 lamped at 575 is comparable (or even a bit brighter) than older ERS because of the improved optics. Theoretically, you could save nearly 50% of your energy consumption by switching to the 575 or almost 25% with the 750 compared to the older or less efficient fixtures using 1000W lamps.

In essence, that is what I argued to our school board last month, and they gave us $3,000 towards 54 of the Source 4s we bought. Up to that point we'd been using both Strand Lekos and 360Qs at 1000W (yes, I know the 360Qs are only rated to 750).


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## Marvalicious (May 13, 2010)

sdauditorium said:


> Up to that point we'd been using both Strand Lekos and 360Qs at 1000W (yes, I know the 360Qs are only rated to 750).




Be careful watting up like that! We had some older source fours that were only rated up to 575 and a student load a 750 lamp in one without knowing it. Basically the lamp welded itself to the socket and over the course of a week ate a dime sized whole through the entire base while still burning! 


Good luck finding money. We have a lighting grant from a local electrical repair company. Depending on where you are, maybe there's a company that would be willing to do something like that for you. 

- Marv


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## sdauditorium (May 13, 2010)

Marvalicious said:


> Be careful watting up like that! We had some older source fours that were only rated up to 575 and a student load a 750 lamp in one without knowing it. Basically the lamp welded itself to the socket and over the course of a week ate a dime sized whole through the entire base while still burning!
> 
> 
> Good luck finding money. We have a lighting grant from a local electrical repair company. Depending on where you are, maybe there's a company that would be willing to do something like that for you.
> ...



Wow. I'm the only one who lamps fixtures, and we've never had issues like that though. That's a heck of a story.


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## Footer (May 13, 2010)

It should be physically impossible to lamp a 575w fixture at 750w without modifying either the lamp or the base cap.


sent from my HTC Incredible


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## museav (May 14, 2010)

sdauditorium said:


> Potentially. But also because the common finding is that a Source 4 lamped at 575 is comparable (or even a bit brighter) than older ERS because of the improved optics. Theoretically, you could save nearly 50% of your energy consumption by switching to the 575 or almost 25% with the 750 compared to the older or less efficient fixtures using 1000W lamps.
> 
> In essence, that is what I argued to our school board last month, and they gave us $3,000 towards 54 of the Source 4s we bought. Up to that point we'd been using both Strand Lekos and 360Qs at 1000W (yes, I know the 360Qs are only rated to 750).


Just to play Devil's Advocate, the energy consumption argument would be applicable if all the fixtures were constantly on at 100%. However, if anyone thinks about the fact that the diversity factor in real use is very large, much less that having new or better lights may actually increase the usage, then the energy savings argument becomes much less compelling. I'm not saying to not use the argument to help get funding, more just pointing out what a joke many "green" initiatives are in practical application.


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## ruinexplorer (May 26, 2010)

Not only that, but if you start using power consumption as the sole reason for needing replacement fixtures, you may have to watch out for someone wanting to switch to LED fixtures for you as well. It's generally best to use a shotgun approach when asking for money, give as many reasons as possible. You are more likely to receive the grant if you show multiple reasons.


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## shiben (May 26, 2010)

Yeah, we dont need more "efficient" lighting, we just would like to be able to have students get experience with LEDs, moving heads, maybe some scanners (although the I-Cues sort of do that), and other assorted things that you find on larger shows. We are also interested in getting more scrollers, DMX Irises and Gobo Rotators, to supplement our already decent stock (just been doing bigger shows lately). The problem is, we are looking at all the high-budget items coming in here, the things that 5 grand wont really do a whole lot for. The other problem is that because its in education at the college level, we as a company feel like we should have at least a few pieces of cutting edge technology so that students can at least find out how to patch it, and understand the concepts of controlling moving lights, LEDs, etc.


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## chris325 (May 27, 2010)

We're lamping all the Colortrans at 1000W, and there are more than 60 fixtures hanging at any given time, all of which are running at varying intensities in a general wash. Switching to Source 4s would allow for a switch to at least 750W if not 575W, and that would result in a pretty significant savings. Problem is, the school district is like most in Illinois right now in that it's not exactly in great financial condition, meaning that convincing them to spend thousands now that would be paid for over the next several years probably wouldn't go over too well with the district.


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