Before They Can Choose Lighting, They Have to Find It

Light shapes how people experience every space they enter: where they heal, learn, work, and gather. The results of lighting design are seen every day, yet the profession behind them remains largely unknown, even as it ranks among the most rewarding in the built environment. Many practitioners find it by chance, through a class that happened to cover light, a mentor, or through a related field such as interior design. Discovery of the lighting design profession has long depended on chance, and far too many talented students never encounter it at all.

The IALD Education Trust, the nonprofit affiliated with the International Association of Lighting Designers, is changing that. Its mission is to grow the profession by inspiring the next generation of lighting designers and collaborators, and its new direction replaces chance discovery with a deliberate, energetic effort to introduce lighting design to students in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and theater.

A Deliberate New Direction

For years, the Trust’s signature program was travel stipends that sent students to industry events. The program built valuable community, but the Trust’s data showed that most recipients had already been exposed to lighting design and were already likely to enter the industry. After in-depth strategic work with the Trust Board of Directors and representatives of the educator community, the Trust made a purposeful decision: to direct its resources toward students who have not yet discovered lighting design.

That means working more broadly, with students in these affiliated design disciplines who are still choosing a career direction. The Trust recognizes that a smaller share of them will ultimately enter lighting design than under the previous model, and embraces the trade-off: far more students will be exposed to lighting as a career, and those who want to go further will find a clear path. Even students who choose another field will carry a deeper appreciation of light into their work, and into every project where they later collaborate with a lighting designer.

The First Step: Enlighten Americas

The strategy rests on a simple premise: students need to know that lighting design is an exciting, interesting, and viable career choice. Every program in the plan is designed to introduce the profession to as many students in affiliated disciplines as possible, and to make that first encounter memorable.

The effort begins this October at the IALD’s Enlighten Americas conference in Austin. Students from the TCU Interior Design program will spend a full day on-site, with transportation, meals, and educational content supported by the Trust. They will also attend the conference, connecting with the larger lighting community, from designers to manufacturers. For many, it will be a first look at lighting design as a profession, and hosting a group this way extends the Trust’s resources further than individual travel awards.

What Comes Next

Student attendance at Enlighten is the first element of the new strategy, and further efforts are planned as funding allows. An online portfolio review and mentorship platform is being developed to expand the portfolio review sessions from past Enlighten conferences, creating a more consistent and far-reaching way for students to connect with working designers. The Trust is also working to develop introductory lighting content for instructors of affiliated disciplines to ensure that students’ first exposure to lighting design is clear, accurate, and inspiring, rather than overwhelming.

The Trust envisions additional resources and experiences to help students understand and engage with all stages of lighting design, and to make it easy for practicing lighting designers to connect with educators and students. Ready-to-adapt presentations, for example, would let any designer invited to speak to a class share the profession with ease. Each of these efforts is designed to multiply: one introduction can reach a classroom, and one classroom can shape many careers.

A Pipeline the Whole Industry Shares

The future of lighting design concerns the entire lighting industry, and bolstering the profession benefits us all. Manufacturers need engineers and product designers, design firms need designers, and reps and distributors need technical specialists. Lighting professionals often hold multiple industry roles throughout their careers, so each student introduced to lighting design becomes a potential colleague, employee, or specifier, and a future collaborator for the architects, interior designers, and engineers who understand what lighting can do.

The Trust partners with trade shows hosting student groups, the universities that open their classrooms, the designers who volunteer their time, and the industry partners who support the Trust with resources. Together, they strive to ensure lighting design is an attainable and attractive career option for every design student, and that people who love light shape the spaces of the future.

How You Can Help

These programs depend on donor support, and every gift advances the industry’s shared future. Gifts from individuals, firms, and manufacturers support the Trust’s work, speeding the development of new initiatives and broadening its reach. Named sponsorships are available for

specific programs, and supporters are recognized at four giving levels, outlined in the donor prospectus, available from the Trust.

Every lighting designer remembers the moment light became a career rather than a background detail. With the industry’s support, that moment can reach far more students, sooner and by design rather than by chance. To give or to learn more, visit www.iald.org or email [email protected].