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If you haven’t heard the name of the SU society, Backstage, whilst you were a student at Bath, you’ll almost certainly have benefitted from what they do.
Backstage are something of an unsung hero amongst all the SU clubs and societies because for over 40 years now they have provided vital technical expertise to other Students' Union Clubs and Societies and event organisers.
All of the big events (and most of the smaller events) are crewed by members of Backstage - all of the bands that appear in the Tub, the experience that is Freshers' Week, The Summer Ball, plays by Bath University Student Theatre (BUST), musicals by Bath University Student Musical Society (BUSMS), any show in the Edge and many, many more.
Now, however, Backstage need your support as they launch an appeal to fund an essential stage of updating their aged lighting equipment. With your help they can continue to be a key part of so many wonderful university activities and events.
The society is celebrating 40 years this March so not surprisingly much of its lighting equipment (some of it dating back to the 1950’s) is rapidly approaching the end of its life and the club’s replacement plans urgently need your support.
The club have already begun a phased replacement of their aged lighting lanterns with new LED light fittings but whilst they are very cost effective in the long run, the initial outlay is high.
New LED lighting will bring many benefits; they’re much more energy efficient, they provide improvements in the quality and flexibility of the lighting and by meeting the latest regulations, they’re future proof too.
And the bottom line is that if the society can’t update its lighting equipment, the situation will arise soon whereby they can’t provide our clubs and societies with the service they need.
The age of the current lighting equipment already places limitations on what they can do and some have been re-wired 4-5 times to make them serviceable!
"Backstage have always been instrumental in ensuring The SU deliever high quality, impressive visual and sound experiences at so many of our events. From huge arena nights to smaller events for our student groups, Backstage always provide a professional service as low prices which really enhances the experience for all."
(Helen, Students' Union)
Updating to LEDs won’t only enable Backstage to continue to provide a low-cost service across campus but it’ll also ensure that members of the society can train on industry standard equipment and develop usable skills beyond university.