For Winnipeg’s large French-speaking community, the Franco-Manitobain Cultural Centre (CCFM) is an essential cultural gathering spot for events and celebrations. CCFM recently grandly marked its 50th Anniversary with a dazzling show, a testament to the innovative production design by Red Rover Entertainment and the captivating illumination by Elation Lighting, both of which added a unique and exciting element to the celebration.
With two large-scale shows and several smaller events on the schedule, the venue’s year-long anniversary celebration is a momentous occasion that commemorates the rich cultural heritage of Winnipeg’s francophone community across five decades. For a special anniversary show on April 19, several francophone artists who have graced the CCFM stage over the past fifty years, old and young talent alike, were invited to perform backed by a house band, a testament to the enduring legacy and cultural significance of the CCFM.
Jon Stanners, who has operated Red Rover Entertainment in Winnipeg since 2013, has worked at events at CCFM for years. As a francophone himself (along with several Red Rover employees), he feels a particular affinity for the venue. When asked to incorporate the distinctive CCFM logo into the stage design, he developed a striking concept that integrated the logo into the backdrop, creating a can’t-miss focal point for the event.
Stanners and his team built a custom set featuring four large asymmetrical cyc panels that reflected the CCFM logo's shape and served as a dynamic backdrop for the performers. The twelve-foot tall frames, enveloped in spandex, were illuminated using Elation’s SixBar 500 linear battens, SixPar 200 PAR lights, and Color 5 Profile ellipsoidal fixtures.
“When guests entered for the show, they were greeted by the four panels illuminated in the colors of the CCFM logo—red, yellow, purple, cyan—which, for members of the community, is instantly recognizable,” Stanners commented. “Then we transformed the panels into a towering backdrop for the performers with eye-catching colors that accentuated the acts and also looked great for photos.”
Twenty-four linear SixBar color-changing fixtures lined each side of the panels, with 12 additional units on the floor shooting upward. Twenty SixPar 200 color-changers provided side light and light from above. A single Colour 5 Profile sat atop each cyc, with eight additional units out front—middle and side positioned—used for essential lighting and cyc lighting. Because the stage was somewhat shallow, Stanners used the side-positioned ellipsoidal to separate the artists from the background, carefully avoiding light spilling onto the background or house band.
Stanners, who first rendered his design using Capture lighting design software, says the outcome was better than he had imagined. “We put it in Capture and hoped it would look as good in person as it did on screen,” he said. “When we got on-site, we were really happy with it. The panels took light really well, and overall, it came out better in person than I anticipated.” The result was highly uniform and even color across the panels, allowing him to create gradients of color across the panels to create depth, dimension, and visual interest.
Six overhead Fuze SFX LED Spot FX moving heads were added to the rig, providing back spotlight looks, silhouettes, and the occasional volley of beams or gobo pattern onto the panels. The multi-purpose fixtures proved to be a versatile addition to the rig, offering a combination of capabilities that elevated the visual experience.
“They are so useful, and I use them a lot on our projects,” Stanners said, noting that he has had good experience with them. “It’s a versatile fixture that saves you from having to have both a beam and a profile fixture.” For the 50th Anniversary show, Stanners used them in white with CTO and zoomed them to the perfect size to keep the house band silhouetted in the background while accenting the artist upfront. It was a different look than the more typical beam and gobo looks he usually uses them for, but he says it worked out well.
Red Rover Entertainment and Eventlight provided the Elation lighting for the 50th Anniversary event, with Stanners handling lighting programming and operation. Stanners concludes by saying that he’s not sure if he’ll repeat the look for the second big anniversary show later in the year—that’s likely a matter of budgets—but based on his positive feedback, it’s certainly a possibility.
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Photos: Mikey Jablonski
