Blú Hanley - Teaching at Senegal’s institute IMPACT.
The Lir Academy's Head Lighting, Blú Hanley spent the month of August teaching a newly created course at the Institut Mondial des Professionnels des Arts de la Culture et des Technologies (IMPACT), Senegal
Head of Lighting, Blú Hanley spent the month teaching a newly created course in Dakar, Senegal’s Institut Mondial des Professionnels des Arts de la Culture et des Technologies (IMPACT). Last August, Blú taught lighting, alongside Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Adam Gibson.
IMPACT is a non-profit organization that helps towards the development of professional and technical training within Arts and Culture. IMPACT was created in 2023 by young Senegalese professionals with 20 years of experience managing various artistic spaces, coordinating cultural and sports festivals, and establishing vocational and technical training centers.
Blú flew from Paris to Dakar at the start of August, to prepare to begin teaching on Monday, August 4th. For three of the four weeks, she taught in Maison des Cultures Urbaines (House of Urban Cultures), continuing the work that the Bastiaan School of Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kusten (The Amsterdam University of the Arts) left off from the previous July.
Adam Gibson, who represented the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, taught a full-time sound course during her stay while she taught full-time on classes on Lighting. During the term, Blú also had the opportunity to visit and meet the Irish Embassy staff and the British Council. As well as getting to see stunning Senegalese landmarks like Le Monument de la Renaissance Africaine (The African Renaissance Monument), visited Ngor Island, Phare des Mamelles (The Lighthouse of Senegal) and Las Alamadies.
Blú describes her experience,
“I had a great time teaching this last month in Senegal. I never imagined I would visit Senegal – and especially not as a guest tutor! While it was my first time in Africa, it was huge for me to teach in another institute, and to have a say in the progression and development of IMPACT’s lighting course. I was nervous before travelling so far but I was really welcomed with open arms. The students were all enthusiastic and I was pleasantly surprised to learn some of them were interested in Lighting for reasons beyond theatre; photography, film and content creation.
I enjoyed working with Adam Gibson from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the course’s coordinator Amadou Fall Ba. It was inspiring and humbling to work with him
and see how much he has put into this course. Amadou has spotted a gap in the market, technical knowledge for live events, with job-creation and upskilling for these young people. I was also lucky to get on so well with my predecessor, Bastiaan Schoof, who sent me on a lot of his material to prepare with. I’m hoping to visit his light tunnel project soon and meet in person!
I’m grateful to have had this opportunity and especially to the Embassy of Ireland in Senegal for supporting this project. I look forward to visiting Senegal in the future and seeing how the students have progressed, as well as the course as a whole!”
A special thank you to our partners ROBE Ireland who sent out industry standard tools for the students and ETC who provided french translations of their workbooks for lighting programmers.