Undergraduate Lighting

Lighting design is a vital component of every area of contemporary performance: from the theater through concerts, themed entertainment to trade shows and industrials. At the University of North Carolina School of the Arts the lighting program prepares students to work in lighting design, programming and lighting systems design careers within the entertainment industry.

Bachelor of Fine Arts

First-Second Years
Throughout our Undergraduate Lighting program, you will progress from classroom instruction to lab work to practical production experience. Your first two years will consist of learning the building blocks of lighting design and technology. Classes cover topics such as color, design, drafting, drawing, principles of lighting design, stage electrics, photometrics, fixed and automated luminaries, computer-aided design and programming across many industry-standard platforms. As part of your degree, you will take liberal arts courses.

Third-Fourth Years
Entering your third year, you will choose either the Lighting Design or Lighting Technology track, based on your interests and abilities. Classroom and laboratory work will allow you to gain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art technology. As you progress through the program, you will be given more responsibility and creative liberty to design and implement the lighting for the school’s 20-plus productions each year, all of which are designed by students in the program.

No one genre dominates the lighting curriculum. You will participate in all types of productions and genres. Each year, the campus produces spoken plays, musicals, dance and opera productions from a wide range of cultures and periods, representing diverse points-of-view. The Lighting program is made more enriching by the variety of venues in which you will work, testing and honing your skills and creativity at every turn. 

Careers in Lighting

Our graduates work in an incredibly diverse range of companies and areas within the entertainment industry, including: Cirque du Soleil, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theater, World Stage, Hudson Scenic and The Walt Disney Company.