ACT Lighting Inc. has launched a new ACT Academy promotion offering all of its online courses – including newly updated grandMA3 courses – at a 25% discount. The promotion runs from October 19 through October 25 and is available by linking to https://academy.actlighting.com/ and entering the promo code always learning. All registrations are valid for six months. ACT Lighting Inc. is the exclusive North American distributor of MA Lighting products.
The special promotion is offered during the week when LDI – Las Vegas traditionally takes place. ACT Lighting always provides grandMA consoles and trainers for courses sponsored by the conference. “LDI has been a great learning experience every year, and ACT won’t let that change even in 2020,” says Ryan Hindinger, Director of Sales Logistics at ACT Lighting. “We thought this promotion would be a good way to acknowledge that while we’d all rather be in Las Vegas doing what we normally do, we can still keep the learning experience going.”
ACT Academy launched at LDI 2017 with online courses for the grandMA2 and has grown to offer a roster of classes designed to increase the mastery of grandMA users at every skill level. Built from the ground up, the classes are led by expert instructors through video tutorials and lesson quizzes, which can be accessed at any time and at the individual user’s own pace.
Last spring, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, ACT Academy offered free courses until June 1 for the new grandMA3 platform and legacy courses for the grandMA2 desk. The promotion drew just over 7,000 new active students and more than 3,200 course completions during its run.
“Our spring promotion was extremely successful, and we hope to build on that with this new discount offer,” says Hindinger. “Last spring everything had come to a full stop and people were looking for something to do. We enjoyed being able to help by offering free courses to MA users to fill their time and sharpen their skills. Now, ACT Academy has new content that wasn’t available in the spring – new courses on grandMA3 software operations. So even if MA Lighting users participated in our last promotion, this is a good time to re-register and take advantage of a 25% discount an all-new content.”
He emphasizes that MA Lighting users who purchase courses during the promotion can access the courseware as much as they want for the next six months. “You can revisit sections as many times as you like – in fact, we encourage it,” Hindinger says. “Courses are very linear. There are learning modules and quizzes, and users don’t proceed to the next section until they’ve successfully completed a quiz. So they’re always able to revisit the material. The promotion is great for grandMA2 users who haven’t had a chance to see grandMA3 yet because of COVID-19, and it’s also important for new grandMA3 users who want to keep updated.”
Michael Wilkinson, a Lighting Designer and Programmer who owns Aurora Light in Calgary, Canada, is a repeat student at ACT Academy. “I really like the courses; they deliver a lot of information in a very easy-to-understand manner,” he says. “They go straight to what you want to know. When courses are tailored to what you do as a career they’re invaluable.”
During the spring promotion Wilkinson took a free introductory course to MA3 then later enrolled in the intermediate program. “Since the grandMA3 came out I’ve never had a chance to take an in-person class,” he notes.
Wilkinson is still interested in exploring grandMA2 courses, as well. “I’ve been on grandMA2 since it launched, but there are always things to learn about it, new and better ways to do things,” he explains. “You never fully know everything there is to know about the MA Lighting platform.”
Hindinger agrees. “No one ever says they know everything they need to know about MA Lighting consoles – these are products for a professional market; extremely powerful but that power brings a level of complexity that can require intensive training. That’s why ACT Academy has focused on MA console training.”
He notes that the ACT Academy website also links users to MA University, MA Lighting’s own space for free product tutorials.
“ACT Lighting will continue to look at ways to offer education to the industry however we can,” says Hindinger.
