GALA, a community-driven music festival celebrating the roots of dance music, is a yearly event that’s run at London’s Peckham Rye Park. GALA Festival remains a beacon of community-driven music culture, celebrating the originators and innovators of dance music. With every detail painstakingly considered, the festival guarantees great times through its commitment to high-reaching design, playful energy, and thoughtful delivery.
In collaboration with lighting designer Lewis Howell, we provided lighting, rigging, and power solutions for the festival that spanned over six stages.
The Brief
GALA sought a lighting design to elevate the festival’s technical and aesthetic impact, creating an innovative and visually engaging experience for visitors. The brief called for a blend of functional and artistic lighting across multiple stages and site-wide installations to match the festival’s vibrant and soulful character.
What Made This Project Unique?
The festival presented a multi-element challenge encompassing:
- Lighting across six stages, each with a distinct vibe and technical requirements.
- Artistic site-wide lighting, designed to enhance the festival’s immersive atmosphere and visual appeal.
- This combination demanded precision, creativity, and the ability to seamlessly integrate diverse elements into a cohesive whole.
DCLX’s Role
DCLX delivered a comprehensive technical package to meet the demands of GALA’s lighting design:
- Rigging, Power, and Lighting Operation across all six stages.
- A wide array of high-performance lighting fixtures, including:
- Robe, SGM, and Chauvet fixtures.
- Custom DCLX Pixel Sabres for unique and creative lighting effects.
- All systems controlled via a Chamsys console for precise, efficient control.
DCLX’s expertise ensured seamless execution, from initial rigging to final operation, while maintaining reliability under challenging outdoor conditions.
The Challenges
- Weather: Outdoor festivals are inherently unpredictable, and ensuring all lighting and power systems remained operational despite the elements was a key challenge.
- Complexity of Scale: Managing six stages and coordinating artistic site lighting required careful planning and flawless execution.
Why DCLX?
- An existing working relationship with Lewis Howell, who trusted DCLX’s expertise and equipment.
- A reputation for knowledge and experience in outdoor festivals, coupled with an inventory of robust and reliable fixtures suited for challenging conditions.
- The efficiency and professionalism of the DCLX team, ensuring every detail was handled seamlessly.
GALA’s satisfaction with DCLX’s performance led to plans for future collaborations, with DCLX confirmed to provide lighting for next year’s festival.
The Results
Thanks to our involvement, the festival ran smoothly and delivered a visually stunning experience that complemented GALA’s ethos.
By partnering with DCLX, GALA elevated its aesthetic and technical capabilities while reinforcing its values of diversity, sustainability and creating a safe open space for all.
