Speaking as someone who recently finished high school, I can say that I would have really liked to work with a few movers in high school. I also don't believe in arc lamps for high schools, so that's why I reccomended the VL1000TSD as my first choice in the mid-range mover market. Now that you mention it, the
ETC S4 Revolution would be a good option, especially with the
wybron scroller. However, if you can get the money, 4 VL1000 TSD's or TID's would be amazing for you. I'd personally reccomend the TID's, because I'd use an
iris much more than I would shutters with moving lights.
I would really look in to the Compulite D-lite for a
console. I've done a whole lot of research in to it, and it's a very advanced
console for it's price (well under $10K USD for the 36/72 model). It has a better featureset and moving light control than the Jands Event,
and it also has a nice touchscreen for moving light control, which makes it much, much easier (that's what the
screen built in to the upper right of the
console is).
Either that, or *has excellent idea* the
LSC MAXIM! Excellent
console, and it's from folks down under! Not nearly as advanced as the Compulite D-lite, but great
console for a school. Get the 36/72 (size L) model with the PatPad if you can afford it, you WILL NOT regret it. One user on these forums has this
console at their school, I forget who it is, but they love it. It's very easy to use in terms of ML control, even though it doesn't have a
conventional keypad. The control structure is very well layed out and quite easy to use. The only drawback is that lack of the
conventional control keypad. But the ML control and channel-per-fader control is there.
In addition to all of that, however, put some
DMX toys in your grant. Some
gobo rotators, I-Cues or Right Arms, some scrollers, and some
DMX irises. A
fixture with an
I-Cue and a
DMX Iris is basically a mover that you can use for theater shows that is very quiet, easy to control via faders, and is based on a regular
fixture (S4
ERS).
Basically, think of things in two ways: 1, you want to make your shows look good. 2, you want to be able to use the lighting to
gain experience with the
current offerings in controllable lighting. I know that I'd much rather have 4 movers, 4 i-cues, 4
dmx irises, some
DMX rotators, and 8 or so scrollers than 8 movers in an educational setting. This allows for students to learn a whole lot more.
Aha! Now I'ma gonna edit again!
Here's my final recommendation for what you should put in the grant:
Compulite D-lite 36/72 (or 48/96 depending on how many dimmers you have - you want to have more faders than dimmers to control other attributes and toys) (~8K USD)
4 VL1000TID fixtures (~20K-30K USD??)
4 I-Cues (~2200 USD)
4
DMX Irises &
Power Supplies (~2500)
4
DMX Dual
Gobo Roators (~2000 USD)
8
Apollo SmartColor 7.5" Scrollers (for S4
Par's or S4 Zooms - include S4
Par's in budget if you don't have them) (~2400 USD)
I-Cue &
Scroller Power Supply, 400W Smart
Power (~750 USD)
2
Gam FilmFX units (~$1400 USD)
Now that's a whopper of a grant for you. Good luck!