Context and Connection

Transportation provided from El Paso Airport to Marfa.

6:30 pm – Dinner / WELCOME: meet hosts and participants

8:30-9:30 (sunset) – IN THE FIELD: Marfa’s nightscape. Take a guided tour around the town to observe day-to-night transitions and understand local lighting conditions. Tour Guides : Zeke and Elizabeth Raney from The Mud Lab.

10 pm – MARFA LIGHTS: drive to the viewing platform to see the lights

Practice and Experimentation

9 am – Breakfast

10 am – TECHNICAL SESSION

• Principles of Dark Sky friendly lighting: shielding, color temp, light levels, distribution, optics, and controls

• Examples of good and bad practice, including case studies

• Dark Sky resources

• Measurements – sky quality meter and luminance/illuminance measurements

11 am – The importance of Dark Sky – Stephen Hummel, McDonald Observatory

12:30 pm – Lunch

 1:30 – 4 pm – ART TOURS: You will visit 4 private studios and/or appointment-only galleries with artists present, lasting about 3 hours.

4 – 4:30 pm – Break

4:30 - 5:30 pm – ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY – Photographer Nicholas J. Carroll will talk about the night sky and best practices for outdoor photography.

6 - 7:30 pm – Dinner / Sunset Tours at Chinati

8 – 10:30 pm – PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONS at Chinati – Begin with sunset tour of the Irwin Center, lava rock circle, 100 untitled works in mill aluminum. To include controls and CCT demos, and GOBO. Teams move around demo stations for hands on experimentation.

10:30 pm – Optional social outing at a local Marfa bar

Action

8 am – Breakfast

8:30 am – 12 pm - OPTIONAL OUTING: Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center

12 pm – Lunch

1:30 – DARK SKY SPEAKER – Amber Harrison from Dark Sky International

2:30 – DESIGNER CASE STUDIES

• Case Study 1

• Case Study 2

• Case Study 3  

3:30 pm – Break

4 – 5:30 pm – DESIGN SPRINT: Dark Sky concepts for Marfa

• Teams create rapid proposals for improvement to real Marfa sites – real and designed (eg Main St, hotels, shops, art installations, churches, town square)

• Produce quick sketches and simple lighting plans

6 pm – DINNER / Margaret’s in the Brite Building

8 – 10 pm - STAR PARTY at The Lumberyard – short walk from Margaret’s / the Hotel

Join Devo of Astro Mucho for a laser guided star tour of the Milky Way. Take a look at nearby constellations through a mobile telescope, the CPC1100 with Explore Scientific eye pieces

Wrap Up

8:30 – Breakfast – Marfa Burritos

Participants develop their own commitment statement / pledge to Dark Skies and share with the group

9:30 – GROUP PHOTO: closing remarks and reflections

10 am – Depart Marfa for the drive to El Paso airport