Amanda received a BA in Theatre Arts at California State University, Fresno, and an MFA in Lighting Design at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 2018. In her final year of study, she received the Outstanding Graduate Award, where she demonstrated the importance of light in storytelling to faculty and supporters within the fine arts community.
Amanda's professional work as a lighting designer has taken her across and outside the country. Her experience has included a design fellowship at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York, working with the New York-based broadcast lighting team, The Lighting Design Group, on the 3rd Presidential Debate during the 2016 election, and serving as a lighting associate for award-winning designers Simon Corder and Mike Robertson at the Barbican Centre in London England.
Previous experience includes being an adjunct instructor in Lighting Design and Stage Production Design at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and an architectural lighting designer for Shop12 Design—a part of Steelman Partners in Las Vegas, NV. She is currently a designer for HLB Lighting Designs’ Denver office.
Amanda is lighting certified (LC) through NCQLP, an Associate Member of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), a member of the Illumination Engineering Society (MIES) Rocky Mountain Section, and a member of the United States Institute of Technical Theatre (USITT). She serves on the WILD (Women in Lighting Design) Denver local chapter, the national Lamplighter Coalition chapter, and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect (DEIR) board.
Contact amandamarievaldez@gmail.com
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