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Lighting Designer (LD) working in Upper West Side, Manhattan
Manhattan · 10023

LightingDesigner.

InUpperWestSide.

Vetted Lighting Designer (LD)s with NYC venue references, booked through the operating system behind MSG, UBS Arena, Barclays, Capitale, Newark Symphony. From $800/day. Pre-auth, GPS-verified hours, Stripe Connect direct deposit.

$800
from / day
5+
Upper West Side venues we work
500ft
geofence check-in
4.8★
avg crew rating
Stripe Connect verified
GPS-locked check-in
Direct deposit payouts
Vetted ELITE crew

The brief

Vetted lds, hired the way pros actually work.

A great lighting designer turns a stage into a moment. In Upper West Side (Manhattan), BookACrew's LD roster includes designers who've programmed for arena tours, Off-Broadway shows, NYC fashion weeks, corporate flagship events at Cipriani and Cipriani-tier venues, and major brand activations. Every LD has been vetted on console fluency, design intuition, and on-the-day reliability.

Performance arts capital — Lincoln Center anchors a year-round concert, opera, ballet, and high-end fundraiser ecosystem. Many shows broadcast or recorded, so signal quality + RF coordination matter more than average.

Estimate

What this ld will run you

Live cost estimate based on Upper West Side market rate. Adjust hours to see your number.

8 hrs
2hHalf-day floor (5h)Full-day cap (10h)16h

Estimated total

$1,100
per shift

Full-day rate (8 hrs): $1,100

Pre-auth holds this amount at booking. Stripe captures only the GPS-verified hours after checkout. You never pay for hours the crew didn't work.

What you're hiring for

What a Lighting Designer
actually does on a Upper West Side gig.

Every ld on our roster has been screened against these core responsibilities. The profile shows years of experience, tier, average rating, and on-time rate before you confirm.

Design the lighting look for each moment of the show — colors, intensity, movement, focus

Program cues into the lighting console (grandMA3, Hog 4, Eos)

Run the console live during the show, calling or busking cues

Coordinate with the LDir, video designer, and stage manager on visual story

Plot fixtures during pre-pro, coordinate hangs with riggers, and focus during sound check

Maintain show files and revise looks between performances

Lighting Designer (LD) on-site in Upper West Side

Console fluency

The gear they walk in already knowing.

When you book a ld through BookACrew in Upper West Side, you're getting someone who already knows the gear NYC venues run. This is the baseline fluency every profile in our roster meets. ELITE-tier goes deeper.

  • MA Lighting grandMA3 (and MA2)
  • Hog 4 / 4PC
  • ETC Eos family
  • Capture / WYSIWYG / Vectorworks Spotlight pre-vis
  • DMX network topology + Art-Net / sACN
  • Color theory + intelligent fixture programming

Upper West Side in the field

Real ld work.

From the booking dashboard

The people
who already book here.

I posted a last-minute ld call for a Upper West Side corporate dinner at 10pm and had three vetted applicants by midnight. The one I picked checked in at the dock on time, knew the venue cold, and the bill was exactly what the dashboard said it would be. That doesn't happen with phone-tree agencies.

Production manager
Manhattan-based corporate event company

We run two shows a week in this neighborhood and the same ld keeps applying. After three repeat bookings he hit ELITE and now he's our first choice. Saves me an hour of vetting per gig.

Owner
NYC AV rental house

Upper West Side venues

The rooms the crew already knows.

Vetted on local venue references. They show up knowing the dock, the elevator quirks, the union steward's name, and how long the room takes to ring out.

  • Lincoln Center
  • Beacon Theatre
  • Symphony Space
  • Merkin Hall
  • Museum of Natural History

Load-in intel

What to expect in Upper West Side

Lincoln Center venues are union (IATSE Local 1). Off-campus venues vary. Truck staging via Amsterdam Ave service road.

Transit

Broadway (1/2/3), Central Park West (B/C).

Nearest airport · LGA (10 mi), JFK (16 mi), EWR (12 mi)

Event types we staff here

Concert / festivalCorporate keynote / general sessionGala / award showTheater / danceFashion showBrand activation / immersiveWedding (high-end production)

Frequently asked

Questions about hiring
a ld in Upper West Side.

What's the difference between an LD and a lighting tech in Upper West Side?+

The LD designs the show — colors, looks, cues, story. The lighting tech (LX1, LX2) executes the design — hang, focus, troubleshoot fixtures. For most Upper West Side venues, you need one LD plus 2-4 lighting techs depending on rig size.

Does the LD bring their own console?+

No. The console is provided by the venue, the lighting vendor, or the rental house. The LD brings their MagicQ/MA dongle (if licensed), their show files, headphones, comms beltpack, and a USB drive.

How far in advance should I book?+

For high-profile shows (concert, corporate flagship), book 4-6 weeks out so the LD has pre-pro time. For repeating venue gigs (church, weekly residency), the same LD on a recurring booking is ideal — show files compound week over week.

Can the LD also pre-visualize the show before load-in?+

Yes — most working NYC LDs charge a pre-vis day rate to build the show in Capture or WYSIWYG before load-in. Useful for tight load-in windows or when the client wants a preview deck before signing off.

Ready when you are

Post your Upper West Side gig.
Be booked by morning.

Pre-auth holds the rate. Vetted lds apply. Pick one. The rest auto-release. From $800/day.

Free to post · Free to apply · Free GPS check-in · You pay only verified hours