Fine Arts Stage Craft Benefit from Contest Win

April 13, 2015

at a Fe College's Stage Craft program has received two new metal working machines courtesy of Victor Technologies and the college's Applied Welding Technologies Program. One of the machines is a Victor® Thermal Dynamics® Cutmaster 42 Plasma Cutting Outfit and the second is a Tweco® Fabricator® 211i 3-in-1 Stick-MIG-TIG Welding Machine Kit. The combined value of the machinery is $3,000.

Victor awarded the package to the college's Applied Welding Technologies Program as a result of winning the companies "A Cut Above" national welding contest back in November 2014.

"We were very proud to have the winning contest package in November," said Welding Program Professor JT Mahoney. "This is the second time our students have taken first place in the Victor contest. We were honored to have won back in 2012 and we received the same kind of machines as contest prizes back then. When we won this time we knew we could pay it forward and help out another program because we do not need duplicate pieces of this type of specialized machinery."

"The Construction and Technical Program Department is very proud of our welding students and our welding professor JT Mahoney and their success, and their generosity to our Theatre Department," said Jane Parkin, director of SF's Construction and Technical Programs.

Theatre Technical Director Owen Reynolds, an SF Welding Program graduate, couldn't be happier with the gifts.

"These machines are exactly what a multi-material fabrication shop like ours needs," Reynolds said. "This will make our set construction projects have even more design flexibility. We have wanted some machines like these. They fit our needs perfectly."

The next time you see some stage sets in the Fine Arts Hall you may ask yourself, "Is it wood or is it metal?" Only Owen and his crew will know for sure.