Wayne Howell

Wayne Howell, Managing Director, Singularity (UK) Ltd: Wayne is the owner and creative force behind Singularity. He was for many years the owner CEO of Artistic Licence, the lighting controls company that he founded in 1988.

Over the decades, Wayne developed many award-winning products for Artistic Licence. He is perhaps best known as the inventor of the Art-Net ethernet lighting protocol, now supported by hundreds of manufacturers worldwide.  In 2022, Wayne accepted an offer from prestigious global group, Robe, to acquire Artistic Licence. He now works on a consultative basis through Singularity, enabling him to focus on his original passion for designing and inventing.  Wayne was the recipient of the 2017 Gottelier award at the PLASA London show. Named in memory of Tony Gottelier, the renowned industry innovator and commentator, the award recognises product developers who have made significant long-term contributions to the advancement of entertainment technology. 

Wayne is considered to be one of the world’s leading authorities on lighting control protocols. In addition to inventing Art-Net, he has been active in the ESTA TSP (Entertainment Services and Technology Association – Technical Standards Program) for over 20 years, and was a key contributor to the task groups that developed DMX512-A, RDM and RDMnet.  Wayne is one of the organisers of the PLASA PlugFest meetings, held annually to promote control protocol inter-operability and dialogue among manufacturers and developers.  Wayne’s enjoys sharing his expertise through his seminars, articles and books, including Light Bytes and Control Freak.