Europe - Prolights has appointed Full AVL as its distributor for the Netherlands. Full AVL Distribution is a wholesaler of professional AV, lighting and sound equipment, selling to the Dutch market.
“We focus on high-quality manufacturers with terrific products that could have a positive impact to our market,” commentsPatrick Leijten, CEO of Full AVL. “We trust Prolights have the right solution that our customers have been requesting, and a diverse enough portfolio to fulfil the markets we are present in.”
Prolights' own R&D and technical vision was at the centre of Full AVL's decision to take on the brand. “We were surprised how technically-oriented the company is, and we certainly see a lot of innovation happening at their headquarters. Our customers will

USA - For the seventh year in a row, the biggest stars of country music performed in a celebration of all things country at the 2020 iHeartCountry Festival presented by Capital One.
Taking place at the Steel Mill with a lighting rig supplied by Bandit Lites, the main stage was hosted by Bobby Bones and featured performances by Dierks Bentley, Lady A, Sam Hunt, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Dustin Lynch, Jon Pardi, Riley Green, Morgan Evans and Gabby Barrett.
The festival was originally set to take place at the Frank Erwin Centre in Austin, Texas on 2 May, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual show took place Friday, 23 October, and country fans were able to enjoy their favourite artists performing live (from the comfort and safety of their own homes).
Lighting designer Tom Kenny utilised a package with more than 100 fixtures, including Ayrto

Belgium - Over recent months, the drive-in movie has been very evident throughout Europe, as drive-in theatres have popped up this year from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.
In East Flanders, the government of Wichelen took a somewhat different approach. Instead of creating a single drive-in movie site for people to visit, it brought the concept to its citizens. Under the leadership of mayor Kenneth Taylor, a Flemish TV and film director, it organised drive-in events at different locations throughout the community.
The Lokeren- based event company D-Dream set up the drive-in sites for the Wichelen municipal government. “We were directly contacted by the city,” said Elke Scheirs of D-Dream. “They told us they wanted to bring a new live event to entertain their citizens in a safe way during the Corona pandemic. Since the shows were to be held at different locations
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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

USA - When Athens First United Methodist Church in Texas decided to transform an old and seldom-used fellowship hall into a new contemporary worship space they selected an all ADJ, all LED-powered rig. Then, pleased with the quality and reliability of their lighting, the church again chose ADJ when it was time to replace the aging projectors in their main sanctuary with modern LED video walls.
A former paramedic/firefighter who then spent 10 years working in the oil and gas industry, Wes Akin felt a sense of calling to serve others again and began volunteering as the technical director at Athens First. Over time this simultaneously led to a full-time role at the church, overseeing business and operations, and a rekindling of his passion for technical production. Wes founded Gain Stage Productions to offer live audio and visual services to local venues as well as to provide i

Italy - Since the start of the pandemic, Prolights has been one of the thousands of companies worldwide in entertainment that has been largely hit by the snowball effects of COVID-19.
As a manufacturer of entertainment lighting and video equipment, with a strong presence internationally, the company felt the effects of a total shutdown of the theatre and live events industries, and a cut-back on public spending and delays of many projects that Prolights was involved with together with its partners.
Despite having been in the epicentre of cases in Europe and gone through a forced shutdown of the majority of the markets during the months of March and April, Prolights was able to keep all its staff at work through those times and made a point of not postponing or cancelling any on-going development. In fact, the company kept its ambitious product roadmap and strongly inve

UK - Audiologic has recently introduced a series of learning events focused on technology to help promote a deeper understanding on the latest developments in AV. These short events are designed to help fellow members of the AV community take advantage of the myriad of technical features and benefits offered by Audiologic’s wide range of products.
Every Tuesday, their Application Support team will continue to publish advice and support online concerning commissioning systems, setting up equipment and plenty of other technical knowhow. Recent episodes include topics such as MXA optimisation with Shure Designer, a first look at the new Shure MXA710, how to improve room acoustics with Ecler and Genelec’s network powered loudspeakers. This content is also designed to support our key brands as partners, as we seek to reach new audiences and offer something different to our c

USA - Music technology hardware, software and consumer electronics specialist inMusic has confirmed the acquisition of ArKaos.
ArKaos and its entire engineering department will now become part of inMusic’s R&D family, which includes several music technology and consumer electronic brands such as AIR Music Technology, Akai Professional, Alto Professional, Alesis, BFD, Denon DJ and Denon Professional, Engine DJ, HeadRush, ION Audio, M-Audio, Marantz Professional, MARQ Lighting, MixMeister, Numark, RANE, SONiVOX, SoundSwitch and Stanton.
Agnes Wojewoda, outgoing MD and founder of ArKaos, comments: “We have successfully closed the acquisition of ArKaos. We are very excited and happy about this new chapter. The integration to inMusic Brands creates an amazing perspective for ArKaos to continue to develop and meet with our customers’ expectations.”
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The Netherlands - Visual Productions has launched B-Station2, a successor to the popular B-Station.
The B-Station2 is designed to offer a user-interface to lighting projects, it is a wall-mount panel with six push-buttons. The buttons can be configured to send out a multitude of control messages via DMX, UDP, OSC, Art-Net or sACN.
The B-Station2 is designed for triggering lighting scenes stored in a CueCore2 or LPU-2 controller. The push-buttons are fitted with RGB LED rings. The LEDs can be freely programmed to create an intuitive user experience, for example by indicating which button or lighting scene is active, or representing the real-time colour of the fixture.
Messages from protocols such as DMX, UDP, OSC, Art-Net or sACN can be used to control the feedback to the LED rings. For small lighting projects, the B-Station2 is a compact and complete stand-alone

USA - The new IP65 rated COLORado Batten Q15 from Chauvet Professional features an array of rigging options that make it suitable for a wide range of designs.
The adjustable trunnions on this one-meter long RGBW LED batten, which can be adjust without tools on its integrated track, have been given an even greater degree of versatility with the addition of ¼ turn omega brackets.
Adding to the COLORado BattenQ15’s adaptability is a new system for joining different units together. Integrated into the end caps of the fixture is a system to connect units seamlessly for perfect row alignment. Since these attachments are weight bearing, the COLORado Batten Q15 can be hung ‘icicle style’, or arranged in tower configurations using the included hanging/floor mount plate.
“Given the demands of today’s market, when lighting rigs are being set up in many different

UK - Avolites has announced the release of the latest version of the Titan lighting software with version 14, featuring time-saving and practical features taken from user feedback.
“We decided that this release was a great opportunity for us to focus on the many feature requests we have from our users. We feel it is really important to listen to what users want and to provide them with what they have asked for. We hope everyone enjoys using this feature packed release,” says Paul Wong, managing director at Avolites.
Key features in this release include Virtual Faders, Open Workspace Window Overlay, MaskFX, Handle Options, and Manual Crossfade FX.
Virtual Faders give you access to 15 virtual handles that provide additional control of playbacks, masters, fixtures and more via the touchscreen. The faders can be paged and the window is fully configurable to su

USA - Global design firm, DX7 Design, recently embarked on its second season of lighting the hit American TV dance competition Dancing With The Stars, shot at CBS Television City in Hollywood.
Production loaded in at the end of August and the show runs for 11 weeks, culminating in the final over Thanksgiving weekend, at the end of November.
After featuring GLP fixtures heavily on the last series, LD Tom Sutherland has raised the bar even higher this time, deploying 150 GLP fixtures, predominantly X4 Bars and JDC1 hybrid strobes, in his ever-changing landscape. “We reprogramme weekly,” he explained. “Then we bring in extras for certain dances week-to-week if the creative team call for them.”
The lighting brief is heavily dictated by the set design. “[Production designer] Florian Wieder has created a modern take on an art deco ballroom. It’s esse

UK - Under a new Calibre Premium Channel Partner Programme, Calibre UK will incentivise companies selling commercial Calibre LED and image display solutions.
“It takes more than just a product to be the supplier of choice,” says Paul Wilson, account manager EMEA at Calibre UK. “We’ve introduced a new partner programme to enable our business partners to deliver innovative and high-quality solutions to integrators and specialists across a broad spectrum of applications, markets, and geographies.
“Based on vertical markets, other revenue and business models, the Calibre Premium Channel Partner Programme will reward partners with several benefits to help partners win business and make money.”
Benefits include online training opportunities, increased knowledge transfer, a web portal for web-based product support, promotions such as e-shots and newsletters

USA - Eastern Lighting Design has been relying on Chroma-Q products for many years and many projects, including their most recent lighting design project for WGN’s News Nation studio. Specialising in TV and broadcast studios, Matt Gordon, president of Eastern Lighting, along with VP of design Mick Smith, and supported by Barbizon Lighting Company, worked through the COVID-19 pandemic to provide the lighting for the Chicago based facility.
“Working through a pandemic has been a real learning experience and adjustment.” explains Matt “I am still surprised how quickly we were able to turn around the project within the given time-lines considering that most of the world was in lockdown. We opted to work during the night in order to practice social distancing from other trades.”
News Nation is a new national newscast programme that was going into WGNs old, 3,500s

USA - Nestled in the Highlands neighbourhood of White Plains, New York sits Bet Am Shalom Synagogue.
In 2016, systems integrator Shadowbox Design Management installed a Prism 12x12 at Bet Am Shalom as the heart of a public address/reinforcement system with four main zones - the main synagogue, chapel, multifunction room, and library.
In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic caused historic changes to common gathering spaces necessitating strict social distancing rules. This unexpected event imposed new rules and restrictions on how the synagogue could utilize their floor space and ultimately resulted in a mandatory halt in services and activities for their congregants.
Leaders of Bet Am Shalom contacted Shadowbox Design Management to find a way to upgrade the audio system throughout the facility so the synagogue could continue their services while foll

Denmark - Vejle Musikteater, in the fjord-side town of Vejle is usually a bustling hub for live entertainment, offering a mix of band concerts, dance and DJ events, theatre production and conferences, events and presentations.
Like most venues, it closed as COVID-19 spread worldwide, stopping the industry in its tracks in March. However, far from becoming a ghost-like shell of its former self, staff, management and crew have been busy in the last six month overseeing a complete technical refit and the Musikteater has just cautiously reopened for shows and business to reduced capacities and a new set of COVID-compliant operational rules and regulations.
During this long ‘dark’ period, the venue’s technical manager Rasmus Primdahl explained, they purchased 16 new Robe Esprite LED Profiles which have been added to the existing 16 x Esprites - selected after extens

UK - In these difficult times for the live entertainment industry, Yamaha is working with both practical measures and its #BringingLive2Life campaign to help audiences and performers alike to experience live entertainment again. One of its first successes was playing a key role in helping Boisdale of Belgravia - the first live venue in London to reopen.
Boisdale is a chain of four themed restaurants, located in London’s Belgravia, Bishopsgate, Canary Wharf and Mayfair. Before lockdown they featured live music every night, with a number of well-known artists - including Alexander O’Neal, Mica Paris, Natasha Hamilton, Rebecca Ferguson and Omar - booked for the Canary Wharf restaurant.
Boisdale managing director Ranald Macdonald has previously worked with Yamaha Music London and, as the national lockdown began to ease, contacted retail operations manager Stephen Davie

UK - 7thSense has announced the completion of its merger with Medialon. In June 2019, the team behind 7thSense acquired the Medialon brand and ShowControl activities from Barco to form Medialon Limited. Since then, the Medialon team and product line has expanded from offices in North America, Canada and the UK.
As part of the integration strategy, which became effective on 1 October 2020, all Medialon products have been added to the 7thSense product portfolio and Medialon product names remain the same.
All Medialon staff will now join the 7thSense team and continue to work on the development of the Medialon product line.
Matt Barton, 7thSense CEO, comments: “The synergies between Medialon and 7thSense have been demonstrated since the 2019 acquisition - this merger is intended to cross pollinate the knowledge and skills of both companies, while maintaining inde

South Africa - The South African live events industry once again joined hands with #WeMakeEvents to participate in charity bike ride #TheSurvivalTour and raise awareness of the plight of event industry affected by the COVID-19 disruption.
Similar to the action that took place in the UK, the South African cyclists embarked on a lengthy route, passing by some of the country’s iconic venues, now closed due to the pandemic. As many as 24 cyclists participated in a 60km route, visiting Constitution Hill, Teatro at Montecasino, Sandton Convention Centre, Nelson Mandela Square, Joburg Theatre, Market Theatre, Mary Fitzgerald Square, and the TicketPro Dome on 24 October in Johannesburg.
Many industry players cut their teeth at some of the venues on the journey, and the

UK - Arts Council England has opened its £18m Developing your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund to a wider pool of creative practitioners in light of the COVID-19 effects on the workforce.
Able to apply for a grant this year will be DJs, performer/creators, arts and cultural educators, community practitioners/engagement specialists, movement directors, cultural conservators, creative enablers and creative technicians.
“We know that COVID-19 has had a significant impact for individuals, and many will need to develop themselves and their work to respond to the new environment,” says the Arts Council. “We want to support as many people as possible to reshape and redefine their work and continue to make a positive impact on creativity and culture.”
The grants, ranging from for £2,000 to £10,000, will be awarded for development activities from practitioners worki

UK - Technological Innovations Group (TIG) has appointed Jon Rhodes as its new European sales director of unified communications.
Leading TIG's team of UC sales professionals and focussing on the Enterprise product range from Crestron, Jon will be responsible for growing the UC division. The appointment comes as TIG increases its focus on being able to provide a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types.
On his appointment, TIG CEO Robin van Meeuwen comments: “We are thrilled to welcome Jon to lead our growing team of unified communications specialists. Having worked in the UC and video communications industry for over 20 years, his knowledge of the sector is second-to-none and he demonstrates a range of important skills such as business development, impressive solution selling and fantastic leadership.
“It

USA - Los Pentecostales de Newport News is a Pentecostal church serving the Hispanic community in Newport News, Virginia. Pastor Mario Zunzunegui delivers impassioned services and encourages strong community bonds.
When local production and integration firm Sound Ideas provided a Danley rig for an outdoor Covid-19 service, Pastor Mario and the rest of the congregation saw new possibilities for clarity and impact. After a successful indoor demo, the church now has its own high-impact Danley system composed of SM80F full range loudspeakers FLX12 monitors, and a DNA 20k4 Pro amplifier.
Los Pentecostales de Newport started out years ago with an MI-grade sound reinforcement system and upgraded significantly three years ago with the help of Sound Ideas (design and installation) and Winter Sound (the actual sale of the equipment). Sound Ideas owner Paul Popadak continued his

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