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UK - Midas is the power behind Ian Xiang’s Lightopia in London, a festival featuring 47 groups of Chinese lantern installations - 1m LEDs - projection mapping, acrobats, musicians and much more.
The first time a Western design company has worked with Chinese manufacturers to build a set like this, tailored to UK audiences, Lightopia was spawned at the Edinburgh Diwali in October last year moving to Manchester just in front of the festive window.
With different USPs in each location, the festival made its London debut at Chiswick House & Gardens in 2020 where it runs through to March.
Exploring the theme Harmony, Lightopia fuses art installations with human experience/interaction across zones including 12 Star Signs, the Rose Gard

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UK - Martin’s new VDO Atomic Dot hybrid lighting and video fixture made an immediate impact at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Show as the Scottish capital welcomed in the new year. Joining the Edinburgh Street Party, and working at the Waverley Stage - which saw appearances by Keir Gibson, The Ninth Wave, Marc Almond and Porkpie - lighting designer Sam Jones specified 30 of the versatile fixtures as part of a Martin package.
With its vantage point at the end of the Waverley Bridge overlooking Edinburgh Castle, the designer’s biggest challenge was the bitter cold Scottish weather -mitigated by two heaters which accompanied him at FOH. “As is common in the industry, the timescales were very tight, along with all the commotion that comes with a street party,” he said.
Since the Waverley stage was fairly small, with little space to rig fixtures, he approached the design w

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Poland - On 24 November 2019, crowds gathered at the Gliwice Arena in southern Poland for the 17th Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
Polish TV network TVP S.A. was the show's main organiser, with support from Gigant Sound/Letus (sound), TSE (lighting) and WIZJA (LED screens).
Together, they took on the task of designing the show from scratch, based solely on the guidelines provided by EBU. The entire project, its design and deployment, was a major success for the country's pros, who delivered a top-flight show both to the 8,000-strong audience at the venue and millions of viewers in Europe, Asia and Australia.
Pre-production began in early 2019. Initial scenography and lighting design drafts were produced in April, while the following months were spent on comparing and refining numerous approaches to the end result, as well as finding the best technical solutions
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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

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UK - Having just equipped the luxurious five-star Blue Waters Resort & Spa in Antigua with Harman’s JBL Professional loudspeakers and Crown amps, Colin Pattenden (of CP Sound) kept up the Afro-Caribbean vibe back in London at the pioneering Pier One Club, situated in the more down-home location of Canning Town’s backstreets.
Once again, he found the solution in JBL, but this time the requirement was the polar opposite to that in Antigua in terms of sonic power. Pattenden had worked with venue owner William Lule for nearly two decades, and when the latter wanted to relocate his pioneering venue from Dalston - to an out of the way location which would not be as problematic in terms of noise as the heavy populated Kingsland Road - he found the site in a remote area of East London.
With a trained ear and a discerning clientele for the heady Afro Beats mix CP Sound

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Canada - CAST Group has launched a new education programme to offer scheduled and on-demand training and education sessions on BlackTrax and wysiwyg. 
New online classes for wysiwyg are now available to both new and experienced users. The two-hour seminars are crafted to focus on specific areas of wysiwyg to save time and help users work more efficiently. Each seminar covers essential knowledge needed to be successful with wysiwyg, as well as new features and tips and tricks. CAST Group offers custom training on a case to case basis.
In additions to the official sessions, BlackTrax users can benefit from free monthly webinars exploring how to create live experiences using realtime tracking. This live webinar lasts around an hour, with at least 15 minutes for you to ask questions about tracking and automation during the Q&A session. 

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Greece - The week-long Summer Nostros Festival (SNFest) is an international multifaceted arts, sports and education festival held in Athens every June, that is free for all to attend and welcomes people of all ages.
Like every year, SNFest 2019 was hosted by the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Foundation. This is the organisation responsible for the entire construction in 2017 of the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Centre in Athens where the festival is held, for the third year, right on the Athenian sea front. The venue, which also hosts the Greek National Opera and holds cultural exhibitions all-year long, and houses the national library, has already racked up numerous awards both for its innovative, environmentally-friendly construction and its hosted exhibitions.
For this year’s SNFest, Mega-Sound (part of the Oikonomopoulos Group) - Clair Brothers’ distributor in Greece,

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UK - Doughty Engineering celebrates its milestone 50th anniversary this year.
The company first registered as Doughty Trailer Sales Ltd in February 1970 and spent the first 10 years of trading manufacturing trailers, before metamorphosing into the Doughty Engineering that is well-known in the entertainment industry today.
Julian Chiverton, sales director, comments: “We are extremely proud to be celebrating half a century in business. When Russell Doughty, Mervyn Lister and my father George Chiverton started out in 1970, little did they know that the Doughty brand would become synonymous with clamps and other kit relied upon by riggers and lighting designers across the world. Their business was trailers, then designing and manufacturing attachments for rough terrain and forklift trucks in the farming and construction sectors. But by the mid-eighties it was clear tha

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France - PlugFest, the technical event for entertainment lighting interoperability organised by PLASA, is now underway in Lille. The annual three-day event welcomes manufacturers, developers and technicians from across the continent to test their products and learn about the latest protocols.
For the third year running, PlugFest has sold out, with delegates from major lighting manufacturers such as Robert Juliat, Claypaky, Chauvet, Eaton, GLP, ETC, TMB, ChamSys and Highlite.
The event’s expert hosts, Hamish Dumbreck (JESE Ltd), Peter Willis (Howard Eaton Lighting) and Wayne Howell (Artistic Licence) are set to host a series of break-out sessions covering RDM, DALI, RDMnet, Art-Net, sACN and LLRP, as well as recent ESTA TSC developments.
Nicky Greet, PLASA’s membership, skills and technical director, comments: “We’re delighted to present another PlugFest

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Valley Aid - Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield will join Grammy award winner Amy Wadge in a fundraising event for flood victims hit by Storm Denis in the Welsh valleys. Bradfield will play at a two-day Valley Aid concert in March. Thousands were affected in Wales by widespread flooding and flood warnings and alerts are in place across Wales. Crowdfunding pages have already raised thousands for flood-hit communities. Now Welsh musicians are rallying to help raise funds for the valleys in a two-day festival at the Pop Factory in Porth on 13 and 14 March.
Mobile Menace - A conductor twice stopped an opera in Cardiff after mobile phones rang in the audience. Carlo Rizzi was conducting Welsh National Opera's new production of Verdi's Les Vêpres Sicilienes, at Donald Gordon Theatre at the Wales Millennium Centre on Saturday night. Audience members

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UK - Out Board and EM Acoustics have joined forces to present a combined series of demonstrations offering offer a unique opportunity to experience TiMax spatial mixing, immersive 3D effects animation and vocal localisation with live stage-tracking using TiMax SoundHub and TrackerD4 on a multichannel immersive EM Acoustics system. Mark your diaries for Tuesday 3rd-Thursday 5th March 2020 as this amiable event will take place at SARM Music Bank Studios.
Out Board’s Dave Haydon and Robin Whittaker will be running sessions that cover: 
• TiMax SoundHub new HARDCore FPGA processing, PanSpace auto-calc spatial rendering and TimeLine showcontrol workflows.
• TiMax TrackerD4 all new Precision Stagetracking for live performer vocal localisation and fx panning.

EM Acoustics will formally demonstrate the Reference Series R10 flagship point source louds

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USA - Bandit Lites has hired Nick Brown to provide lighting design and console operation for various productions, including events and Blackberry Farm, a luxury five-star resort.
Brown’s previous experience includes working as the resident lighting designer and technical director foat the University of Tennesseer the Irondale, an Off Broadway theatre in Brooklyn, New York as well as a lighting and video engineer at the Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Feud in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
“I've loved concert lighting ever since I was thirteen years old,” comments Brown. “I knew about Bandit Lites when I was studying theatrical lighting design in college, so I'm very excited to finally be a part of this great team.”
Upcoming events featuring Brown include the University of Tennessee’s Senior Toast, where students are nominated by faculty and staff and invited t

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UK - Green Hippo has further strengthened its London team by appointing Abi Roberts as project and marketing coordinator.
Roberts joins from the legal world, where her attention to detail and communication skills led to a role liaising, and maintaining relationships, with a range of clients. She is now channelling this experience into managing a range of Green Hippo marketing, including digital and social media, trade shows and providing marketing support for the distribution network.
“I’m thrilled to join such a vibrant company with a clear vision for growth in 2020,” says Roberts. “The AV industry presents an exciting change of direction for my career where I can apply my experience to create some exciting new materials for our customers. I look forward to working with you all in the near future.”
Roberts joins Green Hippo as the company moves its L

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Poland - Shure Incorporated has announced plans to enhance its market development initiatives in Europe with the appointment of Jacek Rusek as integrated systems market development manager for Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
In this new role based in Warsaw, Rusek will build direct relationships with end customers in the region to better understand their requirements and find solutions that best meet their needs. He will work closely with Shure distributor Polsound to help Shure expand its market growth and position in Poland.
“We are pleased to welcome Jacek to Shure,” commented Rob Smith, senior director, integrated systems sales for Western Europe, at Shure. “His background in video conferencing and unified communications as well as his expertise in sales, product management, business development, and technical training, are very beneficial. Jacek wi

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Spain - Equipson announced at ISE a new and expanded Work Pro Arion line array range.
The Work Pro Arion Series is a DSP-powered Line Array ecosystem that already includes the popular Arion 21A system and double 10” format SL210A satellites. This system can be configured to suit a wide variety of applications, from medium to large venues where power, quality, and controlled directivity are required through to theatres and concert halls.
At ISE, Equipson also launched the Arion 10A and the Arion 5A, which are ‘significant redesigns’ of previous products.
Arion 10A is a single 10" version of the Arion 21A that incorporates Work Pro’s internal DSP technology and high-quality amplifiers from Danish brand Pascal. In keeping with the Arion 21A, the new Arion 10A uses top of the range transducers that were designed and manufactured in Europe. Its amplifier and D

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Germany Artistic Licence will be showing sunDial quad, winner of the 2019 PLASA Gold Award for Innovation, at both Light+building (8-13 March) and Prolight + Sound (31 March - 3 April) in Frankfurt.
The product - a DMX/RDM/Xicato controlled trailing edge mains dimmer - offers ‘outstanding dimming performance and advanced safety features’. It works 'out of the box' with all dimmable replacement LED bulbs (also halogen and CFL). Performance is further optimized through the selection (via RDM) of one of four editable dimming curves on a per-channel basis.
Also new for 2020, Commissioner dali is a hand-held, battery powered tool for commissioning, testing and configuring DALI installations. The bright, 40 character LCD is easy to read and provides a wealth of information. Commissioner dali has numerous intensity control functions including direct control over DT8 colo

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Germany - Milos provided the design, static calculation and delivery of Milos truss products for a high wire bike climbing course for client, On The Ropes.
On The Ropes is based in Radevormwald and has been led by owner Hajo Muller since 1995. Their main focus is on the planning and building of rope courses at height that are in-tune with the natural surroundings. They also plan and build climbing walls, adventure stations and customized structures. One of their past standout projects includes the Big TeePee complex, which is the world’s biggest teepee, that was designed and constructed for Expo 2000 in Hannover.
The High Wire Bike project started with a rough concept provided to the A4I Germany office by On The Ropes. With this rough idea in hand, Area Four Industries technical director Norbert Tripp designed a feasible structural solution and carry out all structur

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UK -The Second Edition of festival and outdoor event sustainability report The Show Must Go On has revealed the latest industry figures, trends and practices.
Five years since the first edition was published, the new 126-page report, which has been crowdfunded by the industry, gives an insight into sector sustainability, and reflects the progress made in technologies, materials and operational practices to reduce environmental impacts. Its main chapters, authored by experts in their own fields, cover Governance, Resources and Waste, Water, Food, Energy, Travel and Transport. 
The report also marks the launch of an online Knowledge Hub, www.vision2025.org.uk, a free-to-access resource that will feature case studies, briefings and a supplier directory.
More than 100 festiv

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Canada - Jon Stanners, one of two owners of Winnipeg-based production and design company Red Rover Entertainment, turned to an Elation lighting package on Canadian singer Jessie Reyez’s Being Human On Tour outing. Soundbox Productions of Ontario served as lighting vendor for the tour, which played dates in Canada and the US.
Not only did Stanners design a lighting system that fit the budget, he made sure the rig was an appropriate fit for the 500 to 2000-capacity venues the tour played, not to mention the transportation used to haul the gear. “The design was created to have the most impact for these small venues but also had to fit in a single trailer with everything else,” explains Stanners, who has worked with Reyez for the past two years and handled design, programming and operation for the tour along with lighting production management. “Part of fitting i

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USA - The Institute for Creation Research (ICR)’s new Discovery Centre for Science & Earth History in Dallas is benefiting from an advanced, integrated lighting control system from Strand. Specified by The Lighting Practice, the system seamlessly combines the needs of multiple exhibit zones, user requirements and technologies.
The control system exploits Strand’s ability to integrate entertainment and architectural lighting in one, seamless system. It combines Strand’s powerful NEO Rack playback controller (with a second as backup), which is responsible for playback of the exhibits’ show lighting, with Strand’s flexible, scalable Vision.Net platform, which looks after the various area lighting zones.
The system includes a mix of individually addressed track lighting units, in-grade uplighters in the exhibit floors and various accent luminaires highlightin

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Europe - Singer-songwriter Rea Garvey is no stranger to international audiences. This is ensured not only by numerous TV show appearances, but also by his extensive musical output. For the past 20 years the Irishman has been delighting his audience with multi-faceted pop rock and his distinctive voice.
His most recent solo album, Neon was released in March 2018, and in the autumn of the same year and through summer 2019, Garvey presented the new songs on a large Neon tour. At his side for many years has been lighting and stage designer Christian ‘Rocketchris’ Glatthor.
Glatthor - known for creating multi-layered, haptic spaces on stage - designed a variable set with many surprises. With the help of 60 FS20 Fusion Sticks FS20 from Fusion by GLP, he picked up on the Neon theme from the album and the tour. The majority of the Fusion Sticks were suspended from e

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Europe - Chinese LED manufacturer Absen has moved to allay any concerns caused by the global outbreak of Covid-19 by stocking more than 5,000sq.m of LED product ready for shipping, with further 27,000 sq.m in production covering the company’s array of indoor, outdoor and rental display products.
The stock comes from the company’s manufacturing base in Huizhou as well as Absen’s European headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, and across the regions covered by its network of distributors.
Absen is also planning to move its European offices into larger premises by 30 March. The new warehouse is expected to provide the capacity to hold twice the amount of stock than the company’s current one.
The manufacturer has also reported that its factory has been “working at full capacity to meet high demand - with orders up in Europe by 128% when compared to the same pe
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