UK - The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) will present their second International Fellowship to South African lighting designer Mannie Manim on Friday, 14 October, 2016.

The presentation ceremony will take place at the Young Vic Theatre, where Manim's latest production, A Man of Good Hope is playing. The show is based on the classic novel by Jonny Steinberg and depicts the true story of one refugee's epic quest across Africa, brought to life with music from the world-renowned Isango Ensemble.

ALD vice president, Rick Fisher, states, "It is an honour for the ALD to present Mannie with the ALD International Fellowship award."

The Association extends a very warm invitation to the UK's LDs and lighting industry practitioners in anticipation of many being able t

USA - Ben Rector is out on his biggest tour to date which he has whimsically named 'The Biggest Tour I Have Done So Far' tour. The title alone alludes to the increasing popularity of the artist, whose brand of pop/rock 'music with a purpose' has resonated with fans.

Lighting and production designer is Chris Lisle who is using Elation Professional ACL 360 Bar LED battens to colour the singer-songwriter's show, which is playing dates in the US through October.

The versatility of the ACL 360 Bar has been on show on several festivals, events and tours this past summer, including the likes of the Rascal Flatts tour, the Nocturnal Wonderland and Hard Summer festivals and more.

On Rector's The Biggest Tour I Have Done So Far outing, Lisle, who is working with the artist for the first time, has the colour-changing battens working from a row along the upstage edge behind the ba

Australia - Lighting designer Tom Wright had the difficult task of lighting the pre-match entertainment at this year's NRL Grand Final at Sydney's ANZ Stadium. Fortunately, he had done the job before, as well as several State of Origin pre-match shows, and knew how to overcome the complexities associated with the production.

Working for creative director Tony Assness of The Spark, Tom had to please multiple people with a budget and acts that changed daily.

"You never really know where you are until one to two weeks out," he admitted. "I have to give huge thanks to the Chameleon Touring Systems team for riding that with me. Chameleon's Luke Cuthbertson is one of the calmest account managers I have ever worked with! I think I sent seven versions of the plot and the seventh was only a week before the event."

Keith Urban was hesitant about playing in the round so although

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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

China - Allen & Heath dLive digital mixing systems were recently employed at several important festivals held in China's Yinchuan City, following the purchase of S7000 and S5000 Surfaces and DM64 and DM48 MixRacks by Beijing PA company, Knocklive.

The dLive systems managed FOH and monitors at the 14th Singing Festival of Chinese Western Folk Songs and The Flower Elf Game & Animation Music Festival both held at the city's Park of Customs and Culture.

The folk festival was staged near the Najiahu Great Mosque, with the S7000 and DM64 at FOH and S5000 and DM48 for monitors. The animation festival was held in the Park's newly-built Music Beach, and featured performances by top artists including Jolin Tsai, Second Hand Rose and Black Panther. This time, the S7000 with DM48 was used for monitors, and the S5000 was employed to manage FOH and recording, with the FOH DM64 fitted wi

USA - Founded in 2002, Sonos was created to fill every home with music, and the whole home audio system is now sold in more than 60 countries, through thousands of retailers, custom installers and audio/video specialty stores.

With its recent decision to open a retail location of its own in New York City, general manager of Stores Whitney Walker was asked to oversee the creation of a listening experience in which customers could discover Sonos just as they would in the comfort of a friend's home. Needing a finishing accent for the downstairs lounge, Walker called upon Rethink Innovations to help create a warm and engaging 30ft fireplace display, and they did so using FLEXLite 6.9mm LED video technology from Nashville-based PixelFLEX.

"Our objective for the Sonos flagship retail location was to build the best place for someone to discover and fall in love with whole home au

USA - Singer-songwriter Ben Rector is out on the aptly named The Biggest Tour I've Done So Far, with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. His sixth studio album and eponymous hit single Brand New has been dominating the airwaves and climbing the charts, and his enthusiastic fans are turning out to celebrate.

Lighting designer Chris Lisle collaborated with Rector to establish what the overall look of the production would be, with emphasis on using 2K fresnels on grip stands in addition to how Martin MAC Vipers would be utilized during the show.

"Ben actually sat with us during rehearsals and gave us some notes on a couple of cues he wanted to see," added Lisle. "He was very good to work with and had a lot of great input and ideas himself."

Utilizing Venue One, Bandit's in-house rehearsal and design studio, Lisle was able to set up the entire rig, allowing

USA - Cleveland Indians Stadium, aka Progressive Field, recently replaced the original EAW distributed loudspeaker system with clusters made up of new EAW MQX and MK2391i loudspeakers.

Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (WJHW) designed a system that utilized the existing loudspeaker locations while dramatically improving system performance. Pro Media, recently acquired by Panasonic and now part of the Panasonic Enterprise Solution Company (PESCO), provided installation and tuning of the system.

"One of the goals was to use the existing design but install new loudspeakers that would improve the game day experience," explains Kevin Day, associate principal at WJHW. "EAW's MQX loudspeakers fit in the same space while utilizing new technology that provides much greater output capability. They also go lower in frequency for a more full and contemporary sound with an enclosur

South Africa - Classics is Groot is a new musical performance extravaganza staged at the 6,500 capacity Moreleta Auditorium in Pretoria, South Africa, produced by the same creative team from Coleske Artists who deliver the massively successful Afrikaans is Groot phenomena each year. Classics is more focussed on crossing over to the English speaking market and the first completely sold-out event saw "an explosion of song and dance" unfold in classics from several eras and genres of music performances by some of SA's finest artists.

The full technical production - lighting, sound, video, staging and rigging - was supplied by leading SA rental company, MGG, project managed for them by Denzil Smith. Lighting was designed by Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier who specified several types of Robe moving lights including BMFL Blades and WashBeams.

The show featur

USA - Wenger Corporation of Owatonna, Minn., and SECOA, Inc. of Champlin, Minn have announced that they are in advanced talks to combine the two companies.

Under the proposal, the combined entity would be wholly owned and operated by Wenger. The shared vision of Wenger - including its subsidiary J.R. Clancy - and SECOA is to "provide a superior value proposition featuring the highest quality products and services for all stakeholders in the performing arts industry".

A statement continues, "After conducting exploratory conversations, the leadership teams of both organizations became excited about the synergies that exist, both strategic and tactical, with the combination of the businesses. By aligning the SECOA, Wenger and J.R. Clancy brands, Wenger expects to reinforce its position as a unique global provider of the broadest array of solutions in the industry. This transa

USA - Calrec has confirmed the appointment of Group One as its distribution partner for the U.S., effective from October 3rd 2016.

This move will enable Calrec to expand its market breadth across the USA and continue to maintain high levels of service as business increases with the expanded portfolio, including the newly launched Brio36 compact broadcast console and Remote production RP products.

This will not affect Calrec's relationship with Studio Consultants Incorporated (SCI), who have worked with Calrec for many years and will continue their dedicated Calrec sales and support work in the East coast regions in conjunction with Calrec and Group One.

Says a statement, "In recent years, Calrec has delivered the highest levels of customer care and service in the USA through the operations of Calrec America. With the new arrangements, it is pleased to announce that the

UK - Gerriets GB Ltd has appointed Suzanne Wynne to its London office as the company's new head of sales.

A familiar face to many, Suzanne has over 20 years of experience within the industry working with textiles and associated products, servicing theatre, hospitality, special projects and the Event sectors.

Gerriets GB Ltd based in London are suppliers of theatrical curtains and flame retardant fabrics, track systems, screens and stage equipment.

(LSi Online)

UK - AC-ET's latest brand, Tourflex Cabling, launched at the recent PLASA Show at London Olympia with a dedicated area, display stands and literature. Tourflex Cabling builds on the estab-lished success of Tourmate connectors and Tourflex Datasafe.

"Some of our customers don't even know about the service we offer; but last year we made over 100,000 bespoke assemblies, using half a million metres of cable, for the professional entertainment industry," said Jonathan Walters, UK sales and purchasing director for distributor A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (AC-ET). "This included power, signal and multicore for lighting, video and audio. If we get an emergency call we often turn orders around in 24 hours, so the show can go on."

"We've got a great manufacturing facility in High Wycombe, skilled technicians, and we are keen to promote and grow this part of our business - we

USA - DTS will showcase its latest products at LDI 2016, booth 2359. The focus of the display will be on three innovative fixtures - Core, the true hybrid moving head; Katana, an advanced LED bar for the entertainment market, and NRG 1401, the LED beam / wash projector designed for the most creative applications.

George Tellos, the lighting director who lit the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, designed the DTS booth and the light show of the fixtures on display.

(Jim Evans)

USA - With an impressive variety of new products on hand to satisfy even the most discerning lighting professional, and with the added impression that an LDI Show and LDI Live Outside sponsorship makes, Elation is gearing up for an unprecedented LDI.

Join Elation 20-22 October at Booth 2515 at the Las Vegas Convention Centre for a look at a broad line-up of new cutting-edge lighting innovations then head out to the Silver Parking Lot and the LDI Live Outside stages where visitors will get a first look at an all-new product series that is set to be the talk of the show.

Designed to showcase the latest technology available as more and more events make their way outdoors, LDI Live Outside will feature demos, educational sessions and live entertainment in a festival-like set-up that will feature with some of Elation's latest lighting solutions.

Inside, Elation will debut t

UK - It may not have been a particularly 'illuminating' result for the home side as Nottingham Rugby were defeated 7-29 to newly-relegated London Irish. But no one could deny there were highlights of a different kind on the pitch, as Nottingham-based company and team sponsor, McCann, demonstrated its floodlighting expertise at the first night match of the season.

McCann - the company also behind the impressive lights on the tram bridge joining Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre with the University of Nottingham - is a long-term supporter of the 'Green n Whites'. When the team moved last season from its shared Notts County FC ground at Meadow Lane to its new home at Lady Bay, they looked to the leading civil and electrical engineering company for help in building its entire electrical infrastructure - including those all-important floodlights.

Tasked with designing and upg

UK - The Progress 1000 Awards, in partnership with Citi, is an annual event hosted by the London Evening Standard. It recognises the most influential people in the capital who work across a range of fields, from theatre to film to medicine to architecture. This year's event took place on Wednesday 7 September at the Science Museum and White Light was approached to provide the complete technical solutions.

This is the second year that WL has worked on the event, following last year's celebrations at the Canary Wharf Crossrail Station. Richard Stirzaker, WL's creative producer, comments, "The Progress 1000 is one of the most important dates in the capital's social calendar therefore the expectations of those in attendance are always extremely high. The brief was to make the evening as visually impressive as possible while accentuating the features of the Science Museum an

France - Puy du Fou is a historical theme park based in France and is home to some of the most extravagant shows in which thousands of actors and animals recreate historical stories.

Now, Puy Du Fou has taken things to the next level once again with their newest production - Le Dernier Panache - probably one of the most daring shows they ever created. The team at Puy Du Fou commissioned ShowTex with the production and installation of all masking drapes, printed fabrics, projection screens, rails and motion control systems that brought Le Dernier Panache to life.

Performed in a completely custom-built and 360° rotating theatre, the 2.400 members of the audience are immersed in the story on a multi-sensory level, smoothly rotating to watch the performance taking place on six different stages.

ShowTex rose to the challenge and installed the most solid an

UK - Midas will power Weli Creative's Magical Lantern Festival in three cities this winter after the launch event, a riot of colour and creativity at Chiswick House, London in February/March, attracted more than 110,000 people.

The Magical Lantern Festival hits Roundhay Park, Leeds and Birmingham Botanical Gardens from 25 November to 2 January, and Midas generators will provide for 40,000 bulbs at each, illuminating a trail of spectacular handmade lanterns. The displays then combine for a return to the capital ahead of Chinese New Year.

Ian Xiang, the festival's co-founder and Creative Director, said, "Most of the lanterns are actually made in my hometown, so it makes me incredibly proud to see them come all this way across to the UK. This festival will show many people something they've never seen or experienced before. It has the potential to increase understanding of Ch

Europe - Beyoncé's Formation world tour is one of the highest profile and most talked about of the year so far, with everyone wowed by the massive 'Monolith', a 4-sided LED / video sculpture that moves and rotates and is right at the heart of a spectacularly elegant production fusing expressionist art and innovative stage technology.

The 20m high by 20m wide Monolith is 10m deep and was created by production designer Es Devlin working in close conjunction with Beyoncé herself who is involved in all the major details of her stage presentation. It takes the striking beauty, isolation and simplicity of a Monolith design concept to amazing new levels.

The object opens 7.3m in the middle, tracks - as two sections on sliding grids - and rotates 360 degrees, a feat of engineering enabled by Belgian automation specialist WIcreations who designed the rotation and slid

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