USA - At its recent meeting, the General Executive Board of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) voted to contribute $75,000 to the development of the new Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP). IATSE president Thomas C. Short commented: "Assuring safety on the job is of paramount importance to our members. The new certification program is a step toward achieving a more secure working environment for our members."

IATSE's generous donation further demonstrates their significant commitment to safety in the entertainment industry. The organization was formed more than a century ago and is the largest labour union in the entertainment and related industries. Underlining their commitment to , IATSE has appointed Anthony DePaulo (international vice-president), Brian Lawlor (international vice-president and division director of Stagecra

UK - James Thomas' Pixel range LED fixtures are being used to light the stunning Toyo Ito Pavilion sculpture, in a scheme by architectural lighting designers from Cook & Associates Design Consultants (CADC). The Pavilion is a white metal construction designed by the renowned Japanese architect, originally created for an exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in 2002. It's now been installed at the Battersea Power Station site.

Glass panels have been fitted to the previously open elements of the Pavilion. The eye-catching temporary building will now be utilized as the marketing suite promoting the Power Station's redevelopment. The four exterior walls of the Pavilion are now lit with five PixelPAR 90(A)s, fully weatherized architectural fittings. The fixtures are attached to poles, two washing the front wall and one each across the others, and all are positioned to minimize reflect

China - Fujian Broadcast and Television Group is a popular Chinese television station, which broadcasts a wide range of programming and special events. Martin Professional's Shanghai office recently supplied 60 intelligent fixtures for a recent tribute show in celebration of the station's founding.

Lighting designer Zhao Vanan of Fujian Television created a spectacular, contemporary look for the show that was highly complementary to the ultra-modern set design. Behind three large set pieces hung a 12m wide by 10m high wall of lighting that included MAC moving heads, moving mirrors and conventional fixtures.

MAC 2000 Profiles served as backlighting with stage-positioned MAC 2000 Profiles used for pattern projection onto the large set pieces. MAC 600s coloured the scenery from different angles. The large, black, empty space above the stage was solved using a large triangle tru

UK - PA/VA specialist Millbank Electronics has recently supplied Metronet - the company responsible for upgrading and maintaining two thirds of London's Underground network - with their new DsPAC Class D 3U mainframe amplifier.

The DsPAC was specified by Metronet to augment the original Millbank PowerPac system in Bank underground station. Situated in the heart of London's financial district, with more than 45 million passengers passing through each year, Bank is one of the most used underground station in London.

Installed and integrated by London-based contractor Qubic Transportation Systems Ltd, the DsPAC integrated seamlessly to the system, and has dramatically augmented its capacity as a contemporary VA system. Metronet's commercial asset engineer, Neil Wilkinson, commented: "The DsPAC is a superb product. It offers Metronet a powerful tool, which has seamlessly up

UK - A new nine-screen multiplex cinema has opened at The Kassam Stadium, home to Oxford United Football Club. With two showcase screening rooms (and four of the nine screens running full digital formats), the cinema forms part of the major Ozone Leisure and Entertainment Park, developed at a cost in excess of £25 million by owner Firoz Kassam, and also featuring bingo, bowling lanes, health and fitness centre and restaurant facilities.

The Park is operated by the stadium's owners, Firoka Leisure Group, and the work was completed in just 12 weeks by designers and architects, NBDA Ltd. The audio and projection infrastructure was designed and fitted by cinema specialists, Sound Associates, who chose Cinemecanica projection and a combination of Martin Audio's purpose-designed Screen 4 and Screen 2 loudspeakers, both biamped, Martin Effect 3Rs (for surround sound) and Screen Sub 1

The Netherlands - Since its official launch at the end of January, Midas Consoles Holland has made a number of significant console sales, including 20 Venice consoles of different types, five of the new 8-bus Veronas and a 48-channel Heritage 2000. Among the most recent sales was a 48-channel Heritage 1000 to Dutch rental company Van den Berk Stage Equipment.

Van den Berk is active in both concert touring and the festival markets, but specializes particularly in theatre tours, and required a console that would be capable of handling the demands of all three environments. Proprietor Toine Van den Berk compared several brands including a demo console from Midas Consoles Holland before making his choice. "I felt that a digital console was not an option given the still relatively complex nature of the equipment and the fact that the sound quality, in my opinion, still does not

USA - Surprise moves at Texas-based High End Systems (HES) recently have seen the departure of the company's well-known chief technology officer Mike Wood after nine years with the company, as well as other members of the R&D team, and Bill Morris, vice-president of worldwide marketing. The departure of Wood, a former chairman of PLASA in the UK and one of the industry's most respected figures, has caused the most ripples, not least because he is also the current president of ESTA - North America's Entertainment Services & Technology Association.

However, while the industry at large ponders that, High End has announced the other, more positive side of the latest restructuring, which sees the return of company co-founder Richard Belliveau to a full-time role - as chief technology officer - and HES' stated aim of focusing its energies on digital lighting, and lessening its depende

UK - Stage Electrics has moved its Central Stores operation. To ensure the minimum disruption to customers, the stores closed at lunchtime on Saturday and re-opened at 08:00 Monday morning - by which time 4,500 product lines were moved. "I have been planning this move for eight months," said distribution manager Darren Williams, "and it has gone like clockwork, thanks to everyone's help."

Stage Electrics Central Stores is now housed in 17,000sq.ft with 5,000 linear feet of space. The building holds 320 pallet spaces as well as the store for the expanding contracting installation arm of Stage Electrics. "This new space will allow us to work more effectively," says Dave Friend, the company's central stores manager, "and will revolutionise the way we pick and process orders ensuring we improve the service to our customers. With a Central Stores Te

USA - VLPS Lighting Services provided a full lighting package to Footstar's National District Managers' meetings - a corporate tour which traveled to each of the company's regional divisions (West, South, and North) with a customized set and full event production designed and provided by Available Light Productions.

"We've been working with Footstar for about eight years, but this year they brought us in at the very beginning to plan the technical and creative elements of their event, including picking out the meeting's theme and the different venues in Las Vegas, Chicago, and Orlando," said Kirk Garreans, principal of ALP. "I designed the lighting, along with Matt Lemmon of True Light Productions, to feature a variety of presentations from corporate speeches to panel discussions, award ceremonies and musical entertainment."

"I chose to use VLPS beca

UK - Celebrating its 50th year, integrated systems company Snelling Business Systems has provided audio-visual solutions to a wide range of local industry applications in their native East Anglia - including The University of East Anglia, North Norfolk District Council, City College Norwich, The Zuckerman Institute for Connective Environmental Research and Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital.

Now the company is embarking on a phased programme of teaching room fit-outs for Norwich Technical College - for whom they have long been preferred contractors - and have placed an initial order with Wharfedale for 40 of their Programme 50s for audio playback. These two-way, ported systems - housing 5.5" woofer and 0.75" titanium driver - are ideal, since they provide a wide frequency range coupled with high power handling in an attractive, acoustically-efficient enclosure. Snel

USA - More news concerning High End Systems: Florida-based Super Vision International - a leading manufacturer of fibre optic and LED lighting products - has acquired, U.S. Patent number 4,962,687 from High End Systems. The patent covers the invention of a 'Variable Color Lighting System' developed by Richard Belliveau.

The patent development dates back to pioneering inventions by Belliveau in the late 1980s which resulted in multi-colour lighting systems for entertainment applications including High End's famous Colour Pro products. Super Vision's interest in the Belliveau patent was due to the broad coverage of this patent in the use of networked, centrally controlled, addressable colour changing lighting systems incorporating pulse width modulation and variable digital control circuitry which can vary the intensity of individual lamp elements to generate unlimited colours. Su

China - Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour was transformed during Chinese New Year with the most spectacular light extravaganza ever to have been produced for the city. Called The Symphony of Lights, the $15.5m production was staged by Australia's Laservision for the Hong Kong Tourism Commission as part of the city's exciting revitalization program to create a dramatic 'New Look' Hong Kong and increase tourism to the city.

At countdown to the New Year, the Victoria Harbour foreshores erupted into a blaze of colour as the night skies were lit by hundreds of thousands fireworks, lasers, fibre optics, flares and pulsing lights. Tall city buildings and glistening waters of the harbour were washed in multi-coloured light and the tops of buildings exploded with sprays of molten light. Harbour spectators in their millions stood breathless as they watched and listened to the shows exhilarati

UK - UK Pop band Atomic Kitten's "Greatest Hits" arena tour is being lit by award-winning lighting designer Baz Halpin (TPi Lighting Designer of the Year 2004), with lighting equipment - and all accompanying rigging - supplied by Bandit Lites UK. Halpin's design celebrates the Kitten's farewell tour. The creative thrust was to keep it looking up-tempo with the occasional moody interlude for the Kittens, who are joined onstage by a four-piece band and six male dancers.

Halpin designed a very symmetrical 'wide look' lighting rig, his colour and movement chases introducing plenty of dynamics. This was juxtaposed with the highly asymmetrical stage set, designed and supplied by Productions North. The rig also had to be adaptable to fit into the non-arena venues on the itinerary. Club-style visual effects and props included a 5ft mirror ball, suspended on a CM Prostar motor

UK - Lighting rental house Siyan - headed by Bryan Leitch and Nick Valdez - has been using Robe Show Lighting ColorSpot 1200s moving lights on several recent high profile shows and events. These have included The Thrills at Brixton Academy, the NME Brats tour at Brixton Academy, the NME Awards at Hammersmith Palais and a special SJM/Solo promoted show starring N-E-R-D featuring Justin Timberlake, which was recorded by MTV at Hammersmith Apollo. Siyan has also just bought a further 20 Robe ColorWash 250 XTs form Robe UK to add to existing hire stock - bringing their total to over 60.

Vince Foster was the lighting designer for N-E-R-D featuring Justin Timberlake, working with MTV director Russell Thomas, Solo's Mark Ward and MTV Europe production manager Andy Derbyshire. It was the first time Foster had worked with Siyan. They supplied the rig to his spec, and he was extremely pl

UK - Canegreen provided its Meyer Sound Milo line-array PA system for the UK leg of the recent Jethro Tull tour. Canegreen has a long history working with Jethro Tull, so were fully aware of front-man Ian Anderson's interest in achieving a good live sound. The Uk dates in February took in a range of spaces among 14 'theatre style' venues that included the Watford Colosseum, Manchester Apollo and the Brighton Dome. Canegreen suggested that the band try the most recent equipment, in the form of their Meyer Milo line-array system.

"We have used the Milo system with several artists in larger venues and outdoors with excellent results, so it was great to bring that quality of sound to audiences in smaller venues with an artist who is passionate about the sound," explained Canegreen's MD Yan Stile. With the varying dimensions and characteristics of each venue, the speaker se

France - Loudspeaker system manufacturer Nexo has announced that a new series of GEO training seminars has been scheduled to take place at the company's Paris headquarters in April. The previous series was fully booked, and high demand is expected again, so interested parties are advised to contact their Nexo distributor as soon as possible.

Seminar 1 is called 'GEO On the Road' and is dedicated to users (sound engineers, system designers, operators and rental companies) of GEO systems and will last two days (8-9 April 2004). Seminar 2 is titled 'GEO In Fixed Installations'; it is dedicated to specifiers and designers and will take place over one day (7 April 2004).

Capacity for each session is limited to 10 persons, and applications are registered through Nexo's distribution network. The sessions will be led by François Deffarges.

(Lee Baldock)

UK - Blitz Communications, one of the UK's leading providers of AV equipment, has introduced a unique product-independent, 590 cubic metre widescreen demonstration environment at its Elstree headquarters in London.

Paul Hutton, managing director of Blitz Communications, said that the widescreen environment, complete with three Barco RLM G5 DLP projectors and a seamless 10m screen, has been designed and fitted in response to client demand over the last few years. "Blitz has recognized that event organizers and production companies have seen a decrease in the production value of events over the last few years, and we see widescreen seamless vistas as a way of bringing back creative production standards and as a USP in providing presentations."

"Blitz is not aligning itself to one particular widescreen product and as a result the facility has been designed to disp

USA / Switzerland - Shure Inc and the Montreux Jazz Festival have agreed to extend their long-running relationship by signing a three-year partnership agreement carrying through the Festival's 40th anniversary in 2006. Entering its tenth year of cooperation, Shure will continue as official supplier of microphones and wireless systems and remain as principal sponsor of the annual Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition.

As official supplier, Shure will provide a wide range of microphones and wireless, personal monitoring, and conferencing systems to support both artists and press events during the festival. In addition to equipment, Shure will provide 24-hour, behind-the-scenes technical support for the duration of the festival. "Shure's dedication to the festival is outstanding," noted Christoph Stahel, executive production manager of the festival's main venue, Stravinsk

UK - On Saturday 28 February, the entrance of LAMDA in West London was festooned with balloons to welcome guests to a joint celebration of Triple E's 20th anniversary and managing director David Edelstein's birthday. As a past student of the Academy, Edelstein's connections continue to this day, with Triple E last year providing curtain and tracking for five of the rehearsal studios at LAMDA. The black box studio was transformed for the evening with the addition of a stage, complete with trussing, tracking and lighting, and colleagues from all areas of the entertainment industry - technicians, theatre consultants and acousticians, and colleagues from the ABTT - joined with family and friends for an evening of conversation and good wine. While the food was definitely 21st century, the entertainment was designed to take people back to their youth - The Upbeat Beatles made the evenin

USA - Super Vision International Inc, a leading manufacturer of fibre optic and LED lighting, has announced that is has filed a law suit in the Federal District Court in Orlando, Florida, seeking past due royalties and damages in excess of $10.5 million against Color Kinetics Inc of Boston, Massachusetts, for past and current infringement violations of U.S. Patent #4,963,687 on 'Variable Color Lighting System'.

The patent, developed by inventor Richard Belliveau, provides for broad coverage in its claims for patent in the use of networked, centrally-controlled, addressable colour changing lighting systems incorporating pulse width modulation and variable digital control circuitry which can vary the intensity of individual lamp elements to generate unlimited colours.

Color Kinetics was notified by the patent owner on several occasions in the past that the owner believed that C

UK - Entec Lighting supplied The Australian Pink Floyd Show with the lighting rig for their sold-out performance at Cardiff Arena last weekend - a precursor to their first four-week US arena tour, to be followed by another two months in the UK and Europe.

The Australian Pink Floyd Show is among the best known and most successful tribute bands in the world. David Gilmour, Pink Floyd's guitarist, is a fan of the band and has seen the show three times. In November, he joined thousands of Pink Floyd fans at the Royal Albert Hall for a show described as "Truly embracing the Floyd legacy".

This year the band step up their live performance schedule and stature with new lighting and sound production. Lighting designer Dave Hill was brought in to work with long-standing LD Steve Ellerington, and to come up with a new visual picture for the bigger venues. The new lighting rig

USA - Electrosonic was responsible for the audio-visual systems integration design and installation at the new Ford Rouge Factory Tour. For the first time in over 20 years, the Ford Rouge Factory Tour is re-opening in 2004 with an all-new state-of-the-art presentation venue offering two multi-screen theatres, numerous touch-screen interpretive displays, and an 80ft high observation deck overlooking the world's largest "living roof" (made out of a carpet of plants that are used to collect water and help insulate the building) on the Dearborn Truck Plant. Ford Motor Company is partnering with 'America's greatest history attraction', The Henry Ford museum, which will operate the new visitor centre and plant tour. The experience is being created and produced for Ford by BRC Imagination Arts under the creative and content direction of The Henry Ford.

Although the opening o

USA - At the 13th Ibero-American Summit in November last year, Shure ConferenceONE discussion systems were chosen to facilitate the historic meeting of heads of Spain, Portugal, and all Latin American countries. Among the dignitaries at the summit, which took place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, were the King and Queen of Spain and the vice-president of Cuba. This meeting represented the first installation of Shure's new conference system in Latin America.

All leaders participated in-group discussions utilizing a 25-channel standard ConferenceONE discussion system. Combining a mixer, amp and high-quality loudspeaker with an innovative, fold-out telescoping microphone arm, ConferenceONE makes setup and use exceptionally easy and delivers superior audio quality. According to Raul G. Alcocer Montero of Alcocer Servicios in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, both organizers and sound en

USA - Industry veterans Gary Mass and Nick Freed have teamed up with Gear-Source president Marcel Fairbairn to form a new venture - Rental-Source - modeled in part after Fairbairn's successful web-based business, Gear Source. Rental-Source will serve today's production needs with a 'single source' method of locating production equipment of all types.

With backgrounds in manufacturing and production, managing partners Gary Mass and Nick Freed will head efforts to solve the many man-hours spent sourcing equipment for production purposes. Working in tune with an extensive worldwide vendor base and an easy-to-use web design for locating the most cost-effective, and logistically suitable rental equipment, Rental-Source promises to ease the ever-growing process of completing a production.

"Over the past 10 years or so, we've noticed an incredible incline in the need for product

Latest Issue. . .