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UK - AAPTLE (The Alliance of Associations and Professionals in Theatre & Live Events), Wellbeing Group has launched a follow up evaluation study on the mental health and wellbeing of backstage professionals across all entertainment sectors.
This follows a similar survey in 2019 - funded and conducted by the ABTT, ALD, ASD, PSA and PLASA - which gave a valuable insight into the wellbeing of industry professionals and can be downloaded

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Prohibitive Pricing - Theatre companies are warning that prohibitively high prices and uncertainty over COVID-19 are hindering their efforts to stage outdoor work this summer, with reports that some venues are hesitant to hire their spaces to theatre producers while others have withdrawn entirely. Mid-scale companies are being especially hard hit, producers are warning, with a lack of available digs also making producing shows particularly difficult to stage.
Companies including Oxford-based Creation Theatre and touring theatre group Handlebards, as well as the Association of Circus Proprietors of Great Britain, have said the knock-on effects of the pandemic are generating new challenges to booking outdoor venues. Creation Theatre is planning to stage a production of The Wind in the Willows this summer, but told The Stage it was struggling to find a suitable sp
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UK - dBS Solutions’ roadmap through Martin Audio’s evolutionary control technology shows no sign of abating.
In 2014 they purchased an XD/DD combination rig for deployment on a successful theatre tour. This was followed by the acquisition of a 40-box Wavefront Precision Mini (WPM) system, specifically for the Mercury at Abbey Field pop-up theatre space in Colchester. This ran for an entire outdoor season and was a direct replacement for their old Martin Audio W8LM rig.
Then in February 2020 - immediately before lockdown - two hangs of 16 WPM, supported by flown SXF115 subwoofers and DD6 front-fills, went out on the Queen Symphonic tour.
Now, the company made its first investment in Martin Audio’s more powerful WPS system. “We’ve dipped our toe in the water with a package that will enable us to provide coverage for 2,000-plus capacity concert halls,”

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UK - Triple E has announced the launch of a new division of the organisation, EEE Build, headquartered in Biggin Hill and appointed two new senior staff members.
The last few months have seen two significant appointments – namely Darren Green joining the growing team of project managers, and Rowan Coupe as installations manager as he heads up the newly created EEE Build division of Triple E.
Both Darren and Rowan join the company with solid industry experience, and both have a considerable knowledge of working alongside Triple E in their previous roles.
Darren has a background in theatre product design, engineering and project management working at notable companies including Theatre Projects, Harkness Screens, Hall Stage and Centre Stage Engineering. Darren has worked alongside the Triple E team on many projects in the past such as Fairfield Halls in Croydon

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World - The first Virtual Showlight (VSL) event which was held on Tuesday 25 May 2021 proved to be “a real success story,” according to its organisers. With the full Showlight postponed due to the pandemic, VSL 2021 turned trial into triumph when it threw open its virtual doors to an online audience in excess of 430 delegates. Students, educational establishments, venues and of course lighting designers from all genres of the industry - theatre, film and TV, architectural and events, and more - attended from almost 50 countries, and many have since returned to re-watch the Papers through Hubilo’s On Demand service.
Delegates were treated to a diverse range of subject matters from industry professionals at the top of their game. Topics included the illumination of a lighthouse on an island in the Bahamas, lighting comic book movie Birds of Prey, the remote ligh

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USA - Meyer Sound has appointed Sweetwater Sound of Fort Wayne, Indiana as a new authorised e-tailer for the company’s line of self-powered loudspeakers for music reinforcement and recording applications. As of 1 June, a selection of Meyer Sound products will be available through Sweetwater’s website and catalogue ordering channels.
“Sweetwater is the only national, internet-based retailer with the high level of in-house expertise required to represent Meyer Sound products and technologies,” says Meyer Sound senior vice president John McMahon. “Their sales engineers are not simply order-takers, but rather they are experienced professionals, many of them with extensive backgrounds in sound reinforcement. They know how to match Meyer Sound products to a customer’s requirements.”
Sweetwater’s senior director of partner marketing Arend Raby comments: “We

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UK - Specialist audio and entertainment technology recruitment business Interfacio has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade, recognising a period of significant and sustained growth in the company’s international business.
Commenting on the award, founder and MD Richard Wear says: "We are extremely honoured to be receiving this award and would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment shown by our whole team in delivering consistent results for our clients and candidates around the world in what continues to be a fast-changing and often challenging market."
Now in its 55th year, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK, and Interfacio is one of only 205 organisations to be recognised in 2021. The Award for International Trade recognises a period of continuous growth

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Europe - Attracting a high number of attendees in April, Yamaha’s online New Technology Showcase revealed the company’s latest professional audio technologies.
A key announcement was the launch of AFC Enhance and AFC Image, immersive audio technologies which ‘radically enhance live performances, interactive installations, projection mapping and other experiential events’. The launch event is now available to view on YouTube, where the details of these developments are showcased.
Hosted on Facebook Live, the New Technology Showcase was presented by a global team of Yamaha’s professional audio specialists, including key members from the company’s Japan headquarters, US and EU research and development teams, immersive audio specialists and loudspeaker manufacturer Nex

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UAE - Pro Lab has been appointed exclusive distributor for Prolights in the GCC region and Egypt, as of June 2021.
The appointment comes after the increased demand for the manufacturer's products, and strategy alignment between the two companies who are eager to supply high-quality equipment with the best technical expertise and product support.
“We are thrilled to start promoting Prolights' products and be able to show them to our customers as the world of entertainment opens back up,” said Rami Haber, managing director at Pro Lab. “We have been following Prolights' continuing success not only in entertainment but also in the broadcast and theatre markets, and we couldn't be more excited to be part of that journey.”
Paolo Albani, international sales manager at Prolights commented, “We are very happy to work with the team in Dubai. Despite its young ag

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UK - In partnership with the National Film and Theatre School (NFTS), this year’s coveted Christie prize for Most Promising NFTS Student was awarded to Charlie Jenkins, NFTS graduate in cinematography. Charlie received a monetary prize, a certificate, and a crystal trophy to celebrate the win at the socially distanced graduate ceremony. It is the 16th year of Christie’s partnership with NFTS, having supported the School with a variety of initiatives designed to nurture students and develop facilities, including its upgrade from film to digital projection equipment.
Oliver Stapleton and Stuart Harris, co-heads of the NFTS Cinematography MA, comments: “Charlie Jenkins is an exemplary student whose helpfulness to others knows no bounds. As soon as the School re-opened after lockdown, he immediately went to work and assisted the Animation, Model Making and Cinematography d

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Spain - Audiovisuales Canarias, part of AVC Group, has recently purchased 16 Prolights EclPanel TWC and TWCJr to their rental fleet.
The AV service provider decided to invest in these units to continue offering their customers equipment with reduced energy consumption thanks to its LED technology.
“Our decision to acquire the Prolights EclPanel TWC and TWCJr came after an exhaustive comparison with similar products on the market and, after some last tests of brightness, colour temperature, features, etc., we made the final decision to go ahead with the Italian brand. All the characteristics of this fixture were exactly what we needed to add to our list of equipment for our rental market,” said Alex Labao, commercial director for AVC Group. “The ECL Panel met our needs, completing our increasingly extensive list of equipment with reduced energy consumption.”

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UK - The CloudPower series of amplifiers from Apex are set to arrive in the UK and Ireland with the appointment of FBT Audio (UK) as the range’s exclusive distributor.
Effective 1 June 2021, the agreement comes as FBT Audio (UK) continues to experience rapid growth in its commercial audio division - a trend that has continued despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Described as capable of scaling from “a karaoke room to an opera house”, the Apex CloudPower range comprises four Class-D models - the 4 x 350W CP354, 4 x 700W CP704, 4 x 1500W CP1504 and 4 x 3000W CP3004.
Each is lightweight and compact at just 1U and can run in low impedance down to 2Ω or 70/100v line configuration. Also on board is feature rich DSP plus a built-in WiFi hotspot for simple setup, control and monitoring either locally using any HTML5 capable browser (Mac, PC, iOS or Andro

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Spain - Integrated Systems Events managing director Mike Blackman marked the opening of ISE Live & Online yesterday with a presentation at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via in front of a gathering of representatives from government, local executive boards and agencies, ISE’s owners and the media.
ISE Live & Online is a hybrid event, livestreaming from the Fira and broadcasting to a global audience via the ISE Digital platform.
The opening of ISE’s first show in Barcelona represents a significant milestone in the development of Integrated Systems Europe, and a personal and professional triumph for Blackman, who launched the event 17 years ago with a staff of three.
Along with representatives of the Fira, ISE co-owner AVIXA and ISE exhibitors, Blackman made a symbolic trip by motorbike from ISE’s office in Munich to Barcelona, stopping en route in Geneva

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UK - Britannia Row Productions Training (BRPT) has launched its Live Sound Fundamentals and Live Sound Intermediate courses online with 145 newly produced video lectures at www.britanniarowtraining.com.
Created after receiving an Arts Council England Culture Recovery Grant, the new online delivery platform offers video lectures, course notes, quizzes and optional exams together with learner support that the live sound specialist hopes will generate a more accessible gateway into the professional audio industry.
BRPT managing director, Mike Lowe, states: “We anticipated having to wait for some semblance of post-pandemic normality before continuing our programmes in live sound, however, being awarded a Culture Recovery Grant was an amazing development. It has

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UK - Technical solutions distributor Visualization will distribute the VUE2 product line in the UK.
VUE2 offers a range of 3LCD laser-based projectors across a range of brightness and resolutions.
With a complement of 21 products that cover installation, portable, and Ultra Short Throw (UST) series, the VUE2 range addresses the corporate, education, house of worship, and rental staging markets.
Visualization managing director, Nick Pidgeon, comments: “The VUE2 product line fills a gap vacated by a number of manufacturers. With a range of resolution and brightness at extremely competitive price points - and backed up with a reassuring seven-year warranty - we believe the VUE2 product range will be very well received in the UK.”
Mohammed Sajjad, product manager at VUE2, adds: “The UK market - via Visualization - offers us a tremendous opportunity to g

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Italy - Powersoft has named Prase as its Italian distributor. Headquartered in Noventa di Piave, near Venice, Prase was founded in 1993 and for 28 years, the company has provided services to the Italian audio market.
Prase's 50 distribution brands, once paired with Powersoft, will provide integrated installation solutions for system integrators, AV designers and consultants.
Fabrizio Romano Bolzoni, Powersoft’s sales distribution manager, comments: “We’ve always had a long history of mutual interest with Prase. The time has finally arrived to materialise that into a solid partnership for the development and success within the Italian professional installation market. With Prase’s best-in-class reputation throughout the installation sector and in the live world, we are delighted to be entering a partnership with them.”
Ennio Prase, managing director at P

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Another Lost Summer - UK music festivals face "another lost summer" due to the government's refusal to back insurance for events at risk, a committee of MPs has found. A report into the sector's future said the government should provide a safety net for live events set to take place after 21 June.
Several major festivals have been axed for the second year running, but the government claims it is "continuing to work flat-out to support festivals and live events". Glastonbury and BST Hyde Park will not take place this year, but others, like Latitude and Download, are currently scheduled to go ahead. The latter was called off in March but has since been resurrected as a government test event, albeit with a significantly reduced capacity.
On 21 June, the government hopes to move to the final stage of its roadmap for lifting lockdown. Restrictions on large events such as mu

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UK - The team behind A Light Walk, a charity walk set to take place across 20-24 September, has announced details of the fundraising mission and the ways in which everyone can get involved.
A Light Walk will see Chauvet’s Sam Bowden and ALD Lumière working group chair Charlotte Burton walk from The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford Upon Avon to the National Theatre on London’s Southbank, a total distance of over 101 miles (160 km), which will be completed in just five days. Members of the ALD’s executive committee and other members of the Lumière Scheme working group will be joining the walk for individual days or remotely.
Departing from The Royal Shakespeare Company on day one, the walkers will complete a distance of 24 miles. Day two starts at Bloxham and ends 19 miles further at Bicester. With day three, the walkers will pace the 23 mile

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UK - Backstage Academy has collaborated with Brompton Technology in delivery of an online masterclass to over 50 students to help them understand the importance of LED processing for video walls within live events and virtual production.
“Brompton LED processing solutions have been making regular appearances at Backstage Academy and Production Park for some time now,” says Miles Marsden, industry partnerships director at Backstage Academy. “For a company to remain at the cutting edge of such a fast-moving sector is super impressive, so to give our students the opportunity to be included on that journey was a no brainer.”
The training consisted of a short company overview delivered by Brompton director of business development, Rob Fowler, followed by a sampler from the company’s full one-day training course on the Tessera system using the streaming rack delive

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Germany/UK - d&b has announced the establishment of a new service-focused business entity, d&b solutions GmbH & Co. KG. The new entity will ‘further enable d&b to offer end-to-end expertise in the areas of project development, manufacturing, system planning, installation and maintenance’. The announcement is supported by the immediate acquisition of UK-based multidisciplinary AV provider, SFL Group.
The newly formed d&b solutions will act independently from d&b audiotechnik GmbH & Co. KG. d&b solutions and d&b audiotechnik will have separate, independent business structures reporting up to the d&b Group. The managing directors for d&b solutions are Amnon Harman (d&b Group CEO), Jens Nilsson (d&b Group CFO) and Michael Aldinger (d&b solutions director finance and operations).
“d&b solutions is born out of

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Italy - Powersoft has launched a project registration process on its website that will allow subscribers to receive a discount on Powersoft products to be purchased for any installation project, as well as direct support from Powersoft’s expert technical team.
Registrants can be any company or user in the project chain, such as distributors, end users, system integrators or resellers, and the discount and support will be accessible to customers once the submitted project, after meeting certain requirements, has been considered eligible.
To be eligible, registrants must provide at least three months prior to the estimated product delivery date, all project details (including programme and products of interest) to the official project registration form, accessible via MyPowersoft.
"We have launched this initiative to further support projects around the world in

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Germany - Dry hire company CGS GmbH, based in southern Germany, has chosen Prolights EclPanel TWC and EclPanelTWCJr, widely expanding its dry hire inventory in TV and film lighting.
Christian Geyer, managing director of CGS, comments, "With the Prolights EclPanel TWC and TWCJr we have a very mobile solution in our stock. The fixture impressed us with its high light output and its excellent source quality. In addition, the panels include several features that make our everyday work easier, such as an integrated power supply and W-DMX. This makes these fixtures a no-brainer for many projects where exactly these requirements for quality, mobility and performance prevail."
The EclPanel TWC and TWCJr were designed to ‘meet extremely high colour rendering values’. They also come with various pre-programmed and customisable effects.

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South Africa - Event and entertainment technology solutions supplier Stage Audio Works has relocated to new premises in Kyalami Park, Midrand, Johannesburg.
The move follows a change in strategic direction of the company’s Mitech Direct division (MI retail sales) to a stronger presence online. The new business model has enabled SAW to reorganise operations in a way that reduces the requirement for physical space overall whilst deploying more resources in key areas for increased profitability.
“We are fortunate in that our business has remained strong throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” states SAW group CEO, Will Deysel. “However, to ensure that, we’ve had to remain agile and react quickly; one of our early decisions was to move Mitech Direct to a predominantly online sales model, which has prompted our relocation to new, appropriately sized premises in Kyalami

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UK - Independent providers of specialist rigging services, Rigging Team, have been working with students at Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance, helping deliver a live event staged at the college.
Created as an opportunity to study working as part of a live production crew, the show allowed students to gain valuable experience, experimenting with a range of professional, industry equipment.
Rigging Team managing director, Adam Searle comments, “Rigging Team are proud to have donated equipment in support of the project at Rose Bruford. Along with the regular training and tuition we provide, we’re always keen to help deliver experiences such as this to students looking to become part of our industry.”
The company provided a number of their EXE-Rise Hoists with Out Board Electronics controllers, plus cabling to the event. The hoists were of parti
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