Italy - Since pledging to donate a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of its touring amplifiers to the Crew Nation charitable fund, Powersoft’s three-month campaign has generated €48,437 - and the company has since vowed to continue the incentive until the end of 2020.
Nurit Siegel Smith, executive director of the Music Forward Foundation - the charitable 501c3 organisation that administers and powers the fund - was full of praise for the substantial contribution already received from Powersoft.
“We are amazed by the incredible pledge Powersoft made toward the Crew Nation fund and for the crewmembers who are the backbone of the live music industry,” she said. “Live music inspires millions around the world, but the concerts we all enjoy wouldn’t be possible without the countless crewmembers working behind the scenes.
Their pledged donation will

Europe - Elation Europe is marking 10 years in business this year. The company opened its European headquarter office in Kerkrade, the Netherlands in 2010 and has since grown to become an established player on the market.
To mark the anniversary, Elation Europe will celebrate with a variety of special activities in 2021. “Like so many other events in 2020, Elation Europe has decided to postpone celebration activities until 2021 when larger groups can again gather safely,” says the company.
“It’s really incredible to think how much has changed in these 10 years,” comments Frederik Afif, international sales manager for Elation Europe and one of a handful of employees who helped to start up the operation in 2010. “We started in a small office with just two sales people and some back-office support, a coffee machine and not much more.
“I was on the pho

USA - The Audio Engineering Society has announced the winners of this year’s AES Awards for distinguished achievement in the field of audio and service to the Society, presented during the Opening Ceremonies of the AES Show Fall 2020 Convention on 27 October.
The awards were presented in the online ceremony by AES president Agnieszka Roginska. The AES Show opening ceremonies are available on-demand for AES Show attendees at AESShow.com.
The AES Board of Governors Award, given to members rendering exceptional service to the Audio Engineering Society, was presented to Jorge Azama, for chairing the successful AES Latin American Conference in September 2019 in Lima, Perú.
The AES Honorary Membership Award was given to Imogen Heap, for outstanding contributions to the world of music and technology and to Karrie Keyes, for her leadership in creating opportunities f

USA - Chauvet Professional has presented a cheque to Behind the Scenes for $25,000 from its recently launched ReSet Fund to be used to support entertainment technology members and their immediate dependent family who are seriously ill or injured, and to fund emotional wellness resources and training.
Chauvet announced last week that it will be donating up to $50,000 in funds to help live event industry members impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Following this initial $25,000 donation, Chauvet will match donations up to an additional $25,000 from participants who buy special fundraising ‘ReSet’ jackets, caps, truss gloves, and other merchandise at www.chauvetprofessional.com/resetfund through 30 November.
Behind the Scenes executive director, Lori Rubinstein, commented, “Chauvet Professional’s generous donation comes at a particularly important time for the char

The Netherlands - LED display brand, Absen has signed a distribution partnership with Fairlight, a distributor of light, sound, and video equipment for professional users.
Headquartered in Bemmel, in the Netherlands, Fairlight will primarily be tasked with bringing Absen’s expanding range of LED products to customers across the Benelux region. The new partnership will allow prospective customers in the region to experience Absen LED at Fairlight’s Bemmel showroom, as well as taking part in product-specific training and making use of the company’s on-site maintenance and repair services.
“Our aim has always been to offer our customers a complete package of AV related brands,” said Michel Arntz, general manager at Fairlight. “The introduction of Absen LED displays to our inventory means we are now able to fill the gaps between our existing product groups. Th

UK - Event business based in England are likely to benefit from the Additional Restrictions Grant, which will be issued by local authorities in light of tightening restrictions across the country.
Local authorities remain in power over how much of the £1.1bn funding is administered and to which businesses, but the guidance encourages them “to develop discretionary grant schemes to help those businesses which - while not legally forced to close - are nonetheless severely impacted by the restrictions put in place to control the spread of COVID-19. This could include - for example - businesses which supply the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors,

Italy - The RCF Audio Academy hosted its first RCF Professional Team certification course.
RCF Professional Team certifies pro audio engineers’ knowledge of RCF products. This in-depth training course is creating a team of professionals and companies that guarantee the best sound quality for the listener, and optimum results for the client, when deploying RCF systems, says the company.
"We felt the need to certify the best professionals who use RCF products," said Fabrizio Grazia, RCF sales manager and coordinator of RCF Professional Team (Italia). "Although RCF products are easy to use and incorporate technologies that facilitate installation and setup, we also want to educate our customers with extensive knowledge for optimal use of our technologies in every scenario."
The first session was held on 19-20 October, 2020 at the RCF Audio Academy, the company's

Germany - Lautwerfer Veranstaltungstechnik and TLT Event AG, both based in Berlin, have each invested in Elation’s new broadcast-quality KL Panel LED softlight. The motivation behind the decision is primarily the increased need for high-quality and flexible softlights due to the growing live streaming business
With an attractive joint rental pool of KL Panels now available in the greater Berlin area however, the full-colour-spectrum and color temperature-adjustable soft light also fulfills the demanding requirements of film and television productions.
The KL Panel with its RGBW + lime + cyan LED array was developed with stringent demands placed on adjustable colour temperature and precise colour mixing, says the company. The KL Panel not only covers the full colour spectrum, it also enables for the stepless selection of colour temperature in the range from 2,000 to

UK - The ALD has announced the winners of this year’s Awards for Excellence, which recognise the new generation of young production talent emerging from UK universities.
The winners created portfolios that “succeed in demonstrating their skills to best advantage, in a disrupted year where the number of lighting opportunities available to them may have been reduced,” says the ALD.
Winners are traditionally announced at the association’s Annual Lighting Lunch but will this year be showcased to the ALD membership via its bi-monthly magazine, Focus, and then through the ALD’s social media channels in a two-week series of posts.
The Fred Foster Award for Production Electrics, the most recent addition to the awards portfolio, proved to be a popular choice among applicants, receiving a large number of submissions this year, but Guildhall School of Music

Poland - JHS has announced the appointment of Grupa ZIBI S.A. as distributor for its brands in Poland.
Grupa ZIBI will distribute a variety of JHS’ popular brands including Vintage guitars, Encore guitars, Antoni violins and KAM sound and lighting.
Founded in 1989 by Zbigniew Pietrzak, Grupa ZIBI became established as importers of watches, which in turn helped in the rebuilding of the Polish economy, opening its first retail store in Warsaw in 1991.
One of the key dates in the company's history is 2004, when ZIBI became the owner of the only music store chain in Poland - Riff stores.
Currently, the musical part of the ZIBI Group is its own Riff retail chain, with 16 stores covering the entire territory of Poland and an extensive network of wholesale partners with over 100 leading music dealers.
JHS export manager Adam Butterworth comments: “I

Switzerland - The Laserworld Group has announced Nova Event Group as its new exclusive distribution partner in Switzerland.
The Nova Event Group has many years of experience in the sales of laser systems, as they used to be the Swiss distribution partner of Kvant lasers.
With the new partnership, the CEO of the Nova Events Group, Vano Soleymani, makes a significant step for the future: “The ongoing transformation process in our industry allowed us to restructure our partnerships and extend our portfolio even further. The Laserworld Group offers the large variety of products we need to satisfy the requirements of our customers. We monitored the product developments and technological advancements of the past years and are very confident we have found a strong partner for the future.”
The Nova Event Group not only handles laser sales in Switzerland, but also sup

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 definitely benefit from that.”, adds Leijten.
Paolo Albani, Prolights international sales m

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.”
ack O

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

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

Australia - Fibre network specialists Optocore has appointed CMI as its new Australian distributors. The brand provides a strong addition to the Melbourne company’s audio division portfolio.
CMI CEO, Peter Trojkovic said he was delighted with the appointment, stating that he was impressed by Optocore’s ability to provide “innovative, scalable and rock solid backbones”, embracing open standards. He noted that this will influence a range of their core market segments, including events, theatres, stadiums and studios.
“With many fibre-compatible solutions in CMI’s portfolio, this marks a strategic move by the audio division to position CMI as a one-stop solution for performance, broadcast and commercial audio networking.
“Optocore are the world’s most popular and innovative manufacturers of fibre optic networks. With systems already deployed in ve

UK - Loudspeaker manufacturer PMC has opened a new factory in Bedfordshire, to cope with burgeoning demand for its CI series.
Since launching last September, CI monitors have proved ‘hugely popular’ with the installation market where they are delivering Hollywood studio audio quality. Incorporating the same proprietary PMC technology as the company’s award winning audiophile speakers and studio monitors, these slimline speakers are designed with a shallow depth for on-wall and in-wall custom installations. This design feature also makes them suited to professional studios that are embracing Dolby Atmos immersive audio for music and film mixing and want discreet monitors for their wall and ceiling channels.
“In addition to the flourishing custom installation market, CI monitors also form an integral part of our loudspeaker systems for Dolby Atmos and we anticipa

UK - The BPI/BRIT Awards have announced the donation of £54,000 to the COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund administered by Stagehand, the Production Services Association (PSA) Welfare and Benevolent Fund. The money will help Stagehand’s relief fund to approach £240,000, which will be invested in supporting live music and events professionals affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
The contribution from the BPI and BRIT Awards comes on top of £1.62m of BPI-co-ordinated funds donated earlier this year by the recorded music sector to charities and organisations supporting artists, managers and venues through the pandemic - bringing the total distributed to date to £1.67m.
Geoff Taylor, chief executive BPI, BRIT Awards & Mercury Prize, comments: “Our industry is deeply interconnected and while everyone is feeling the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic in some way, no sector has fe

UK - Events and creative industry professionals Mark Davies, Jerry Cleary and Edwin Higgins have joined forces to launch a new event production company, JEM LIVE.
The new venture combines a physical event production offering with services such as live streaming, extended reality (xR) and social media amplification to enable organisers and agencies to expand the reach of their event.
“We wanted to create a company which was fluent in virtual event technologies while not forgetting the importance of more classic elements of event production,” comments Davies. “High quality design, lighting, sound, staging etc. remain at the heart of live events but in the COVID-19 era we have to be willing to integrate virtual elements too.”
Davies has more than 25 years’ experience in live events and entertainment architecture and is responsible for the commercial and

Australia - Green Hippo has added two new distribution specialists to its international sales network.
Representing the brand in Australia and New Zealand is Melbourne-based Corsair Solutions. Established in 2009, Corsair imports and distributes professional and commercial AV equipment and has established itself as a trusted partner of AV system integrators, pro audio and video equipment resellers and equipment rental companies throughout Australia and New Zealand. Corsair also distributes Green Hippo’s sister brand within Spitfire Creative Technologies, tvONE.
Meanwhile, Wholestage has been appointed to represent Green Hippo in Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in Venezuela in 1998, Wholestage is today based in Miami, Florida, with offices in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Panama, Chile and Spain. It specializes in the distribution of pro video, audio, riggin

Latest Issue. . .