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UK - On a high from last year’s 40th anniversary celebration, PLASA Show returns to London Olympia on 16-18 September, providing a stage for the world of live entertainment technology. The show continues to explore the cutting-edge of innovation and creativity and brings the biggest brands to thousands of visitors.
Audio heavyweights L-Acoustics, Peavey and Adamson, and lighting pioneers Robe, DTS, ETC and Philips are among the 200+ brands exhibiting at the show. And, with last year’s showfloor selling out, extra stands have been released for smaller companies representing all sectors of the industry, from DJ and club, to worship and education.
The show provides invaluable opportunities for those with an interest in working with lighting consoles and loudspeaker systems by providing dedicated training sessions and demos. There will also be more hands-on experience

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Brazil - Avolites has struck a new partnership with HPL Light Company, who will represent the British brand's Titan products in Brazil.
Sāo Paulo-based HPL has a 15-year history as a distributor of entertainment lighting and sound products in the country. The company has announced it will be holding a series of workshops on the Titan range for its customers.
Andrea Nascimento, CEO of HPL, comments: "Avolites is a renowned company with lots of market and industry know-how. Partnering with them brings value to both our company and to our clients in many ways. We hope that this partnership will strengthen ties with the market, increase the demand and supply of Avolites in Brazil and bring many benefits to us all."
Larissa Gaeta, marketing director for HPL, adds: "HPL offers the Brazilian market a lot in the way of professional lighting solutions, but until now we h

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Germany - A gathering of customers, industry partners and employees heralded the official opening of the new Experience Centre at the Adam Hall Group headquarters located in Neu-Anspach near Frankfurt.
Using the theme Come Together, the benchmark was set from the onset by a sound-and-light show with pyrotechnics. Special guests and famous music acts provided the entertainment. Speeches by company founder David Kirby and managing directors Alexander Pietschmann and Markus Jahnel rounded out the house-warming party.
More than 20m euros has been invested in the construction of two new building complexes, the Experience Centre and the expanded Logistics Park.
The Experience Centre has been specially designed for business customers, partners, organisations and employees and, as an architectural hallmark of the Adam Hall Group, includes a fully-equipped product

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UK - Folkstone’s Magistrates Court sentenced Maidstone Studios Limited to pay a £30,000 fine and £6,487.76 worth of damages after a worker fell to his death.
Justin Newitt fell five metres through an opening on the roof at the TV studio on 23 September 2015 after using an unsafe mobile access tower to climb to the roof.
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) identified a lack of planning with regards to the condition the tower, which had ladder sections the wrong way round, damaged bracing and inadequate guardrails. No formal planning had been recorded and there had been no supervision on how the work was being carried out.
HSE also highlighted that Mr Newitt had not been trained to erect the tower safely.
HSE inspecto

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EU Lighting Proposals - MP Will Quince has called on the government to “do all it can” to protect theatres from EU lighting proposals. He said the proposals would have a “serious negative impact” on the sector both artistically and financially.
MP for Colchester, Quince raised the issue in the House of Commons last week. He said: “Some may ask: Why shouldn’t theatres and other performance venues play their part in saving the environment? Well, the theatre and entertainment industry do want to play their part, they fully support the sustainability agenda and are taking steps day by day to improve their environmental standards, however introducing these regulations without having an exemption in place will have a serious negative impact across European entertainment industries. This would far outweigh the positive intention behind these proposals.”
Quince t

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Germany - At Stage|Set|Scenery, which will take place from 18 to 20 June 2019 in Berlin, event industry start-ups can present their products to expert international audiences, establish important business contacts and secure new markets. They will benefit from attractive rates, say the organisers.
At Stage|Set|Scenery 2019 companies which have been on the market for up to three years will pay a net flat rate of 1,250 euros. Services covered by this fee include a stand occupying 7.5sq.m, construction of the stand, furniture, carpeting, electricity, exhibitor IDs, AUMA fees and a media package.
Stage|Set|Scenery takes place every two years on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. Last year, some promising start-ups were already in attendance. FRAMED immersive projects GmbH & Co. KG, for example, which gave a live presentation of the usomo sound installation at the SoundLab.

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UK - Production Park, a cluster of live event-based companies in Wakefield, has announced that it will fund university places at its industry leading training centre, Backstage Academy, making an initial pledge of £20,000 per academic year.
The Backstage Academy Bursary Fund will provide a fully funded three-year place on one of the Academy's BA courses to an outstanding candidate for whom university would not otherwise have been an option. Funds will also be available for part-funded places and support for accommodation costs.
In addition, a percentage of the fund will be allocated to provide assisted places on Backstage Academy's outreach programmes, delivered in local communities to educate and inspire those currently disengaged with traditional education, or in need of rehabilitation into a workplace environment.
Production Park says the investment is just t

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UK - The Knight of Illumination Awards, which in 2018 marks its 11th year of celebrating the achievements of show lighting and video designers in Television, Theatre, and Concert Touring & Events, welcomes eight new additions to its judging panels this year.
The judging panels for each of the three disciplines consists of a range of critics and specialists with expert knowledge in their field who, once nominations have closed, will meet to select the three final shortlisted designs and one winner for each award.
David Benedict's theatre panel welcomes three new judges: Zoë Anderson, critic for Dancing Times and author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover's Companion; Michael Billington, chief theatre critic of The Guardian and author of State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945 and The Life and Work of Har

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Australia - Michael Althaus, Ayrton’s global sales director, led a series of Ayrton open houses with its exclusive Australian distributor Show Technology at their offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
“The visit underlined the strong partnership between Show Technology and Ayrton, and our joint commitment to our customers,” Althaus commented. “The events went very well, with nearly 200 customers in attendance, and the response was overwhelming. Show Technology have done an amazing job already in introducing Ayrton to the market. Showcasing and comparing our range of products in this manner was mind and eye-opening for our customers.”
The new Ayrton products showcased included: Ghibli, Merak, Mistral, Minipanel TC and FX and Miniburst. Customers in Australia’s three major cities were also treated to a preview of what is around the corner with a demonstr

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UK - Technical entertainment charity Backup has joined AmazonSmile.
The initiative, which was launched in the UK last November, enables the e-commerce giant to donate 0.5% of the net purchase price (excluding VAT, returns and shipping fees) of eligible purchases to participating charitable organisations.
To support Backup through AmazonSmile, visit www.smile.amazon.co.uk and type Backup in the ‘Pick your own charitable organisation’ window when you shop.
(Jim Evans)

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South Korea - Sitting on the slopes of Achasan Mountain and overlooking the Hangang River, the Walkerhill Hotel & Resort boasts one of the best views of South Korea’s capital, Seoul. The management of the hotel and its trio of high-end venues recently returned to its owners, SK Networks, which has made a significant investment in upgrading all three, including the installation of Yamaha audio equipment.
Walkerhill Hotel & Resort manages two hotels - Grand Walkerhill Seoul and Vista Walkerhill Seoul - along with Aston House, a luxurious Jacobean style mansion, which has hosted many state banquets and has been regularly used for product launches and parties for global luxury brands.
After a period being run by different franchises, SK Networks has chosen to return all three to independent status, with improved facilities. The investment has included new confere

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USA - German fibre network specialist BroaMan has appointed Clear-Com as its new distributor in the USA.
BroaMan has rapidly found favour not only in the broadcast market, but also with production companies, sport facilities, professional AV integrators and many more applications with its bespoke solutions and range of off-the-shelf converters.
As the provider of intercom systems, Clear-Com will now expand its infrastructure expertise to include video signal distribution and routing networks.
The BroaMan portfolio includes the MUX-22 and Repeat8-NANO Series interfaces, palm-size 3G-SDI or AES10-MADI signal media converters, the larger capacity Repeat48 media converters and Route66 3G-SDI 40 x 40 non-blocking video matrix.
BroaMan MD, Tine Helmle, comments: “Clear-Com is an excellent partner to be working with - extremely professional, knowledgeable and

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Europe - Green Hippo has appointed Video Projektai as its exclusive Lithuanian distributor. With immediate effect, Video Projektai takes responsibility for distributing Green Hippo throughout the largest of the three Baltic nations.
Video Projektai is based in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital city, meaning it is well placed to take advantage of businesses based in the former European Capital of Culture, as well as beyond and into the rest of the country.
With over 10 years of providing solutions to Lithuania’s video creatives, Video Projektai has the necessary technical expertise, in addition to the required understanding of its home territory, to promote Green Hippo’s line of cutting-edge technology to the Lithuanian market.
James Roth, head of sales and marketing at Green Hippo, says: “Lithuania offers solid potential for Green Hippo to further cement its f

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The Netherlands - Elation is holding PRO Service Days on 10-11 July at its European headquarters in Kerkrade, the Netherlands.
The training days will provide in-depth technical knowledge of the company’s most popular products, with a detailed look at technological construction while covering important service guidelines. A €30 hospitality fee will be required to cover food and drinks and registration. There is only room for 15 participants each day early registration is recommended. Deadline for registration is 6 July.
Elation’s European headquarters is centrally located on the German / Belgian border and can be easily reached by road from the UK, Belgium, Germany and France. For details, questions and/or help with accommodations, please contact Elation Europe at info@elationlighting.eu.
(Jim Evans)

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UK - Theatres Trust has announced that booking is open for its 2018 conference in October.
The 2018 conference, Adapt & Thrive - new money and new models for theatre buildings will be held on Tuesday, 16 October at the Lyric Hammersmith in London.
The annual conference will feature broad-ranging debates, panel discussions with audience participation, case studies from architects, theatre operators and consultants, developers, local authorities and LEPs, and high profile speakers, including Michael Ellis MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism, and producer and theatre owner Cameron Mackintosh.
Jon Morgan, director of Theatres Trust, comments: “If there is one thing the theatre industry is good at it is improvising - making the best of our resources and ensuring that at all costs the show must go on. We now need to p

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Europe/Asia - Milos held its annual product academies at its bases in Roudnice nad Labem, the Czech Republic (13-14 April), and in Guangzhou, China (10-11 May).
The two-day product academy has been designed to provide attendees with the knowledge and skills for working safer while carrying out rigging duties and constructing support structures.
The Czech Republic event brought together local attendees, but also visitors from Slovakia, Germany, England, Scotland and Australia. The product academy in China drew attendees from China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, as well as from Australia, New Zealand and Kenya.
Eric Porter, certified rigging consultant and internationally renowned rigging professional, gave rigging presentations and provided rigging consultations. Norbert Tripp, Area Four Industries technical director and structural engineer, held presenta

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USA - RC4 Wireless has patented a method of pixel control - keyframing and RC4 Custom Pixel Profiles (CPP) - which reduces the number of DMX control channels required for generation of artistic pixel patterns displayed on a large number of pixel LEDs. The patent is US9924584B2 issued by the US Patent Office.
“I’m particularly proud of this IP because of the control it provides to lighting designers and programmers,” explains James David Smith, chief product designer at RC4 Wireless. This is the firm’s second patent.
Keyframing is an integral part of three RC4 Wireless pixel-driver products: the RC4Magic DMXpix Dual Pixel String Driver in both 2.4GHz and 900MHz and the LumenDimPIX for LumenRadio CRMX; the latter operates on the Lumen Radio wireless platform.
“Unlike any other pixel control technology for reducing channel count, RC4’s technology combin

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Switzerland - Verity Studios AG, an indoor drone technology specialist, has announced that it has raised $18m in a Series A funding round. Fontinalis Partners, a venture capital firm focused on next-generation mobility technologies, led the round. Other investors include Airbus Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, and Kitty Hawk. Verity plans to use this funding to expand its live events business, with a heavy focus on US growth, as well as to expand into other commercial verticals.
“Verity has assembled an exceptional team, with credibility, valuable IP, and extensive technical know-how, all while building a fast-growing business in the live events market,” says Chris Cheever, co-founder and partner at Fontinalis. “Our firm was founded to invest in and help scale the world’s best mobility technologies, and what Verity has developed has broad applicability beyond entertai

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USA - The organisers of the ESTA Plugfest have announced that RDMnet prototypes constructed to the most current version of draft standard E1.33, Transport of ANSI E1.20 (RDM) in an E1.31 environment, will be available for participants in Plugfest 2018.
Wayne Howell of Artistic Licence and Sam Kearney of Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC) are both providing RDMnet prototypes for attendee use and testing during the July Plugfest. Both Wayne and Sam noted that this is an excellent opportunity for early adopters to test manufacturer interoperability ahead of the publication of the final RDMnet standard.
The Artistic Licence prototype will provide a version of their new dataLynx II gateway which has per port selection of sACN, RDMnet, Art-Net and RDM over Art-Net.
The ESTA Control Protocols Plugfest, where manufacturers and developers test their lighting products for n

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India - Atlona is amplifying its global On-Tour Roadshow Series with focused two-day events that focus on live hands-on demonstrations for dealers, consultants and end users. The first of these enhanced Zero to 60 Hz events recently wrapped in Jaipur, India, with 35 attendees enjoying detailed demos and intimate Q&A’s across dedicated time slots.
Co-sponsored with Telso Networks at their office in the G-3 Regal Residency in Jaipur, the idea was born out of partner requests for technical workshops that go deeper into product use and system architecture than larger Atlona Academy training and education events.
“As our partners and end customers move away from circuit-based systems and to the network, there is a greater desire and urgency to put their hands on this latest generation of products in advance of purchase of installation,” says Sanket Sawant,

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Immersive Incentive - Performing arts organisations have been invited to bid for a £4m fund to create “game-changing” new experiences using immersive technologies. Public body Innovate UK is awarding a total of £16m in government funding as part of its Audiences of the Future programme.
This will be split between four projects, each in a different industry which has been identified as having “maximum opportunity” for innovation. The four chosen industries are performance, moving image, sport entertainment and visitor experience.
The programme aims to ensure the UK becomes a world leader in immersive technologies such as virtual reality, which is when an entire image or environment is created digitally, and augmented reality, where a computer-generated image is superimposed on to a user’s real view of the world.
At a press briefing for the progr

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UK - RCF hosted “two very successful” open days at Guildford’s G Live on 4-5 June.
RCF partner Yes Production rigged a number of the Italian company’s popular products, ranging from line arrays and subs, point source solutions, portable speakers and mixing desks.
Dean Davoile, RCF UK sales manager, comments: “We had a very successful two days. The venue was perfect and the ability to demonstrate a couple of flown large line arrays as well as multiple smaller point source system worked really well.”
With the line arrays in mind, Davoile was aware that this was the first opportunity for those in the southern half of the country to hear the new HDL6-A and HDL30-A D-Line series speakers in a real-world situation. The systems were flown, with an array of SUB 9006-AS subwoofers along the front of the stage.
Yes director Tom Chennells had earlier sele

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UK - The winners of the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) Theatre Awards 2018 have been announced.
The awards ceremony took place on 6 June (Wednesday) at Alexandra Palace, London.
The five awards for sound, lighting, engineering, widget and stand were complemented by a special award to mark the retirement of Roger Fox, the theatre show's director, acknowledging his 40 years work on building and developing the event since 1978.

The winners, who were picked by an experienced jury of working practitioners and industry peers, are listed below, along with the jury's comments:

ABTT Sound Product of the Year
EM Acoustics for EMS-41
"This speaker features a compact design with a 4” driver and coaxial compression driver, producing similar output to the larger EMS-51, but at half the size,

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UK - HSL, technical partner for Hope Mill Theatre, has updated the lighting rig of the Manchester production space with a number of profile, Fresnel and flood fixtures.
Hope Mill Theatre, an alternative arts production space based at a former Victorian cotton mill in Ancoats, partnered with HSL two years ago. HSL undertook a structural survey followed by the design and installation of a trussing mother grid in the roof.
While an assortment of lighting kit has been supplied over the last two years, this this has now been reviewed and updated to include a standard rig of ETC Source Four profiles, 1K Fresnels, and Acclaim Fresnels together with a variety of floods.
Moving lights and other specials will be supplied as required by the individual productions. The original mothergrid has also just been extended with some new sections, giving more capacity for the quick
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