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UK - Arena Group, the international turnkey event design and delivery business this morning announced they will be listing their shares on the London Stock Exchange. The company is raising a total of approximately £60m from UK and international institutional investors and listing will help fund the future growth plans of the business.
Arena Group provides managed solutions from concept and design through to the construction and delivery of temporary structures, seating and interiors for a host of major sporting, outdoor and leisure events around the world. Contracts range in size and complexity from a simple equipment rental for a local outdoor event, to an integrated solution of multiple structures and interiors for a major international sporting event.
Arena Group is a global business with operations in the UK and Europe, Middle East and Asia and the Americas and c

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Europe - Green Hippo has confirmed its agreement with Ampco Flashlight Group.
Peter de Fouw, general manager of Ampco Flashlight Sales comments: "Green Hippo is a hugely important brand to us and by taking on this market-leading brand for distribution, opens up opportunities in new and innovative markets across the Benelux region.
“More and more we see video applications being used in all major events and across many vertical markets such as theatre, live performance, installation and broadcast. We are honoured to be the new distributor for a leading brand such as Green Hippo, which is a welcome addition to the Ampco Flashlight portfolio.’’
James Roth, head of sales & marketing for Green Hippo said: “Reaching an agreement with Ampco is another major step towards securing and further growing our market position in Europe. For me, the timing of this is

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South Africa - With the aim to make operators familiar with the functions of the dot2 lighting control console, the interface, main features of the software and operating philosophy, Jannie de Jager from DWR Distribution will be presenting dot2 User Training in Cape Town from 31 July to 1 August and in Durban from 3-4 August.
The two-day course will cover groups, presets, storing cues, chases, effects and back up. Delegates are requested to supply their own dot2 console and laptop for the MA 3D Visualizer.
Bookings can be made on line. Visit: http://dwrdistribution.co.za/register/dot2training-august/
(Jim Evans)

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France - S Group has expanded its SSL stock with the purchase of two Live L200 consoles.
S Group is a touring and events rental and systems integration specialist based in Alès, in the South of France. It was founded by CEO Leon Van Empel in 2001 and has since gone from strength to strength, building up an impressive portfolio of tours and festivals, and supplying everything from core sound and light systems to screens, rigging, and staging systems and support.
The company took the audio lead back in 2013 when it invested in two SSL Live L500 consoles, initially for front of house and monitors duties on French R&B artist Amel Bent's tour. Since then, the L500s have been popular choices, being used on prestigious events such as the epic Les Prodiges and Musiques en Fête.
Most recently, it has taken the lead again by adding a pair of L200s to its inventory, w

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UK - As The BRIT School in Croydon, founded in 1991, and one of the first free performing and creative arts schools in the country, celebrates its 25th academic year, it is announced there will be a festival, called Back to BRIT on the school site at Selhurst on Saturday 15 July.
The line-up on the day will feature successful alumni currently working across the creative sector including artists Imogen Heap, Natalie Stewart from Floetry, comedy group Mandem on the Wall (made up of BRIT graduates Joivan Wade and Percelle Ascott), dancers Twist and Pulse (Britain’s Got Talent finalists 2010), Khronos Agoria (Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalists 2016), The Good Wife star Cush Jumbo and DJ sets by Radio 1xtra DJ Ace and Kiss FM’s DJ Freddie Smith.
The festival will showcase performances on various stages with the main stage under a circus b

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South Africa - DiGiCo is reportedly taking South Africa by storm, and with this in mind, Kyle Robson from DWR Distribution will be presenting training in Cape Town and in Durban during July.
The course aims to give users an overview of the new S21 digital mixing console and provide useful information and skills to better operate this console of choice.
The course will be hosted at DWR Cape Town on the 24 and 25 July and at DWR Durban on the 27 and 28 July from 9am to 5pm each day and the cost fee is R850.00. Delegates are required to provide laptops with the offline editor. Bookings can be made on line. Visit: http://dwrdistribution.co.za/register/digico-training-july-2017/
(Jim Evans)

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UK - Growing technical production company Subfrantic Production Services has used Yamaha mixing consoles throughout its existence, thanks to their reliability, quality and flexibility. The company has now invested in a flagship Rivage PM10 digital mixing system.
London-based Subfrantic has steadily increased its profile in the UK and overseas production markets ever since it was founded in 1993, when digital mixing for large live shows was unheard of. “At that time Yamaha’s PM4000 was an industry standard, analogue Front of House console,” remembers managing director Steve Davies. “It was a rare treat to find yourself behind one, although quite the opposite to realise you had to get it up some stairs.”
The 2001 launch of Yamaha’s digital PM1D set the live production industry on the path it continues along today. As Steve says, Yamaha was “the driving forc

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Australia - Fohhn Audio AG has announced the appointment of CMI Music & Audio Pty Ltd as its first ever distributor for Australia.
The new partnership agreement, which was signed, sealed and announced at this year’s Prolight & Sound in Frankfurt, results from three years of discussion between the two companies.
“At Fohhn, we select our distribution partners very carefully, as it has to be right for both parties,” says sales & marketing director Uli Haug. “As CMI were also undergoing some restructuring, we decided to go ahead only when the time was completely right. It has, however, been worth the wait as CMI are not only thoroughly professional, but also have an honest, open-minded team who share our passion for audio.”
The distribution appointment enables CMI to respond to the growing demand for loudspeaker systems with Beam Steering techn

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UK/Australia - Mandylights has announced the company’s expansion into the UK, with the opening of a new office headed by UK designers Liam Tully and Tom Edwards.
Operating since 2006 from Sydney, Australia, Mandylights has delivered lighting, visual and production design projects in over 50 countries across touring concert, broadcast, special event, theatre and corporate markets.
The company’s recent touring and Vegas residency designs for the Backstreet Boys are recent additions to an impressive list of credits including multiple tours for artists including Ricky Martin, Taio Cruz, Cats - The Musical, China’s G.E.M. and numerous others. Mandylights has also designed shows for Dubai’s Burj Khalifa New Year’s Eve celebrations and the 15th anniversary main stage of Ultra Music Festival in addition to countless festivals and special events around the worl

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Germany - In the course of the successful repositioning of the company, the Adam Hall Group is developing its global business development division.
From 1 July, Bodo Falkenried’s team will be augmented by Alessio Foti, who has several years’ experience as brand manager for leading companies in the pro-audio sector, where his principal responsibilities included business development, product management and sales in Asia, the USA and Europe.
Falkenried, head of global business development, comments: “As a fast-growing, innovative company with an international orientation, Alessio will provide urgent support in meeting the demanding requirements for strategic and operative business development. His excellent knowledge and experience in international markets and the development of brands and their specific legal aspects will play an important role in consolidating o

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USA - Prolyte Group hosted its first North American Campus event on truss training in Orlando last month, just one day prior to the opening of InfoComm.
Organized in cooperation with its North American distributor A.C. Lighting Inc., the event had an impressive list of participants.
The Prolyte Campus event was accredited by both ESTA (ETCP) as well as InfoComm (CTS), offering continuing education credits and interesting and high-standing content that is recognized by industry bodies as well as those who participated.
Lecturer Ruud de Deugd performed an inspiring session on the technical aspects of using truss, from recognizing the different types of loading, calculating cantilevers to slinging methods, connection types and regulations, using his practical experiences to address common and recognizable issues.
“A brilliant way to learn more about the ran

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Germany - GLP’s subsidiary for The Americas, GLP Inc., has been experiencing continued growth since starting its operation eight years ago. As a result, they have recently moved to new, and larger premises in the Los Angeles district of San Fernando.
With a total area of 37,000sq.ft, the new building is around three times the size of the previous location, also in Los Angeles. According to GLP Inc. president, Mark Ravenhill, “This represents a big step forward for us as a company and increases our commitment to our markets in The Americas.”
Already fully operational, the new facility has given GLP the opportunity to expand on the administrative side in order to support its customer base at a higher level, and the company is currently in the process of adding more personnel. There are also plans to increase the warehouse, service and support areas in order to impr

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Ireland – A.C. Entertainment Technologies has announced that they are extending their distribution to include Ireland, for Prolyte Group's prominent range of trussing, staging and structural solutions.
The expansion of territory follows AC-ET's continuing success with the brand in the UK, which for the past two years has culminated in it receiving the Prolyte Group's 'Platinum Award', in recognition of its strong sales performance and support for the StageDex and LiteDeck product ranges.
Matthew Millward, sales manager for the company's specialist rigging sales division, commented: “Prolyte is an extremely important brand amongst our widening customer base, I am pleased by the robust and steady growth we have realised in the UK market in recent months and it is with great enthusiasm that we extend our distribution efforts to include Ireland as well.”
As a U

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UK - The PLASA Show seminar programme is one of its most important and popular features, each year hosting industry experts from around the world who share their knowledge, skills and experience. This year, the new, enhanced programme is set to deliver even more content than before and will feature a diverse range of subjects that will look at topical issues, ground-breaking concepts and deliver real insight into the world of entertainment technology.
The first sessions to be announced take place in the Audio & AV Theatre and include sound designers Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin talking about their incredible work to build a shifting world of sound on The Encounter, Simon McBurney’s solo performance, which traces National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyre's journey into the depths of the Amazon rainforest; the welcome return of veteran industry journalist Phil

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UK - Aurora lighting has partnered with automobile manufacturer, BMW, to carry out its first smart lighting pilot scheme following the recent announcement of its new enterprise connected lighting platform, AXiO.
BMW is focusing on challenging and testing new experiences in which customers select, enjoy and purchase ‘the ultimate driving machine’. With a customer’s lighting design experience needs at its core, Aurora’s projects and IoT division will be working in partnership with BMW to develop and test a customer-centric retail lighting hardware platform and IoT experience, all powered by Gooee, to help BMW achieve its goals.
With the AXiO lighting platform, BMW will receive much more than just a bespoke lighting design. The car manufacturer will have the ability to manage and deliver an engaging end-to-end customer experience that immerses the user at the leve

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Romania - Following continued growth, Prolyte Group has solved its need for additional production capacity by expanding its new production site in Piatra Olt, Romania, which was opened in 2016. With this expansion Prolyte has completed an additional 4400 m2 production space to the already impressive facilities.
Consolidating all its European manufacturing capacity into an approx. 10.000 m2 facility, Prolyte Group can boost to have one of the largest and most modern production facilities for the manufacture of truss systems. And there’s room for further growth with expansion possibilities till 16.000m2.
The new factory involves an investment of 3.5m euros, which was funded partly with support from the European Union and the EximBank.
The complete production facility is accommodated with brand new automated production equipment and state of the art product lines.

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Hungary - JoeCo has announced the appointment of Bluesound as its new exclusive distributor in Hungary. The agreement, effective immediately, will see JoeCo products including the Blackbox range of multi-track recorders and Bluebox audio interface recorders reach new customers described by Bluesound co-founder Thomas Csernus as “professionals who don’t know what they've missed out on until now”.
Launched in 2004 by Thomas and Annamaria Csernus, Bluesound is now considered among Hungary’s leading suppliers of high-end, professional audio equipment. The company’s philosophy is to carefully plot and follow a particular product’s ideal route to market, ensuring that each brand benefits from its own unique strategy. The idea has helped Bluesound to build an enviable catalogue of complementary brands from Midas consoles, Furman and Lectrosonics through to Biamp Systems

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Stax at The Proms - Sir Tom Jones is to make his Proms debut in a celebration of Stax Records, alongside soul legends Booker T Jones and Sam Moore. The concert, on 1 September, marks the 50th anniversary of the label's hugely successful 1967 European tour. Featuring acts like Sam & Dave and Otis Redding, the revue prompted a surge in popularity for American soul in the UK.
Concerts Cancelled - Adele cancelled the last two shows of her 123-stop world tour after damaging her vocal cords. The star has been touring her 2015 album 25 since February 2016, and in a note shared just after midnight on 1 July she said: “on medical advice I am simply unable to perform over the weekend.” On the previous Wednesday and Thursday week Adele played two of her tour’s final four dates at London’s Wembley Stadium, and in her note she explained: “I’ve struggled voca

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USA - Hard on the heels of the announcement of the appointment of Contact Distribution as EM Acoustics’ exclusive Canadian distributor, the British loudspeaker manufacturer continues to strengthen its presence in North America with their first rep firm appointment, Cardone, Solomon & Associates based in New York.
Jim Shearing of EM Acoustics North America comments: “A year down the line since the launch of EM Acoustics North America, we are now in a position to appoint a well-known rep firm, and we have been very methodical in looking at all the options available to us,” he explained. “I have known of Cardone, Solomon & Associates for many years; they are a well-established and highly respected name with a successful track record in professional audio throughout the north-east and mid-Atlantic regions.”
Mike Solomon, founder of C&SA, added: “Jo

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Denmark - Holstebro Musikteatret in Denmark has invested in 24 new Robe LEDWash 600+’s which will be used throughout their facility, making the production lighting options more dynamic and flexible and saving valuable time during changeovers and technical time.
The Musikteatret includes three main venues: a 1,200-seater main auditorium; the Black Box, a flexible space which can accommodate up to 1,700 people standing and is where the fixtures will primarily be deployed - and The Hall of Fame bar which is also used for concerts, comedy, dining and events.
The venue is a truly multi-purpose concept, built in 2006 on the footprint of the old Holstebrohallen. The Black Box was added in 2008 expanding the capacity to stage more and a greater diversity of shows. The Black Box is also the home to its own Black Box Dance Company which produces several works annually and tour

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UK - The Association of Lighting Designers has announced the launch of the 2017 Michael Northen Awards. This year, following extensive research by the ALD’s student working group, a total of four awards will be presented under the Michael Northen Award scheme. The awards are open to current students – not limited to those on vocational theatre course – as well as affiliate members of the ALD.
The awards are a celebration of imaginative and creative lighting and video design and represent a chance for young designers to showcase their talent, bringing their work to the attention of experienced lighting and video designers, as well to the wider reach of industry professionals. Awards are presented to those who demonstrate strong, imaginative and creative lighting or video designs.
The winner of last year’s Award was Rory Beaton, who has since held the role of l

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UK - The PLASA AGM and Members Lunch returned to Hatfield House on 22 June to celebrate a year of stability, new initiatives and the promise of future growth.
Members enjoyed a productive day where the AGM was followed by an interactive Open Forum with opportunities to participate and ask questions of the board. Drinks in the gardens and a three-course lunch was further enlivened through a high-energy presentation by award-winning speaker and company turnaround expert, Nigel Risner.
The AGM saw presentations from PLASA's chairman Ed Pagett, who touched on the key developments of the last year, including an unprecedented financial turnaround, a much-welcomed move to Olympia for the PLASA Show, a 28% revenue increase for PLASA Media UK and positive outcomes following meetings with Jules Lauve, President of the ESTA Board of Directors.
Pagett mentioned PLASA’s f

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USA - Visional Productions, the high-end visual engineering firm specializing in event design, has announced the addition of BlackTrax, the advanced real time tracking system, to its rental inventory. Based out of Atlanta and Denver but producing live experiences worldwide, Visional is now one of only three U.S. companies offering the system for rental and sale.
BlackTrax has multiple production applications, including motion lighting, automated spotlights, projection mapping, and more. Using active IR beacons, the system is capable of tracking a performer, stage prop, scenery or screen in real time and in most atmospheric conditions. BlackTrax can integrate with other third-party systems such as lighting consoles, enabling moving lights to follow performers, or media servers such as d3, Avolites Ai, or Christie Pandoras Box, allowing projection content to follow moving per

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Switzerland - Since investing in more 300 GLP X4 atoms at the end of last year, Swiss company Winkler Multi Media Events, has found that this small lamp from Karlsbad has developed into a serious and versatile contender. The wide application possibilities range from small to large events as well as popular TV shows.
Back in February this year, lighting designer Matthias Kern from broadcast service provider tpc switzerland ag used multiples of the X4 atom in gigantic matrix displays at the Swiss ESC (European Song Contest) preliminary voting round. Further assignments followed, most recently the SRF show Ich schänke dir Lied (I’ll sing you a song) which is running for several weeks.
The X4 atoms were used in different arrangements for this emotion-laden Saturday night TV show - as a large matrix between the theatre audience and in a circular truss struc
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