UK - Martin Professional has announced details of the restructure of its presence in the UK, and says it is approaching 2010 as "a streamlined yet effective and highly efficient organisation".

However, as a consequence of the new structure, Martin UK managing director Tony Browne, who has overseen Martin's UK subsidiary since 2007, will leave the company at the end of the year.

"The Martin UK team is extremely strong and I doubt there is a more experienced or dedicated group in the industry," Browne stated.

"As markets change adjustments become necessary and I have no doubt this new structure will provide even greater efficiencies, allowing the company to serve customers more effectively. I am confident Martin UK's high level of performance will continue and will constitute a good base for future growth.

"With the new structure in place this w

Italy - The latest Italian TV-based youth singing contest , Music Gate, is taking the country by storm, complete with Robe's new Robin 300E Spot moving light fixtures which were spec'd onto the show by lighting designer Giulio Palaferri.

Music Gate is staged weekly at the Antoniano Theatre in Bologna, and broadcast in the prime time Saturday night slot of 6pm on RAI Gulp, a popular digital channel for young people.

Giulio Palaferri and the show's lighting operator Fabio Persia have not used Robe products before, but chose them for the show after a demonstration at the Rome warehouse of N.I.T. Service, the rental company who is supplying the fixtures for the show.

The stage has an L-shaped open plan appearance with the 20 Robin 300E spots rigged on trusses at the back of the two sides of the L.

Each show sees two contestants challenging each other to produce t

USA - Philips Electronics reports that the 2009-2010 holiday season marks the company's 10th anniversary as the official lighting partner to the Times Square Ball. This year, for the first time, Philips has converted the companion Times Square Ball Numerals (2-0-1-0) to all LED technology.

Philips led the historic conversion of the Ball's light source from incandescent and halogen bulbs to its Luxeon LED technology in 2007-2008 as well as its subsequent upgrade to even more energy-efficient Luxeon LEDs in 2008-2009. Now, in 2009-2010, Philips will complete the final step in its conversion of the entire Times Square Ball application to a powerful and highly sustainable LED platform.

The 545 custom-designed Philips scalloped LED flood bulbs lighting the numerals use just nine watts each, compared to the 40 watts consumed by the incandescent and halogen bulbs previo

UK - White Light has had a double involvement with the launch of the new UK Centre for Carnival Arts in Luton by supplying the venue with its new lighting installation and helping to mark its official opening in spectacular style.

Created by the Luton Carnival Arts Development Trust, the Centre is intended to "become an expression of the living, breathing and evolving spirit of carnival arts", providing a 250 seat performance space as well as teaching and workshop spaces and a knowledgeable, experienced support staff.

Inside the venue, White Light has supplied a rig based around fixtures from Selecon, ETC and Thomas, including Acclaim Fresnels and Profile Spots, Source Four Parnels, and Thomas Par Cans. Control is from a new ETC Congo Jr console supplied with a custom flightcase, controlling ETC SmartModule and Zero88 Betapack 3 dimmers; distribution from dimmers to

Germany - The four star Maritim Hotel Kaiserhof Heringsdorf on the Baltic island of Usedom in northern Germany is one of the leading hotels in the 'Three Imperial Spas' and was recently extended by a large 300m2 transparent glass building called the Forum. The expansion is used for a variety of events like exhibitions, presentations, concerts and receptions, as well as an impressive welcoming entrance to the Kaiserbaedersaal, an historic 450m2 theatre hall with 100m2 stage.

With direct access to the beach promenade and view of the Baltic Sea, the modern architecture of the new Forum and café roof garden creates a special ambience. Twelve decorative columns and a scaffold of glass form a transparent and aesthetically distinctive front.

In order to meet the needs of a wider range of events, a creative Martin visual solution was proposed to architect Gerd Seele by planning

USA - Puerto Rican stars Wisin y Yandel wanted their La Revolución tour to have a "big look" when they hit the road in the US to promote the album of the same name.

In keeping with the tour's name, the La Revolución set was designed around a war-like theme. "The idea behind the theme was that this was a revolution in music," said lighting/scenic/video designer Todd Roberts of Visions Lighting, who worked with Wisin y Yandel's personal lighting designer/programmer David Ayala, video director Alfredo Cifredo and production manager Eggie Allende to design and create the set. "They wanted the look of the stage to be real industrial. We used a lot of large oversized chain, and a lot of metals." As far as the lighting went, "they wanted it to look as big as possible," said Roberts, "with a small budget."

To meet the c

Europe - Lighting and video designer Derek Jones specified a Jands Vista S3 console to provide lighting, IMAG and video control for the 2009 / 2010 Cliff Richard & The Shadows international tour. The sold-out tour recently completed shows at major UK and European arenas, and re-commences in February for a series of dates in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

When Jones discussed the choice of control console with UK and European tour lighting supplier, Lite Alternative, they suggested the Jands Vista S3. Having jumped between using many other consoles, Jones thought it would be a good opportunity to experience for himself the Vista's graphical based approach to programming. On the strength of trying the free Vista demo software and then using the S3 for a one-off corporate show, he purchased a console to use for the tour.

Jones comments, "I felt very comfortable usi

Finland - The new musical production Play Me opened its doors for the first time in September at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki, Finland, for which lighting designer, Mikki Kunttu specified a grandMA full-size to run the lighting. Kunttu also programmed the show and designed the set and video elements.

"The grandMA was simply the only way to go with a project of this complexity," said Kunttu, "With a moving light rig, media server control, MIDI and SMPTE synchronisation, plus multiple parallel cue lists, there was no other brand that could deliver the same speed of creative working.

"The design is based on the extensive use of video surfaces as set pieces", continues Kunttu, "The video content and lighting go hand-in-hand. I consider the 3D space of the stage as one, where all these elements play together creating something vivid and excit

Finland - Operated by the Viking Line, the 37,860 ton MS Mariella has sailed on the Helsinki to Stockholm route, carrying 2447 passengers for over 20 years. The Mariella was built as a luxury cruise ferry in 1985 and at the time of its launch was the largest car ferry in the world. With capacity for 430 cars and air conditioned cabins for up to 2500 passengers, the ship offers a full range of restaurants, bars, entertainment, conference facilities and duty free shopping.

After a major refit in 2006, the ship's Cabaret and 'Fun Club' Disco have been re-equipped this year with the latest sound and lighting system. Controlled by the merged outputs of a Hog 1000 and a Zero 88 Jester, the system uses 36 MultiSpots for both stage and dance floor lighting making full use of their 'honeycomb lens' focussing system and rugged steel construction. Replacement of the previous

Italy / UK - Kasabian's current tour is taking the UK by storm with Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 fixtures. The tour supports their latest Pink Floyd-influenced album, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, which reached number one in the UK top 40 charts this past June. In October, the album won Best Album award at the 2009 Q Awards and is also nominated for iTunes Best Album 2009.

Kasabian has participated in a number of prestigious performances including the Teenage Cancer Trust performance at the Royal Albert Hall, MTV World Stage Live In Malaysia and at Glastonbury Festival 2009, opening for Bruce Springsteen, as his special guests.

Lighting designer Nick Gray of Renegade Design used 32 Alpha Beam 300 fixtures as the main workhorses for the rig. The set featured a LED border creating a picture frame effect around the stage, with the Alpha Beams in clusters overhead an

UK - Stage Electrics has created an audio, video and lighting installation for the Medway Campus of Mid Kent College, the heart of a new £86m purpose-built educational facility for the Medway Towns. It hosts National Diploma pathways in musical theatre, acting, dance, and a two-year, Level 3 Production Arts course.

With a brief to deliver maximum flexibility and professional-standard systems, Stage Electrics' project team, headed by business development manager Darren Beckley, specified and installed a complete technical package including a central theatre, a television studio, two radio studios and a recording studio. The glass walled theatre, originally intended as a performance pavilion, is required to accommodate the full gamut of productions, from concerts, musicals and drama to presentations and commercial hire, with staging either in traverse or in-the-round.

The

UK - Richard Martin Lighting (RML) supplied the lighting and crew once again to this year's 30th fundraising Children In Need appeal show filmed live at BBC Television Centre (TVC).

The outstanding efforts of all those that took part raised donations of over £20 million, which is used to fund projects helping our disadvantaged young people of Great Britain.

Lighting designer Dave Gibson of the BBC was called up once again to light this extravaganza show, and chose seasoned programmer Andy Dobbs as his automated lighting operator. RML have been supplying CIN for the past 8 years working alongside many of our talented UK TV lighting designers. Dave has been the lighting director on Children In Need for the last four years.

There were four separate areas that required lighting within TVC, the lobby area had PixelPar 90s, MAC 500s with the newly design

Germany - 2009 has seen the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall celebrated in the German capital, culminating on 9 November with a Festival of Freedom at the Brandenburg Gate. With thousands of Berliners wanting to join in and watch speeches by some of the world's leading politicians, Lighthouse LED screens played their part in relaying the celebrations to the vast crowds.

Wien-based Global Bright Media, supported by AVMS of Potsdam, supplied a total of nine Lighthouse LED screens, three of which were located at the Brandenburg Gate itself.

Each comprised 40sq.m of R7-ER panels to provide visual reinforcement for live music, speeches and a symbolic procession through the Gate by many of the world's top politicians, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, herself raised in the former East Germany.

Other events included a recorded video address by US pres

USA - Production Resource Group, L.L.C. (PRG), a leading supplier of entertainment technology solutions headquartered in New York, has acquired Procon MultiMedia Aktiengesellschaft AG (Procon), a major Europe-based entertainment technology company.

PRG Chairman & CEO Jeremiah "Jere" Harris and Procon CEO Morten Carlsson jointly announced the acquisition, which was made by MHG Media Holdings (MHG), an indirect subsidiary of PRG.

PRG and Procon will continue to serve their current clients from their existing locations without interruptions. As of January 1, Procon will begin operating under the name Production Resource Group (PRG). Cinegate, Procon's film lighting and camera company, will continue to operate under its existing brand.

PRG's worldwide presence will extend into significant territories now served by Procon, including Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland

UK - Fibre Optic Systems (FOS) have joined forces with Cheshire-based VME to provide the ever important lighting element to an installation at Altrincham's newest bar, Heart and Soul. The project went so well, the two companies have decided to embark on future sound and light projects together.

FOS supplied DIVAflex LED - RGB colour-changing flexible LED - which was installed by VME to run sound-to-light. DIVAflex also provides a strobing function which the bar uses as the atmosphere heats up later in the evening.

The lighting element, which highlights and accents the bar and seating areas to provide the elegant main lighting scheme, joined an initial sound-only installation completed by VME. This featured Kling & Freitag SONA5 compact installation speakers around the seating areas, coupled with Kling & Freitag SW112 compact sub woofers.

In the main room, a more powerful sys

Denmark - Martin Professional has announced the launch of the Jem ZR44 Hi-Mass, a fog machine capable of precise fog delivery from subtle to massive.

Designed for a variety of settings from small venues to the largest stadiums and arenas, this Jem ZR33 Hi-Mass upgrade is a solid, professional machine that features advanced technology for top-quality performance, including advances in digital functionality, says the company.

This fog effect houses an 1800 W heat exchanger for a massive 1200 cubic metres of dense fog per minute. Continuously operational with a large 9.5 liter fluid container, it can operate for long periods without refilling.

Martin's proprietary soft start technology gives a smooth, low-noise output and an indirect fluid sensing system ensures years of maintenance-free operation.

A DMX interface and multifunctional digital remote make for increased flexibil

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa's Cape Town branch supplied all technical elements - staging, lighting, audio, LED and technical crew to Out The Box Productions for the annual Switching on of The Festive Lights in Adderley Street, Cape Town.

This year, the event featured a distinctive soccer theme, highlighting the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup and the imminence of the Final Draw, that took place in Cape Town a few days later.

The switch on was conducted by Cape Town's Executive Mayor Dan Plato, accompanied by FIFA Secretary General, Jerome Valcke and Bafana Bafana star, Matthew Booth. A seven-hour concert on the main stage at Adderley Street's Fountain Circle in the centre of town saw a star studded line up of acts representing the vibrant cultural diversity of the city, including Ringo Madlingozi, the Rockets, Emo Adams, Ready D and Jozi.

Out the Box Production

The Netherlands - The De Doelen in Rotterdam underwent a major refurbishment this year. De Doelen was last reconstructed after the end of Second World War as part of the rebuild of this Dutch city and incorporates four individual concert halls that also double as a congress venue making it the largest of its kind in the Netherlands. The lighting design for the 2009 refurbishment was undertaken by the design team at ARUP headed by Rogier van der Heide. In particular the Grote Zaal's (Large Hall) renovation included a new lighting rig and control system.

VisualDMX software lighting control from Visual Productions has been selected for controlling the house lights, stage lighting and LED fixtures throughout the Grote Zaal. The project manager for this renovation was Harm Ruitenbeek, overseeing a wide array of important issues that the control solution was required to resolve. Key t

UAE - The 2009 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend saw an abundance of events and entertainment taking place around the city to compliment the excitement of the races. The programme, produced by Flash Entertainment, was known as Yasalam, which is Arabic for "fantastic, amazing and astonishing". Yasalam concluded with four nights of after-race concerts on Yas Island over the race weekend. Held at Ferrari World, the concert headliners were Beyoncé, Jamiroquai, Kings of Leon and Aerosmith.

The stage design not only had to be exciting enough to keep pace with the prestigious artists scheduled to perform, but it also needed to be highly visible - enough to accommodate the massive crowd and yet flexible enough to meet the unique demands for a different show each night.

Luke Bonner of Production Technology LLC used wysiwyg to model the 750+ fixtures

South Africa - Lighting designer Tim Dunn used nearly 300 Robe fixtures in his colourful and vibrant design for Miss World 2009, which was staged at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg. It was the largest number of Robe fixtures to date that Dunn has used on a single event.

The show was recorded by SABC and broadcast live to 80 of the 112 participating countries, and for the first time - to the US, to India for both Hindi and English channels and to China via CCTV4, reaching an estimated viewing audience of between 1 and 2 billion. It also had to look great for the 3,500 live audience who packed into the venue to watch the show.

The creative challenges included making it look lively and visually interesting whilst covering the vast stage area and 45m wide spherical set designed by Dewet Meyer. Dunn also contended with the additional pressure of creating a dy

USA - To improve service and support capabilities to customers and channel partners, Element Labs is partnering with two parts and repair firms to augment its service capabilities. These new partners are Lighting Hospital, located in Bristol, UK and LightParts, located in Austin, Texas. Customers in Europe, Mid-East and Africa (EMEA) will be supported by Lighting Hospital, while customers in the Americas and Asia will be serviced by LightParts.

Under these new agreements, Element Labs will continue to set a high standard for service and to provide warranty repairs, paid repairs, and technical support services to customers for all products. LightParts and Lighting Hospital will enable that standard by performing all warranty and paid service repairs on the Versa line of products - Stealth, Versa Tubes, Versa Tiles, and Versa Rays. They will also sell spare parts on these product

Canada - While country rock band Blue Rodeo does have 11 studio albums to their name with over 3m copies sold, it is in the live environment where they truly seem at home. For their latest cross-Canada tour, lighting designer/director Brad Wagg is using a selection of Compulite Vectors to control a rig which accommodates venues big and small.

A Compulite user for many years, Wagg had production supplier Metalworks Productions bring in a Vector Red for the first leg of the tour before scaling down to a Vector PC system for the latter part of the tour, including many one-off festival gigs. For their annual hometown show at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto, the Vector Red returned to control an expanded rig which added a new video element.

Wagg specified the Vector Red with its triple touchscreens to give him added flexibility and speed of programming while he essentially buske

UK - The organisers of EvenTech Scotland exhibition, which was due to take place on 10-11 February 2010 in Glasgow, have announced that the event has been postponed.

A statement issued by Scattered Media blamed the "current economic climate and the strain this is having on many companies' budgets at present" and said that they were "in the process of looking at the calender to find suitable dates later in the year".

(Lee Baldock)

Czech Republic / Slovakia - The first joint Czech and Slovak version of Pop Idol was recently broadcast in the Czech Republic (TV Nova) and Slovakia (Markíza) and was a resounding success with 50% viewing shares and a TV audience of nearly three million.

Czecho-Slovak SuperStar first aired in September during the Czecho-Slovak cultural exchange month and runs for 10 weeks.

Martin Professional LC Series LED panels and MAC moving heads make up the majority of a large dynamic lighting package with supply/sale through Martin's Slovak partner Adam A Syn.

The show stage is filled with approximately 300sq.m of LED panels with panels in the stage floor and various other LED spread around the set. But the most crucial visual aspect is projected on backdrop Martin LC Series LED panels via a Martin P3-100 System Controller.

The SuperStar setup includes seven in

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