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Lighting

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USA - Lighting designer Tom Sutherland of DX7 Design specified 326 Robe MegaPointes as part of the lighting rig for the 2021 season of American Idol, for which the live shows and final were produced by Freemantle Media and recorded on Stage 36 of CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Award-winning director Phil Heyes approached Tom to bring his fresh modernist style to the bigger picture and he came in with a rock ‘n’ roll-style design carefully balanced for television.
He worked alongside creative director and co-executive producer Brian Burke - with whom Tom also collaborates on pop phenomenon Westlife - and set designer Florian Wieder, plus a trove of other smart and creative individuals including art director Steve Morden.
Season 4 of the show on ABC was the first time American Idol has been run without an audience - due to

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UK - Founded in 1968, the amateur Stamford Shakespeare Company has been putting on performances of Shakespeare’s classics for audiences of all ages for over 50 years.
Since 1977 the company has called the Tolethorpe Hall home, with the concreted stepped amphitheatre allowing them to recreate the Shakespearian magic in the same environment it was written for.
Looking to upgrade the existing house rig from 1KW fresnels and frame scrollers, to modern LED replacements, Grant Witton, Stamford Shakespeare Company’s technical manager, chose Prolights Fresnels, which he purchased through A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET).
Grant comments, “We needed something to replace the aging and slightly noisy scrollers, but we also wanted a fixture that allowed us to colour match seamlessly with gels in the other fixtures in the rig. We looked into many different LED Fre
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UK - CFE Lighting’s business development manager, Amanda Speight, has been elected onto the Lighting Industry Association (LIA) council.
In her new role on the 20-strong Council, Amanda will act as a representative for commercial luminaires, championing the UK’s lighting manufacturers and suppliers and ensuring their voice is heard on a range of key industry issues.
Amanda is one of three women to be elected to the LIA council, with the association keen to improve the diversity of its members. The council, which typically meets five times a year, serves to represent the different sectors within the lighting industry, with the LIA playing a key role in shaping and influencing policy, legislation, quality and supply chain behaviour.
Commenting on her election, Speight says: “This is a real milestone moment for me in my career and I’m delighted to have the o

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India - Crescendo AV recently equipped Saga: Cuisines of India’s new reataurant in Gurugram with Harman Professional audio and lighting solutions to provide a memorable experience for dining and entertainment at the ambitious new restaurant and bar.
Created by restaurateur Vishal Anand, Saga: Cuisines of India is a spacious dining destination with a food and beverage menu curated by twice-Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar. The 200-capacity venue features a 51ft ceiling, one of the world’s tallest bar displays and a stage for live performances that can accommodate anything from a DJ to a six-piece band. To provide sound and dynamic lighting, Crescendo AV outfitted Saga with JBL Professional loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers, BSS signal processors, AKG microphones and Martin Professional lighting fixtures.
“SAGA was a unique install in every sense,” said Vineet Wad

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Australia - Canberra-based Elite Event Technology (EET) supplied full production - lighting, audio, video, and staging - for the 2021 Australian Hotels Association (AHA) Awards, which took place outdoors for the first time as 450 guests enjoyed the environs of the Pialligo Estate and the gastronomy of one of Canberra’s top restaurants in an immersive setting that embraced the natural beauty of the ACT region.
EET’s Darren Russell designed lighting for the event in which he has been involved for the last 15 years. He made the most of the flexibility of 46 Astera AX1 PixelTubes and 16 Astera AX5 TriplePars for illuminating the tables, flora and fauna, and helping to build a magical atmosphere for the evening.
The AX1s were mainly used on the tabletops where they served as long, elegant centrepieces, providing subtle but practical ambient illumination for dining, cha

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Italy - Two years after launching Alchemy 5, DTS Lighting has decided to expand its range of Fresnel wash moving heads. Alchemy 7 is designed to extend the range and offer a more powerful option.
DTS’s Alchemy line already caught attention in the theatre and television industries over the last few years for its high quality of light, extended colour palette and versatility.
Alchemy 7 was launched on 16 June on the company’s social media platforms, with one of its focal points being its quality light. Like its predecessors, Alchemy 7 features a six-colour chip LED source that allows to recreate a wide range of shades, especially when it comes to pastel tones.
Its tungsten emulation function will allow the LED projector to generate the same effect of halogen lamps on the dimming curve. From a technical standpoint, Alchemy 7 presents some impressive new feature

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USA - Located at the mouth of Padre Canyon in southwestern Utah, Tuacahn Amphitheatre offers an impressive setting.
Along with this splendour, however, comes another side of nature: harsh, wildly fluctuating weather. “The theatre is subjected to every kind of environmental challenge, including rain, high wind, dust, 100-plus degree temps, and even snow this April,” says Cory Pattak, a New York based lighting designer. “The conventional pars and ellipsoidals here have taken a beating over the years.”
Since Pattak’s first show at Tuacahn, the theatre has been working to upgrade its rig to include more outdoor rated fixtures. Last year, during the pandemic lockdown, it took a major step in this direction when its production manager Craig Engel, with assistance from Pattak, replaced its old incandescent units with 58 Ovation E-910FC IP fixtures from Chauvet Profe

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UK - It has been a tough year for the entire industry and none more so than those studying the performing arts, with colleges having to radically re-think not just the teaching process and online learning, but also the realisation of practical coursework modules.
Second-year students on the Creative Lighting Control (CLC) and Lighting Design (LD) courses at the UK’s Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance thought out of the box and forged ahead with the staging of their annual Live Event project, delivering a full programme of music entertainment in a fully covid compliant environment.
The action took place at the 330-capacity Rose Theatre on the college’s Sidcup, Kent campus, comprising a series of shows featuring the talents of four live artists – two solo acts, a band, and a DJ – with performances either livestreamed by the Lighting Design students

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UK - The Brit Awards 2021 was staged at the O2 Arena, London, featuring an elegant and dynamic production design by Es Devlin and Yinka Ilori with lighting created by Al Gurdon. The live broadcast event celebrated some of the best British and international music and broke ground as the first major indoor live music event with an audience – of key and frontline workers – since the pandemic shut down of March 2020.
Hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall, and aired on ITV, the live line-up included Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Elton John, The Weeknd, Griff, Rag’n’Bone Man, Pink & The Greenwich & Lewisham NHS Choir, Headie One and several more.
Al Gurdon worked alongside a lighting programming team comprising Alex Mildenhall looking after the show’s ‘effect’ lights using a grandMA3 full-size console running grandMA3 software, and Ross Williams who took care of all

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The Netherlands - Visual Productions has expanded its presence in the architectural segment with the development of the DaliCore, a smart lighting controller for the DALI protocol.
From commissioning to daily control, the DaliCore takes care of the DALI lighting system. Targeting hybrid installations that comprise both DALI and DMX, the DaliCore also controls DMX fixtures including support for RDM communication.
The web interface offers a sophisticated commissioning tool for discovering ballasts, setting addresses and creating scenes. The DaliCore is fluent in controlling DT6 and DT8 fixtures. As an application controller, the DaliCore can work with DALI actuators like sensors and switches, making autonomous decisions and control DALI lights accordingly.
Although the DaliCore is capable to perform conversions between DMX and DALI, the DaliCore does offer ‘a sup

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USA - Toby Keith kicked off his Country Comes To Town tour at the Denny Sanford Premier Centre in Sioux Falls, SD on Thursday May 20.
Stepping onto the stage, the country superstar became the first major artist to embark on a tour since the start of the pandemic 14 months earlier. For the happy fans in attendance that night, Keith’s appearance represented not only a chance to enjoy live music again, but a reunion with an old and treasured friend.
“The connection with the audience has always been a big part of who Toby is,” said Seth Jackson of Darkroom Creative, who along with his partner, Nathan Alves handled the lighting, video and production design for the multi-city tour. “From the earliest days of his career, Toby has developed an especially close rapport with fans, doing things like bringing soldiers on stage to express his gratitude for their service, an

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USA - The fountain at Cary’s Downtown Park, in Cary NC, has quickly become a landmark in the town since its construction in 2017.
The fountain has served as a backdrop to lighting displays marking celebrations and causes that are important to townspeople. This has included being illuminated in the rainbow of colours symbolising LGBTQ+ Pride Month every June.
This year, however, the fountain was temporarily decommissioned as part of a larger park renovation project. Moving quickly, the city turned to another nearby landmark, the historic Cary Arts Centre. By the start of June, the centre, which traces its roots back to the 19th century, was glowing with a brilliant display of Pride Month colours.
“With the fountain shut down right now as part of a renovation, we needed to come up quickly with an alternate way to celebrate, which led to the selection of the Art

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Czech Republic - The largest performance space of Brno City Theatre (Městské divadlo Brno), The Music Theatre, is a 680-seat venue that hosts a programme of current musicals and large-scale drama.
Technical manager, David Kachlíř, recently added a Robert Juliat SpotMe tracking device to the venue’s lighting inventory, thereby increasing its existing complement of Robert Juliat products of three RJ Ginger followspots, Dalis 864 coloured footlights and a number of RJ 600 and 700 series profiles. The RJ SpotMe device was supplied by Prague-based Prolight s.r.o., Robert Juliat’s exclusive distributor for the Czech Republic, as part of an improvement initiative to future-proof the Theatre.
SpotMe is Robert Juliat’s award-winning server that produces real-time tracking information with no emitters or cameras on stage or performers. It uses feedback from sensor

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UK - Registration is now open for PLASA Show 2021. The London-based trade event for entertainment technology is returning to Olympia London on 5-7 September - and for one year only, the ABTT Theatre Show will be co-locating with PLASA Show, bringing two popular industry event under one roof.
This year, PLASA Show is moving to Olympia’s largest space, the Grand Hall, which will allow for a more awe-inspiring show experience, wider aisles and larger social areas to ensure the safety of visitors and exhibitors.
Visitors will be able to connect with leading brands from the pro audio, AV, lighting, rigging and staging sectors, whilst the free seminar programme - details of which will be revealed in the coming weeks - will offer business advice, unpack technical topics, and present the latest creative achievements. There will also be various interactive offerings includi

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World - Following on from the inaugural Virtual Showlight event, which took place on 25 May 2021, the Showlight Committee have announced that all papers and video shorts are now available to view online on the Showlight website.
Speakers Hamish Jenkinson, Mike Bauman, Ken Billington, Aaron Porter, Rob Halliday, Isabel Nielen, Floriaan Ganzevoort and Mike Evers, and David Bishop spoke on topics that included the illumination of a lighthouse on an island in the Bahamas, lighting a comic book movie, the remote lighting of a stage musical from half way around the globe, transforming a shipyard into an art gallery, and taking a spin on the Strictly Come Dancing dance floor.
Also viewable online is the panel discussion on the subject of diversity in the industry, chaired by Paule Co

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Germany - LED lighting specialist Astera has added another dimension to its portfolio of lighting products with the PixelBrick.
This flexible luminaire is billed as ‘a multi-functional light source with the power and finesse of Astera’s Titan LED engine coupled with the practicality of its popular AX3 LightDrop product, all in a completely new and fully adaptable housing’.
Suitable for concerts, events, filming, or broadcast scenarios, PixelBrick is compact, light (1.1kg) and handy as an up-lighter - like an AX3 - or it can be hung anywhere and become a universal light for accenting and texturing buildings or facades. For exterior use, it is IP65 rated and therefore resistant to rain and other elements.
The PixelBrick has 450 lumens and 1,200 lux at 2m - both at 3,200K and can also be used like a PAR as a general-purpose fixture complete with a bracket.

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UK - Jakarta-based Mola TV introduced Chill Fridays an interactive weekly livestream that features stars playing mellow music in an intimate setting and, every once in a while, taking questions from fans.
Many of the episodes are filmed at Mola’s London TV studio, where artists like Jacob Collier, Tom Misch and Bruno Major have performed in a set that evokes images of the kind of hotel bars where friends gathered for a pre-weekend happy hours back in the day.
Key to creating this ambience is a warm, inviting lighting design that works hand-in-hand with scenic elements like potted plants and table lamps to engender a homey feeling. Fold Sound owner Tristan Finn, who supplies lights, sound gear, recording equipment and cameras for the show called on Martin Dudley of Martin’s Lights to handle lighting duties, something he’s done skilfully with his ChamSys PC

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Europe - The inaugural Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) event - a European Union initiative to reform its policies and institutions - took place in May at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The hemicycle debating chamber sits inside the striking Louise Weiss Building designed by Parisian-based Architecture-Studio and opened in 1999. It includes a 60m high tower which is left looking deliberately unfinished and was inspired by Roman amphitheatres and the mythical Tower of Babel.
The event included a welcome speech by French President Emmanuel Macron and contributions by other high-ranking politicians and EU officials. As CoFoE was aimed primarily at a younger audience of under 40s, production company Nimblerr asked lighting designer Dimi Theuwissen of Belgium-based creative practice ID2Q to energise the distinctive hemicycle ensuring it looked dynamic and diffe

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UK – TSL Lighting has joined the events sustainability organisation isla, as it focuses on re-emerging from the challenges of the COVID pandemic with a positive, forward-thinking outlook.
TSL’s management team has for many years championed more sustainable practices, including sourcing renewable energy for its sites, working alongside youth groups and volunteer associations to donate ex-rental equipment and of course re-using its stock as a rental business. Director Loz Wilcox says that the downtime over the past twelve months has allowed them to reflect and further implement environmentally friendly initiatives. Becoming a member of isla marks the significant next sustainability step for the company.
TSL is the first technical equipment provider to join the isla collective, which has members from a range of events sectors including Jack Morton Worldwide, George P.

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USA - William Mooney, lighting designer for BYB Extreme Fighting, a bare-knuckles form of boxing, is using an IP-rated Elation Professional lighting rig to highlight the action inside the ring while supporting the atmosphere outside the ring.
With BYB’s three-sided triangle cage, known as the Trigon and the smallest ring in combat sports, there is plenty of that. “It’s the most exciting franchise I have ever been involved with,” states Mooney, a man who has worked on boxing and mixed martial arts projects such as ESPN’s Friday Night Fights (2008-2015) and Combat America MMA Fights. “I’ve worked on all the major networks but I feel more excited about this show than anything I’ve ever worked with in my life.”
Although the fights take place indoors, Mooney uses a multi-environmental IP65-rated rig as a peace-of-mind layer of protection. “To have most

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UK - Hologramica, specialists in the design and production of holograms, is celebrating the opening of its new demo studios on an historic Wandsworth site, thanks to music charity NEKO Trust.
Liz Berry, CEO of Hologramica, comments: “We were struggling to find a home when the NEKO Trust, headed up by Glen Rowe, came to our rescue. We now occupy a beautiful, secluded rehearsal facility, previously enjoyed by legendary bands including Metallica and The Rolling Stones.”
It is from here that Hologramica’s 3D Holonet gauze will continue its ongoing development, along with the company’s production-based activities, which provide holographic hardware, design, content and consultancy for shows worldwide.
“We’ve already installed a stunning 7m wide 3D Holonet rig, alongside one of our portable Holopops Ultra systems,” explains Berry. “Upstairs our filming

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Gibraltar - Pixel Artworks has created an immersive light and sound installation within St Michael’s Cave on the Rock of Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Government awarded the project to WrightTech Media, a local digital marketing solutions company with extensive knowledge of the site. Pixel Artworks collaborated with WrightTech Media on the pitch as well as the design and delivery of the complex show, which is scheduled to open to the public on 20 June 2021.
While the project sought to enhance the current Gibraltar Upper Rock Nature Reserve visitor experience, there was no specific site in mind. WrightTech Media and Pixel Artworks showed how St Michael’s Cave could be used in a unique way to take the audience on an unforgettable journey through Gibraltar’s natural history, using projection mapping technology, lighting design and immersive audio.
Christian Wright, dire

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USA - The Robson Performing Arts Centre in Claremore recently completed a stage lighting and control upgrade with over 300 LED luminaires and a networked control solution from Vari-Lite and Strand, Signify entertainment lighting brands.
“We wanted LED equipment that would give comparable functionality to our previous fixtures, along with some added ‘eye candy’ elements to enhance our performances,” explains technical director Pamela Neuok, who turned to theatre consultancy Schuler Shook, the original theatreconsultant for the building, to advise on the specification.
Schuler Shook prioritized high quality light output and technology that would be both accessible to students and powerful enough for a professional theatre programme. “The Strand products met our design criteria very well,” says Schuler Shook’s Jack Hagler.
The final design and install

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Germany - Cover band Lonely Hearts Club isn’t likely to achieve the fame of the British quartet that inspired their name. But the six musicians from Gescher were greeted with a level of enthusiasm worthy of the Beatles or any superstar when they appeared on the open-air stage at Freilichtbühne Coesfeld at 5pm on Saturday 15 May.
For the 160 entertainment-starved fans in attendance, the band’s show, represented a small, hopeful step back to enjoying live performances as COVID-19 lockdown rules begin to ease with safety protocols still in place. Part of a regional test to demonstrate how outdoor events could be conducted safely, the concert ended at 9 pm, so people could return home in time to comply with Germany’s 10pm curfew.
The early closing time made sense from a health and safety standpoint, but it nevertheless posed special challenges for André Entrup and hi
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  4. Chauvet backs Ziggy Marley live in San Diego
  5. Guide to lighting televised live events published
  6. Chauvet lights Nyaradzo musical extravaganza
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