Lighting

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UK - S+H Technical, UK based specialist for LED visual effects, drapes and starcloths, supplied a spectacular LED dancefloor to enhance the atmosphere and vibes for a 10th anniversary party staged by award winning AV and event production company, Aztec.

The event took place in the Royal Oak Room at the Emirates Stadium in London, home to Arsenal FC, and was attended by 200 plus guests, including clients, colleagues, suppliers and friends of Aztec who were entertained live by the Danny Mills Band and a DJ.

"We wanted to make the environment that bit extra special, glamorous and funky for our guests, so we asked S+H to provide a 4 x 4m LED floor to add an extra wow factor to the evening," explained Leo Speck, Aztec's sales director.

Aztec has been working with Ilfracombe Devon based S+H for some years and has become a go-to contact for sourcing LED panels of different ty

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USA - Thousands gathered at Bicentennial National Park to bid farewell to 2016 and usher in 2017 at Jack Daniel's Music City Midnight: New Year's Eve in Nashville.

Bandit Lites provided the lighting package for the evening which featured performances by Keith Urban, Styx, A Thousand Horses, Moon Taxi, Charlie Worsham and Fisk City Jubilee Singers in addition to the quintessential Music Note Drop.

With the New Year came a new location, as the celebration moved from the streets of downtown Nashville to the spacious National Park, giving production manager Chris Lisle, associate production manager Mark Anderson and lighting designer Erik Parker of Chris Lisle Lighting Design a space to start new traditions.

"The old location of Broadway and 1st Avenue had an inherited vibe and feel and atmosphere," elaborated Parker. "It was really cool to be down there, but the new locat

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USA - From the outside, the graffiti-marked red brick building at 485 Johnson Avenue looks like just another old Brooklyn warehouse. Inside, though, the cavernous 30,000sq.ft structure, with its 30' high ceilings and Funktion-One sound system, provides an ideal setting for the kind of intense warehouse party/concerts that define nightlife in New York's boroughs.

In fact, the site is so popular, that this NYE weekend it housed two bashes: Get Real with house tech funk icons Claude VonStroke and Green Velvet DJs on 29 December 29 and the BangON!NYC party featuring Thomas Jack and The Him on 31 December.

Both shows were juiced with eye searing lightshows designed by Spencer Lavoie and Dave Betournay of 4Life Entertainment & Technology Solutions Inc. that featured the same Chauvet Professional fixtures.

However, each show presented a different face to fans, thanks in large

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Mexico - Mutek is a festival that celebrates the inspirational power behind digital creativity while promoting the cutting edge in electronic music and the digital arts. It originated in Montreal in 2000 and after expanding internationally a Mexican edition has taken place each year in Mexico City since 2003.

The thirteenth edition of Mutek Mexico took place from 19-23 October and was one of the largest to date with creative digital expression spread across 10 locations around Mexico City.

Acts such as Hiroki Umeda, Richie Hawtin and The Field served up the avant-garde in inspirational electronic music using Elation lighting setups consisting of 60 Elation ACL 360 Matrix LED moving head panels, 14 Elation ACL 360 Bar LED battens, and 80 Elation Cuepix Panel LED matrices. Serpro Producciones of Monterrey and Power Led of Mexico City supplied the Elation lighting for the fes

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The Netherlands - The World Christmas Circus returned to Amsterdam's Royal Theatre Carré for their 2016-17 season - for the first time with a new Robe moving light, which was chosen by the popular and successful event's long term lighting designer, Wim Dresens.

Wim has lit the Christmas Circus for the last 20 years, and has also been engaged in circus-specific training over the years which has enabled him to perfect the specialist techniques required to light horses - 37 featured in this year's show - aerialists, acrobats and other circus performers.

There are several challenges working in the neo-Renaissance styled Carré Theatre which include its high banking bleacher seating on all four sides. Founded in 1887 by Oscar Carré of the famous German travelling circus, it has had a colourful history. Originally built as a circus venue, it now hosts an ecle

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UK - Located on The Cut near London's South Bank, the Young Vic is one of the capital's most exciting theatres, showcasing work and artists from across the globe. The venue recently decided to replace the house lights in their Main House space and approached White Light to oversee the installation.

Chris Harris, WL's installations business development manager, comments, "The Main House at the Young Vic is really impressive, spread across three floors with a capacity of up to 550. Every one of these seats needs house lighting, both for practical purposes as well as adding to the mood of the in-house production. The original house lights were GU10 Birdies and had been in there for 10 years so it was definitely time for a change".

The project was overseen by the Young Vic's head of lighting Nicki Brown and senior lighting technician Nicole Smith. Nicki states, "A major proble

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Going La La - Hollywood musical La La Land has broken the record for the most Golden Globe Awards, winning seven prizes. It won every award it was nominated for - including best musical or comedy film, best director, screenplay, score and song.

The ceremony featured several references to Mr Trump - not least when Meryl Streep launched an attack on the US President-elect while accepting the Cecil B Demille award for outstanding contribution to entertainment. Streep referred to Trump's mocking of a disabled reporter and said, "Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose." The Golden Globe Awards, which are run by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, honour the best in TV and film from the past year.

With or Without You - U2 will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their seminal

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USA - When Chauvet DJ lights up the 2017 NAMM show, it will do so with an array of new products. These include four new effect lights, new Fresnel and ellipsoidal fixtures and advanced atmospheric effects, all of which were designed to give end-users more flexible and powerful creative options.

The new effect lighting that takes centre stage for ChauvetDJ at NAMM this year includes the Helicopter Q6, a multi-effect light designed to dazzle and energize the dance floor. It features adjustable RGBW beams, a round SMD strobe and a red/green pattern laser on a rotating base with continuous pan rotation creating unique and amazing effects.

Chauvet DJ is also introducing the FX Par 3, a compact effect par with multiple technologies in a single fixture. It includes three 8W quad-color (RGB+UV) centre LEDs, RGB SMD LED lights and SMD strobes. Separate control of these features mak

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UK - A.C. Video, a sales division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. (AC-ET), recently supplied a large ProLights AlphaPIX video wall to the five-star Potters Resort in Norfolk, to provide immersive scenic backdrops for their theatre's busy Christmas holiday season and other future shows & events.

At the heart of the resort, the two-storey Atlas Theatre regularly welcomes big names from TV, music and stage, as well as original shows produced in-house by the Potters Theatre Company.

When the theatre's large stage rear projection screen was coming to the end of its life, the resort's technical team decided it was an opportunity to take the shows' scenic production values to the next level by investing in a flexible LED video wall system.

Potters Resort approached entertainment technology supplier, AC-ET, to provide a suitable video solution for their needs and budget, havi

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UK - Lighting and video rental company Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting and LED screen to two recent high profile shows by singer songwriter Richard Ashcroft at Liverpool Arena and London's O2 working with designer Jonny Gaskell.

Colour Sound is a regular supplier choice for Jonny whose work this year has also included lighting and visual designs for tours with Rudimental and Tom Odell. "I always get a great service, good and often new kit and brilliant crew, and they are nice people to work with," he commented.

His working relationship with Richard Ashcroft dates back to the heyday of The Verve when the band - for which he was lead singer - were favourites on the 1990's alt. rock scene. Ashcroft trusts him to create an appropriate and interesting environment in which he can present his work which, for these two dates, included the 24-piece Heritage Orchestra.

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UK - Following a year which featured a number one single and winning the Brits Critics' Choice Award, Rag'n'Bone Man has now established himself as one of the most exciting artists in the UK. As his popularity continues to soar, the soul singer has just finished a nationwide tour in which he visited venues across the country. With a strong reputation in concert touring, White Light provided the lighting equipment.

The lighting designer for the tour was Louisa Smurthwaite. She comments, "My role is to look after the visual aesthetics of the show. I have worked with Rag'n'Bone Man from his initial festival and one off performances. This tour has developed from these and it's been great to finally create a full-length touring show that as many fans as possible can see".

Louisa worked closely with Rag 'n' Bone Man, real name Rory Graham, to create a set-up that was suited for

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Europe - British metalcore outfit Architects have stormed through Europe in support of their critically acclaimed new album All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, with Claypaky fixtures providing blast-beat perfect strobing and high-impact gobo projection to complement the band's exhilaratingly relentless sound.

The Brighton-based juggernauts, who were this year described by Rocksound magazine as 'one of the world's most exciting, vital bands', rounded off the tour by playing a sold-out show at Brixton's O2 academy for the first time.

Tour lighting designer Paul McAdams selected Claypaky Stormy CC strobes and an Alpha Spot HPE 1500, supplied by Colour Sound Experiment, to execute his high-impact concept, which is based around the band's stark album artwork depicting a lunar eclipse.

"The music itself is quite aggressive and the stage show reflects that," explains McAda

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USA - In support of fostering the creative processes of young entertainment designers, global design software developer Vectorworks, Inc. is sponsoring awards at the Kennedy Centre American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Started in 1969, KCACTF is a national programme designed to celebrate college theatre in the United States, and help students develop their creative and technical skills.

Each year, KCACTF hosts eight regional festivals for college theatre students across the United States. Festival activities include workshops, discussions, regional-level scholarships and award programs, giving students the opportunity to showcase their best productions and receive feedback from professionals.

"The Kennedy Centre American College Theatre Festival provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase the diverse, emerging talent from around the country," said Frank Brault, prod

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USA - Jonathan Huff is accustomed to dealing with harsh winter weather. As CEO of Alaska Universal Productions in Fairbanks, which was ranked by USA Today as "the coldest city in America", he has had to contend with more than his share of frigid temperatures and blinding snowstorms. However, even by Fairbanks standards, conditions were extreme when he installed three Ovation E-260WW IP fixtures from Chauvet Professional outdoors for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Centennial Celebration.

Huff and his team had to contend with gusty winds, temperatures that fell to more than 10 degrees below zero, and swirling snow when they positioned the outdoor LED fixtures at sites around campus, including the roof of the gleaming new 6-story engineering school building. Soon after they completed the installation, a second more severe storm hit, dumping 16 inches of snow on Fairbanks.

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Ecuador - The statue of Panecillo's Virgin, World Heritage site, is located on the Panecillo hill, just outside the city centre of Quito and represents the city from the 18th century. Last October the municipality, according to the MTE (Empresa Mantenimiento Técnico Especializado) and the electrical enterprise of the city required a dedicated lighting project.

Monica Velasco and Miguel Salom

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UK - Award-winning technical event production company Hawthorn has recorded a 25% increase in turnover to £18m in its last financial year (July 2015-June 2016).

Since the acquisition of technical production house Anagram in 2013, the company has embarked upon an ambitious five-year growth plan to increase its turnover from £11.3m to £20m by July 2018. Hawthorn is on track to achieve this in 2017 - its 30th anniversary year - one year ahead of target.

To support this growth, the company has seen a significant investment in its people and training, with a 16% increase in employees, rising from 129 in June 2013 to 162 in June 2016; by 7 December 2016, the employee count had already risen to 187.

Key factors contributing to the company's continued expansion since 2013, says the company, include:

Investment in the in-house sales and marketing team and

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USA - The start of the New Year heralded Bandit Lites Annual General Meeting, where Bandits came together to discuss future company goals, honour those who displayed excellence in service and banner anniversaries, in addition to celebrating the previous award-winning year for the company. Bandit won Pollstar Lighting Company of the Year Award for 2016 along with the Parnelli Award for Lighting Company of the Year in November.

During the meeting, Bandits who had landmark years with the company were bestowed with service awards including Jeremy Sinicki, Cody Cheatham, Jonathan Houle and Michael Stanley for five years, Aaron Swetland, Jacob Tickle and Rick Herndon for 10 years, Chris Barbee and Jeff Vogt for 15 years and Cori Link celebrated 20 years with Bandit Lites.

Performance awards were presented and included Bandit's prestigious Rock Award, gifted to those who went abo

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UK - City Theatrical will be demonstrating their new technology at PLASA Focus on stand A11 in the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow, Scotland.

DMXcat is a device used to control, analyze, and test DMX lighting gear. The system combines a small hardware dongle connected by a wireless connection to a suite of Android or iPhone apps. Drawing on a built-in database of lighting fixture personalities, DMXcat controls the fixture through a user interface that emulates a lighting console with encoder wheels.

The DMXcat system contains a total of seven apps including DMX Controller, Fixture Controller, RDM Controller, DMX Tester, DIP Switch Calculator, RF Spectrum Analyzer (Android only), and Light Meter (Android only).

Lightwright 6 is the newest version of John McKernon's industry leading, multi award winning software for managing entertainment lighting pape

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Mexico - TV Azteca, the second largest mass media company in Mexico, has invested in Robe Pointe moving lights which were specified by head of lighting Miguel Osorno and lighting manager Manolo Toledo.

The fixtures reside at TV Azteca's main broadcast complex in Ajusco in the south of Mexico City which has seven studios and are used there and on another 11 studios at their other main site across the city in Tlalpan. TV Azteca broadcasts two networks - Azteca 7 and Azteca Trece - and 10 cable channels covering a wide mix of programmes, including news, soaps, quiz shows, music, reality, etc.

Lighting for all the programmes utilizing the studios is designed and co-ordinated by Manolo and Miguel - the department is working sevendays a week - and there are outside broadcasts on top of that.

TV Azteca owns a large quantity of lighting equipment. Manolo, who also LDs for outs

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Guatamala - Colegio Americano de Guatemala (The American School of Guatemala) is a private K-12 college preparatory school located in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and is one of the biggest schools in the country. Modelled after the educational practices and methodologies of the United States, Professional that has changed the look dramatically.

With a vision to offer students a better environment in which to put on their performances, the school asked audio, video and lighting integration company Aviitec to reviethe school includes a 500-capacity theatre that recently received a lighting upgrade of LED fixtures from Elationw their situation.

The initial focus was to improve the audio quality of the venue and consequently Aviitec presented the school with a proposal for a new microphone, audio and automation system while stressing to them that a lighting upgrade was also need

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UK - Forming part of University of Surrey, The Guildford School of Acting aims to teach students the fundamental skills that will enable them to make a career in the performing arts industry. GSA's courses contain a mix of theory and practical work giving students the chance to hone their skills while allowing time to critically reflect on their work in a professional working environment.

GSA prides itself on offering the very best vocational courses, so when Mig Burgess, a technical theatre tutor, attended a free seminar at the 2016 Olympia PLASA show for the new MA dot2 lighting console, she was very impressed. The desk was exactly what Burgess had been looking for, as she explained:

"I've always wanted to let my students practise with the MA platform, but MA2 consoles are a little beyond our budget. The dot2 solves both of these problems, as not only is it a financially

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UK - 2016 saw another busy year for Ambersphere Solutions, culminating in a move to a new larger facility in West London. On 25 January, they are hosting an Open Day, inviting everyone to come and take a look at what's new at Ambersphere.

The new building is twice the size and offers better truck access, larger warehousing, showroom & training facilities. In addition to an increased stock of all fast-moving products and spare parts, the larger facility has enabled Ambersphere to build a custom showroom and demonstration area.

The new showroom is already crammed with new products from all of their manufacturing partners. There are the newest Scenius and Unico moving lights from Clay Paky, 7 new visual LED innovations from Ayrton, new LED theatrical products from Robert Juliat and the newest industry leading control software from MA Lighting.

There is also a new and expa

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Canada - GLP Inc has increased its North American presence with the appointment of a new Canadian distributor.

GLP Inc president Mark Ravenhill has confirmed that Montreal-based AVL Media Group will take on distribution with immediate effect.

The company was founded by Steve Kosters, and is headed by experienced MD Andrew Hope, who has 30 years' experience in the world of live entertainment.

"Andrew leads a strong and passionate team at AVL, who have been serving the Canadian market for many years," stated Ravenhill. "We look forward to working closely with them and introducing more of the Canadian market to the full GLP range of products and solutions."

"We are delighted to have GLP as part of our distribution portfolio," responded the AVL MD. "Their unique LED solutions have become highly specified items and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership betw

  1. PLASA Focus Glasgow collaborates with BBC Scotland.
  2. Brightest LED wash light to date from Elation
  3. Chauvet conveys Passion at Los Cangris concerts
  4. Monkey Goes West with Robe
  5. IMS systems for Masonic Theatre in Virginia
  6. Claypaky on song for X-Factor Italy 2016
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