Rigging / Staging

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14 March 2016

The event will be held at the AT&T Performing Arts Centre in Dallas, as part of the International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) annual PAMC conference, which continues through 1 March at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel.

Rigging manufacturer J. R. Clancy has taken a leading role as a sponsor of this year's boot camp, working closely with Millie Dixon, principal consultant at Theatre Projects Consultants and the boot camp leader, and Alex Hargis, manager of the Wyly Theatre at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. Clancy personnel and partners also will lead the rigging section to ensure that participants learn the correct

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14 March 2016

Eurovision Latest - X Factor twins Jedward have become Ireland's next Eurovision entrants with the song Lipstick. The duo beat four other acts on RTE's Late

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14 March 2016

The 2011 ride will rev up and burn off from the National Theatre on 18 June and the event will climax on 25 June at Alexandra Palace.

Motorbike enthusiasts from the industry are invited to join in, feel the wind in their hair and raise money for TTG, either on a daily basis or for the whole engine-revving week. Information

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14 March 2016

Cartwright returns to the industry after an eight year absence working as head of sales and marketing for an environmental energy company. He had Having previously worked for Stage Electrics and The Lighting Technology Group.

One of his priorities will be to develop new business and spearhead Le Mark's new range of projection screens and scenic floor products complementing the existing range of adhesive tapes and printed equipment supplies.

"It is great to be back working within an industry that I love and renewing contacts and co

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14 March 2016

Richard will take over as Technical Editor of Lighting&Sound International magazine from James Eade, who has helped the PLASA Media team steer the technical content of L&SI for the past nine years. Lee Baldock, editor of L&SI since 2004, said: "James has made a huge contribution to the technical content of L&SI over the years, while still running his own successful business, e-Mech. I personally would like to thank him for all his help and guidance over that

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14 March 2016

Moscow-based contractor ARG was awarded the contract for the Opening Ceremony on 30 January 2011, and they in turn called in The Prolyte Group to supply a number of elements to help realise their vision.

The ceremony, at the newly built 30,000-seat Astana Arena, began with much fanfare and jubilant activity. The entertainment comprised a cultural extravaganza depicting the history of Kazakhstan, aided by a virtual "eagle's eye view" of the country's vast plains. The ceremony included dance, song, distinctive musical instruments and props that came to life.

The centrepiece of the impressive production was a waterfall t

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14 March 2016

LTM was consulted about the restoration and rejuvenation project for the Baths, (originally designed by city architect Henry Price and opened in 1906) by Jonathan Hartley who is heavily involved in developing Manchester College's creative apprenticeships, performing arts and community training programmes.

He had been tasked with the challenge of making a flexible workable space into a modern theatre and performance facility, capable of staging a wide range of events including art,

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14 March 2016

The occasion was an exhibition of the newly restored Passion Cycle, a 12-picture collection created by German painter Hans Hesse in 1522. The Passion Cycle is one of the most significant religious works from the Middle Ages, and has been painstakingly reconditioned by academic painter Ji?í Brodský and his colleague Ji?í Bareš, a long time art collaborator of Roudnice Gallery, over the last four years.

The paintings were loaned to the Roudnice Gallery by the Church of Birth of the Virgin Mary,

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14 March 2016

Project manager for Unusual Rigging, Richard McIlhiney says, "Unusual supplied all the hanging points and trussing, as well as tracks for floor moving winches.

"Various pieces of scenery move up and down stage throughout the show, including a throne for one of the main characters, The Killer Queen, to sit on. An Unusual-designed nylon block under the show deck is pulled by a chain track and Kinesys-controlled motor, which in turn moves the set pieces.

"There are four LED video screens wh

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14 March 2016

Simon Caldwell, ISS director says: "At Independent Studio Services, we believe that how we do business, is key to our success. Offering the Dirty Rigger range is a great addition to our service and is a key alliance we are proud to be a part of. The team will now be stocking the gloves on all our installs and inspections throughout the UK."

Le Mark & Dirty Rigger director Stuart Gibbons comments: "ISS are a brilliant company, their work ethic and quality of service is second to none, I'm pleased to work with them and have no doubt they will be a great addition to the Dirty Rigger location distribution team."

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Each load bearing span across the stage can now carry up to 7.5 tons UDL at 25m span. Additional spans can be located in the 20m and 25m systems at 0.62m centres. Roof capacities of over 100 tons are now easily achievable.

Pete Holdich, director of stages for the company comments: "We trialled a few sections of this new truss at several festivals in 2010 and have now made a big investment to enable us to allocate several uprated spans to each roof in 2011. This puts our VerTech system in the upper echelon of world class heavy duty roofs for tour and festival use."

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Cinimod Studio, architecture and lighting design specialists, commissioned Litestructures to realise the next incarnation of their designs inspired by Itsu's butterfly motif. The original concept had already been brought to life as bright and animated sculptures across a number of its London outlets. The new brief challenged Litestructures' design and fabrication team to come up with something far more spectacular. The finished structure comprises a floating, twisting sculptural form that creates a strik

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14 March 2016

This year the BRIT Awards with MasterCard relocated to The 02 after a 13 year residency in Earls Court, creating challenges and opportunities for the events production managers in the way that they chose to utilize the space available in this new and unique arena.

To ease this transfer process and help optimise the layout of the ceremony evening, The Arena Group carefully positioned its temporary structures to make use of this large space. By transforming the area available into a pristine temporary party venue within the 02 The BRIT Awards with MasterCard were able to host the pre and post celebrations comfortably in their new home.

The Arena Group built a 40mx70m TFS structure inside the outer space of the

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14 March 2016

Courses were limited to eight people per session, although such was the demand that 10 were accommodated on the final course. The cross section of attendees represented all areas of the industry and included venue personnel, freelancers and sound, lighting & staging rental companies. Three technicians from BBC Northern Ireland were there along with two from University College Dublin.

Freelancer Phil McVeigh used the course as an invaluable all round 'primer' opportunity before going on to successfully complete his National Rigging Certificate (NRC) Level 2 in the UK the following week.

Th

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14 March 2016

Founded in 1984, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, Bytecraft Entertainment specialises in supplying lighting, drapery and LED screen systems to a wide range of entertainment and event markets. "This acquisition will be hugely beneficial to our customers," says Found. "PRG's global reach, depth of inventory and technical expertise will provide many opportunities for our existing clients."

PRG chairman and CEO Jere Harris comments: "With the acquisition of Buytecraft, we will be able

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14 March 2016

Mirrors can now be integrated onstage with the options of invisibility, projection, reflection, and holographic effects, says the company. The mirror foil weighs just 70g/m2 with a choice of three transparency levels. Made to measure mirrors can be mounted on truss or custom frames.

The giant glassless mirrors have recently featured in Es Devlin's stage design for the Dresden Opera Faust Margarete.

(Jim Evans)

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14 March 2016

Working alongside construction firm NCC, Stage Technologies provided a complete refit of the building's stage system and machinery as part of a £7m renovation project led by the city of Karlstad. The new power-flying system includes 31 power flying sets (comprising BigTow winches, fly bars and pulleys); Nomad and Solo desk control; an eight-axis grid trolley system formed of point hoists and positional control chain hoists for easier rigging; three automated lighting bars; and replacement control for the orchestra lift and house curtain. Co

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14 March 2016

ENTECH 2011, which takes place at SCEC on 19 - 21 July 2011, will now include a new stream in its educational program featuring international speakers from PLASA's extensive global membership base.

Over 4000 visitors are expected to register for ENTECH 2011, and attendance at the seminars will be offered on a first come, first served basis. Visitors will be able to secure their seats for a seminar via the ENTECH website in the coming weeks.

PLASA's CEO, Matthew Griffiths said: "We are pleased to be involved in one of the premium industry events in Australia. We see this alliance as a great opportunity to support the future development of our indust

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14 March 2016

Combined, the two companies offer a spread of solutions for lifting and control applications within the entertainment industry - from a theatre hand winch to an automated BGV C1 C-Force hoist and control solution with variable speed, positional control and load monitoring.

COW Lifting Technology will show the C-Force range of electric chain hoists, winches and control systems. C-Force products specialise in fixed or variable speed hoist and control systems to BGV C1 and up to SIL 3 performance standards.

LTM will show the popular LoadGuard electric chain hoists in capacities from 250kg to 5 tonnes as standard rigging hoists and to all current European entertainment standards such as the British Hoisting Entertainment Standard BS 79

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14 March 2016

"Tomcat is honoured to have provided training to the professionals that attended the workshops. We hope they had a positive learning experience during all the workshop activities and that they will take this knowledge and put it into practice in their daily activities and to safely working in the entertainment technology environment," stated Stefano Rosellini, general manager of Tomcat.

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14 March 2016

The two-day Education & Learning Programme proved a major success last year and this year PLASA Events have added a new strand of product demonstrations and training to the popular mix of case studies and seminars. The sessions run alongside a two-hall exhibition of new technology and are free to attend.

Kicking off the case studies is the RSC. The RSC's Vince Herbert, Jeremy Dunn and Adam Harvey - responsible for lighting, sound and stage automation respectively - will be joined by Jonathan Porter-Goff from Stage Electrics in a session entitled Build a Theatre, Rebuild Another and Refurbish a Third. This will be an opportunity to learn

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14 March 2016

The custom-built, 40ft-high chandelier in the Winspear Opera House in Dallas which features 318 cast acrylic rods that vanish as the house lights dim before a production begins. Clancy technology made it possible for the rods to move in synchronized patterns and retract into the ceiling smoothly and rapidly, powered by 44 custom-design winches with up to eight lines per winch.

Clancy's PowerAssist allows you to motorize new or existing counterweight sets economically. This eliminates handling counterweights, simplifying operations. PowerAssist can be provided with Up / Down pushbuttons, or with the SureTarget preset position co

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14 March 2016

Michael Reed, president and founder of Reed Rigging, said, "I recognised the potential of XLNT CyberHoist as a special product on its US tour debut, Phil Collins' Last Final Farewell World Tour. As motion control has become an increasingly important tool for artists, designers and producers, I and our production rigging manager, Neil Montour, have compared XLNT CyberHoist with other motion control brands and concluded that nothing matches its combination of acc

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14 March 2016

RG Jones project manager, Tim Speight contacted 5 Star about the project, having been previously impressed by the quality of their products and the excellent service. Phil Lawrence oversaw the supply and delivery for 5 Star.

Speight works with a team co-ordinating all RG Jones' business with The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, for whom the company has been the key audio contractor since 1985. This includes the provision of system design services, installation and on-site engineering support during The Championships. This year, up to 10 RG Jones sound engineers will be on duty every day throughout the Wimbledon Fortnight.

Their brief includes