Rigging / Staging

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UK - Data Strategy has announced the first showing of a new product - VeriCal - on stand K10 at this year’s PLASA 2018. The new product, which is available for purchase or hire, verifies that the Out Board PAT-4 testers, an integral part of the QC-Check system, are within their operational specifications.
The QC-Check system provides fast and accurate safety inspections and the robustly packaged PAT-4 tester provides the perfect solution for Portable Appliance Testing (PAT), cable (continuity and insulation resistance) inspection and testing of equipment protected by RCDs (distro).
VeriCal consists of a calibrated hardware module that is controlled by a QC-Check style application that guides the user through the verification process and generates a test certificate upon successful completion of the process. A certain amount of adjustment of the PAT-4 calibration set

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UK - Hawthorn has been newly appointed as the in-house technical production partner at Victoria Warehouse, Manchester’s historic landmark venue.
As part of a long-term partnership agreement that started on 1 September 2018, Hawthorn will provide exclusive in-house rigging services and will be the preferred technical production supplier for corporate events across Victoria Warehouse’s diverse event spaces.
Renowned for its highly flexible event spaces with an industrial vibe and situated in the heart of Manchester, Victoria Warehouse offers event spaces for a huge range of corporate events, from conferences and exhibitions, to gala dinners, award ceremonies, brand activations and parties.
James Cohen, owner of Victoria Warehouse, comments: “I’m delighted to welcome Hawthorn to the team. Victoria Warehouse is a unique, iconic and carefully restored industri

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UK - Studioforce, a new company specialising in the provision of production and technical freelancers to the film and TV industry, launched on Monday, 3 September.
The London business is spearheaded by former ITV Studios head of scenic and lighting, Dave Stevens. It offers a network of personnel for the broadcast and production sector, including gaffers, lighting electricians, camera operators, scenic supervisors, sound engineers, studio engineers and lighting console operators. Studioforce is also offering a service to facilitate and administer payroll contracts and handle recruitment for any clients who are looking to outsource certain roles, easing the process to make it more time and cost efficient.
Stevens comments: “When the recent changes at ITV Studios were announced [the broadcaster is closing its London studios], I needed to look for a new opportunity. I’

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UK - Prolight Concepts Group will exhibit at PLASA (stand G40), highlighting its expanding product range and an eventful business year that saw the company move to a new warehouse and office complex and refresh its logo (pictured).
At the PLASA Show, Prolight Concepts will feature eLumen8, LEDJ and Global Truss and launch many new products, including dynamic backlit blinders and Kudos moving heads, IP65-rated Endura pars and Evora series all from eLumen8.
LEDJ will feature a pixel version of the Spectra Flood Q40 and an addition to the new CZ Stage Pars with an RGBA version, and Prolight Concepts will also showcase its ever-expanding Global Truss staging systems.
(Jim Evans)

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USA - Four documents have been posted for public review on the ESTA website.
BSR E1.29 - 2009 (R2014), Product Safety Standard for Theatrical Fog Generators that Create Aerosols of Water, Aqueous Solutions of Glycol or Glycerin, or Aerosols of Highly Refined Alkane Mineral Oil
This standard is being considered for reaffirmation. It's intended to help guide product safety testing laboratories in evaluating fog-making equipment for design or construction defects that might create unacceptable hazards. It is based on UL 998 - 2006, Humidifiers, with modifications. Products covered are theatrical fog generators intended for use in professional theatrical entertainment, film and video production, theme parks, and fire safety training.
BSR E1.62, Minimum specifications for mass-produced portable platforms, ramps, stairs, and choral risers for live performance

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UK - Adlib has had a busy summer after making substantial investments in touring and rental video in the first half of 2018.
The major purchase has been the addition of Unilumin’s UpadIII H5 5mm indoor/outdoor LED screen, which has been designed for quick and safe assembly with the demands of touring and concert style events in mind.
Other new purchases include new broadcast quality camera channels, PPUs and Green Hippo KARST media servers, allowing Adlib to offer large scale video production options to all its clients, as well as versatile single solution technical packages for those wanting to source video lighting and sound equipment and expertise from one supplier.
BBC Music's Biggest Weekend, the event which generally kicks off the UK festival season was expanded to multiple sites this year, Adlib supplied sound and lighting to both stages at Scone Palace

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UK - Event production and equipment specialists Light Fantastic Production Services partnered with award-winning international innovation festival Unbound to deliver an immersive two-day experience at The Old Truman Brewery, London.
Supplying a complete production package covering every aspect of the event, LFPS provided full installation, technical infrastructure and management of the busy two-day programme attended by over 5000 visitors and featuring presentations from a host of world leading brands.
Working within the ‘blank canvas’ interior space of the Truman Brewery, the LFPS team transformed the entire first floor into a series of high-tech zones, including the Main Stage, Future Stage, Networking Zone, Partners Lounge, Exhibition and VR/Interactive area. Handling every detail, LFPS provided lighting, audio, video, rigging, draping, set design and co

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EMEA - Production Resource Group (PRG) and VER have completed their merger in Europe and the Middle East, becoming the largest entertainment and equipment and services provider.
The entities will be controlled by The Jordan Company, GSO Capital Partners and PRG Management.Jere Harris will serve as chairman and CEO of PRG and VER, and Stephan Paridaen will be president and COO.
Harris comments: “For more than 20 years PRG has been diligent in offering its clients the best production service and equipment in the entertainment industry. Growth across disciplines, markets and geographies has always been a key part of our strategy. Now, our ability to support all types of entertainment productions globally will take on new meaning, raising an already high bar to an unprecedented level.”
According to a statement, combining PRG and VER’s strength will now offer

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UK - Current RMS will be back once again exhibiting at PLASA London in September, where they’ll be showcasing their latest features built for the AV, lighting and staging industries, including a number of new updates.
The team will be on hand to show how simple managing the entire rental process from start to finish becomes with Current RMS, thanks to the convenience and the ease of one cloud-based solution. See the real-time availability of your kit from any device, effortlessly create quotes and orders to send online to your clients, seamlessly scan to allocate and book out your kit, and manage your crew, transport and venues all from one system.
Since the success of last year’s PLASA London show, the team has been working to implement some of their user feedback, based on votes on their open Customer Wishlist. New updates have included Choosing Accessories

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Europe - Belgian creative engineering specialists WIcreations are involved in the design and fabrication of three bespoke set elements - all optimised for air freight - to be used on a series of epic outdoor shows on Roger Waters’ current Us + Them world tour, which launched with two seminal shows in Rome and Lucca, Italy.
A pair of 16.6m-high circular PA towers grace the stage, complete with integral tracking systems on the onstage side for the rigging of 10 moving light fixtures, and on the downstage side for the sound cluster’s wind brace.
The second WI object is an industrial style stage roof - ‘roofette’ as it’s known on the tour - comprising a set of imposing cantilevered steel beams which can be fitted with clear roof skins in case of rain.
The third area in which WI is involved is a truss and beam rigging system, devised to securely rig

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UK - PLASA Show, the worldwide event for entertainment technology, is returning to London Olympia on 16-18 September with a whole host of industry leaders and influential brands primed to deliver popular products, inspirational talks and expert training.
The exhibitor list has been rapidly growing with international brands spanning lighting, audio, AV, rigging and staging, and the programme is filling up fast with critical updates, exclusive panels and the latest projects.
In association with LSi, respected lighting designer Rob Halliday and entertainment architects Stufish will present Giudizio Universale - Michelangelo and the Secrets of the Sistine Chapel, revealing the technical secrets of this stunning €9m immersive stage show created by Marco Balich, now at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome. Having worked on the show, Rob Halliday will discu

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South Africa - Dry hire company Guquko Technical Rider has launched a new website, www.guqukotech.co.za.
The company was established by Phumzile Sibanyoni at the end of 2017 and holds stock of 12 Robe Spiiders, 24 Longman 4 Ups, Prolyte stage decks and other accessories such as cabling.
Sibanyoni comments: “The equipment has been working very hard for us. We were very pleased that our Robe Spiiders and Longman units were used at the Nelson Mandela Annual lecture hosted at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on 17 July. The gear is out most of the weeks and is not gathering dust. That said, it would be great for larger companies to recognize and rent from us to help give us the necessary exposure.”
All gear is also frequently serviced by the local dist

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UK - Event design and technical production company Maestra London has expanded its team in readiness for a busy autumn season.
Joining MD Justin Hammond and the London team are Matt Spark (senior project manager), Euan MacLeod (business development manager) and Cameron Pullar (warehouse assistant).
Spark started working at festivals and events like SW4 and the Isle of Wight and other international events, as well as becoming a freelance production assistant for a succession of artists. This experience took him to Australia for three years where he worked with a raft of brands including Star Wars, Quantas and Disney.
MacLeod worked in New York and Woodstock before relocating to Scotland to take a degree in Events & Entertainment Management at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Pullar worked at a Scottish LED company whist still at school and then studied M

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UK - Cardiff City Council contacted 11th Hour requesting a turnkey solution for the presentation event as the city welcomed back Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas.
The council contacted 11th Hour with the brief just three days before the homecoming was due to take place.
Outside Cardiff Castle, 11th Hour erected a 6m x 5m Trilite stage, complete with cycle ramp and PA system by ABacoustics. As well as power to the stage and temporary media centre, the company supplied two confetti cannons and 58m of Prolyte truss to create 2 x 13m high archways over St Mary’s Street.
With much of 11th Hour’s own truss out on festival duty, the company was able to source its requirements at short notice from trusted partner AED. Every aspect of the event proceeded smoothly, from the build, managed by a highly experienced team operating in what are familiar, busy city centre

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UK - The Hay Festival, an annual festival of literature and the arts, held in Hay-on-Wye in Powys, Wales, has expanded to encompass a broad spectrum of cultural activities. This year’s 10-day event welcomed more than a quarter of a million visitors.
The festival site comprises temporary marquee structures of varying size (capacities vary from a few thousand to less than a hundred) connected by covered walkways and is located in a field on the edge of the town. The infrastructure required to meet the needs of the festival audience and the 800 or so events that take place is significant.
From lectures, readings, concerts and screenings, to discussions, sales, children’s activities, catering, media centre and more besides, Hay Festival presents logistical challenges that might bring a frown to even the most seasoned events professional. This year, Cardiff-based events

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UK - Event specialists, Light Fantastic Production Services Limited partnered with L'Atelier Five agency on the recent Hublot FIFA World Cup installation and product launch event at Harrods, Knightsbridge.
L’Atelier Five turned to LFPS to handle rigging and technical installation on their installation for Hublot watches in the store’s Hans Crescent entrance atrium. At its centre, the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia themed project featured three large open frame ‘footballs’ constructed from aluminium with integrated LED lighting and video displays.
Finished in red, white and blue to reflect the Russian national colours, the trio of footballs needed to appear to float effortlessly within the atrium. Limited by extreme load restrictions on the rigging points and severe weight limitations on the sloping floor below which precluded the use of traditional lifting methods

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Canada - CAST Software has released a new version of its wysiwyg lighting design and previsualisation tool. Release 41 brings a broad range of new features, including scaling objects, section sets, NDITM support, enhanced rigging points and realistic smoke and light effects.
CAST has also announced it’s working on a cloud and student licencing option and support for 64-bit architecture.
Scaling Objects: users are now able to easily scale up, down or stretch any 3D object within wysiwyg. The Scale tool can be applied to a primitive shape, an object from wysiwyg’s library (except truss and fixtures) or objects imported from other applications.

The new features

Selection Sets: these are designed to save time by reducing the need for repetitive selection tasks. Selection Sets will save the selection information such as which objects are selected

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USA - ESTA and USITT have announced that the second New World Rigging Symposium is taking place 19-20 March 2019 in conjunction with the USITT Conference and Stage Expo 2019 in Louisville.
Symposium attendees will receive free show floor passes to the USITT Stage Expo opening on 21 March as well as a discount on the conference registration.
The event will provide an opportunity for riggers and those interested in the live entertainment rigging industry to network, discuss current issues and new technologies, and help shape the future of the industry.
In 10 sessions over two days, participants will be given a range of opportunities to further their technical knowledge, keep up to date with codes and standards, increase their understanding of structural issues, and learn about the challenges of working as a rigger in other segments of the entertainment industry. T

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Europe - Litec is increasing its range of Flyintowers to nine in total with the release of four new towers this year.
The company has introduced the first two of these - the FTH40 and FTH52. The FTH40 allows 1,600kg of your audio equipment to be supported up to 10m, while the FTH52 Flyintower supports a total load of 1,400kg up to 13m.
Both towers are designed for lifting loads with an electric chain hoist or manual winch, but more importantly, feature all straight sections made from standard truss, rather than truss that’s custom made.
(Jim Evans)

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Israel - Ninja Warrior is a sports entertainment competition that features hundreds of competitors who attempt to complete a series of obstacle courses of increasing difficulty in a bid to make it to the national finals and become a ‘Ninja Warrior’. The format originated in Japan and has since been sweeping audiences off their feet in hundreds of countries.
After gaining immense popularity worldwide the television format has finally landed in Israel, with the Israeli version hosted by Asi Azar and Rotem Sela.
The exhausting obstacle course was built at the Haifa Port in two weeks with a team of over 80 professionals using 4.5 tonnes of trusses. The rigging and obstacle course were built by the production riggers who arrived from the US and accompany the production worldwide.
Gil Teichman from Lighting Design Systems was in charge of lighting and sound.

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UK - Retford based Rope Assemblies has been praised for its professionalism and expertise by ScottWhitbystudio for its role in helping create The St Paul's Gateway as part of the London Festival of Architecture.
The contemporary gateway structure creates over 400 mirrored images of St Paul's Cathedral as pedestrians arrive out of St Paul's Underground Station. The design features hundreds of highly reflective anodised aluminium poles suspended vertically from a simple lightweight structural canopy. In the middle of the structure, users will find a reflective oculus and dome of poles which have been derived using the same mathematical geometry Christopher Wren used when designing the dome of St Paul's Cathedral.
Osman Marfo-Gyasi, studio project leader at ScottWhitbystudio comments: "We were initially approached by the Cheapside Bid Alliance alongside the London

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USA - Trussing and staging equipment specialist Prolyte Group has opened North American headquarters in Pearland, Texas.
The company is well established across Europe and Asia and its expansion to the USA follows five years of successful operations in Canada.
Ralph Stockley, Prolyte’s chief commercial officer, comments: “Texas was an attractive selection for Prolyte’s North American headquarters. We already had an existing partnership with a company in Pearland. Other factors, such as tax benefits, the strength of the Texas economy and the proximity to the Port of Houston finalised our decision.”
Prolyte is also planning to introduce its Prolyte Campus initiative in North America, through which the company has been offering hands-on training events across the globe.
Lambert Bouwmeester, Prolyte’s chief executive officer, adds: “The opening of o

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USA - ESTA has posted three documents for public review on its website. Two of the documents are reaffirmations of existing standards and one is a proposed new standard. The reviews run through 24 September.
The documents are:
ANSI E1.5, Theatrical Fog Made with Aqueous Solutions of Di- and Trihydric Alcohols
ANSI E1.5 - 2009, last reaffirmed in 2014, is being considered for reaffirmation. This standard describes the composition of theatrical fogs or artificial mists that are not likely to be harmful to healthy performers, technicians, or audience members of normal working age. It is limited to those fogs and mists made from a solution of water and one or more dihydric or trihydric alcohols, and is intended to be applied in theatres, arenas, an

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UK - Nominations for PLASA’s Gottelier Award are now open.
The award, named after late lighting designer and industry commentator Tony Gottelier, launched in 2007 to recognise product developers who have made significant and sustained contributions to the advancement of entertainment, presentation or installation technology. Previous recipients include Wayne Howell (Artistic Licence), Anne Valentino (ETC), David Cunningham (Entertec), Pasquale Quadri (Claypaky), Jim Bornhorst (Vari-Lite), John Meyer (Meyer Sound), Terry Clarke (Klark Teknik, MC2 Audio), Fred Foster (ETC), Alex Cooper (Midas & Klark Teknik), John Stadius (DiGiCo / Soundtracs) and Tony Andrews (Funktion-One).
Anyone in the industry can nominate individuals as well as development teams by emailing
  1. Solotech appoints R&D director
  2. Foo Fighters and Stageco at London Stadium
  3. 11th Hour manages production at Cardiff Castle
  4. Download’s French adventure thrives with Stageco
  5. Vasco Rossi on the move with Kinesys
  6. Industry representatives to cycle to PLASA Show for Backup
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