18 June 2013

The Week in Lighting & Sound

Fundraising Fellowship - The Arts Council is to fund a new fellowship programme to train arts fundraisers of the future. The Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Fellowship will offer 11 places for entrepreneurial graduates at organisations including Opera North and Tate Liverpool. The programme is the first of its kind in the UK. With continuing spending cuts it is thought fundraisers will be increasingly important for the arts. A recent study by the charity Arts & Business suggested a growing divide in donations to the arts between ... More >>

PLASA outlines Strategic Plan at AGM

UK - Members of PLASA attending the 2013 European AGM at BAFTA in central London recently were presented with the Association's Strategic Plan for the next five years by Matthew Griffiths, PLASA's CEO, and Ed Pagett, Managing Director of Panalux Broadcast & Event and current Chairman of PLASA's European Regional Board and overarching Governing Body. The Strategic Plan is a blueprint for PLASA's future growth and will inform the tactical and operational plans needed to transform this collaborative document into a reality. It was clear ... More >>

Nitin invests in Robe

India - Leading south Indian rental company Nitin Speakers & Electrical has invested in Robe moving lights to upgrade their lighting inventory. Run by Sachin Naik - who has connected with many politicians, dignitaries, VIPs and celebrities in the course of his work - the Pune based operation supplies technical production to events of all types from vast political rallies for half a million people or so to concerts and musical extravaganzas to corporate presentations. Known for many years as a high quality audio rental company and also ... More >>

ETC Source Four lights Hiroshima's flash bang

France - The nuclear blast at Hiroshima in 1945 is often described in Japanese as a flash (pika) followed by a bang (don). Last year, a performance lit with ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ fixtures aimed to represent the unexpected terror of the pika don through the medium of dance. Un Coup de Don, by dance company Ariadone and led by Carlotta Ikeda and Ko Morobushi (Japan), was part of the Festival Automne in Normandy, France. Lighting director Eric Blosse says, "We all agreed that we needed to restart from the beginning, ... More >>

White Light appoints venue relationship manager

UK - White Light has announced the appointment of Rebecca Fellows as venue relationship manager, providing a key contact for events venues in London and across the UK. Fellows, previously events administrator at White Light, joined the company in 2011. She sees her new role as an opportunity to further develop White Light's ties with established venues while also seeking to connect with new and emerging events spaces. "White Light has a strong history with many venues across the UK," she said. "My role will be to help those venues and ... More >>

Rock Our World nominations deadline: 21 June

USA - The submission deadline for the fifth annual Rock Our World Awards is one week away; all nominations need to be in by 21June 2013. The awards, which recognize extraordinary achievement of products, projects or product application by PLASA members, were designed to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designers or integrators who apply it. The process is easy and helps make your colleagues shine. Anyone may nominate a PLASA Member for an award, so if you've seen something revolutionary that has rocked ... More >>

Venuetech and Barco sign distributor partnership

UAE - Barco LiveDots, a Barco company, has entered into a strategic partnership with Dubai-based audiovisual expert Venuetech. Venuetech will be the exclusive distributor of LiveDots' full LED portfolio in Saudi Arabia and a non-exclusive reseller for the GCC (Kingdom of Bahrain, Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates). LiveDots is confident that Venuetech will help to expand its business in the Middle East market. Venuetech provides both system integrators and local channels with a wide range of products and ... More >>

Chaos Muses over Europe

Europe - "Basically what we've got here is a massive TV screen," says Andy Tonks, video crew chief from Chaos Visual Productions on the current Muse production doing the rounds of European stadiums this summer. Made up of WinVision 12mm, there is a total of 1092 active tiles, each one measuring 56cm x 56cm. That makes a total screen surface of 450sq.m.. Flown off 25 x two-ton motors, the panoramic screen surface is split into five units and rigged across the rear of the stage, upstage of the drum riser which is itself clad in active ... More >>

Community Entasys solutions for Sint-Leonardus

Belgium - Hifi-Center Melis and Jan Geerts have completed the installation of a new Community Entasys sound system for Sint-Leonardus Church, located in Aartselaar on the southern outskirts of Antwerp. With its oldest parts dating back to 1792, and additions in 1861, Sint-Leonardus Church is a traditional building with a beautiful interior, but its dimensions and highly reflective surfaces presented difficult acoustic problems. The supplier Hifi-Center Melis, and installer Jan Geerts, worked closely with Olivier Massart of Community's ... More >>

TiMax SoundHub tutorials on YouTube

UK - Out Board have posted five TiMax SoundHub Tutorial videos at their new YouTube TiMax Media channel. Each short video runs about 4-6 mins and the set provides a fast-track training course for the versatile PC/Mac software used to program and control the powerful TiMax SoundHub audio matrix, playback server and showcontrol unit. Titles include The Mixer basics, through Files and Cues, Triggers and Events, Cues and The Timeline up to a final System and Utilities roundup. Following detailed briefs from Out Board, the videos have been ... More >>

Philips Selecon PL1 solution for Questacon

Australia - Canberra's National Science and Technology Centre Questacon has become the first Australian institution to invest in Philips Selecon's fully tuneable high output LED PL1 luminaires. The centre - which attracts more than 420,000 visitors each year - has purchased 20 of the PL1s, which draw on Philips' pioneering technology to meet the everyday challenges of illuminating the museums, art galleries and stages. "As an interactive Science Centre our requirement for lighting is based on more of a theatrical approach than ... More >>

Christie HD18K helps bring ruined castle to life

Hungary - Christie projection is at the centre of what is believed to be the first permanent outdoor pixel mapping project ever staged in Europe. The initiative of saving the small early 19th century Breda Castle, situated close to the eastern border of Hungary, by developing it into a new tourist attraction is the result of a collaboration between owners, the Megyeri family, and the initiator, Informax Ltd. Working with Bordos.ArtWorks and Invited Artists (run by Budapest-based 3D artist László Zsolt Bordos) and András Schmid (of ... More >>

Jands blows into a hurricane

Australia - The recently opened, and largest flagship restaurant for the Hurricanes group, Hurricanes Grill Brighton Le Sands is an expansive venue which overlooks the beach. When deciding upon a suitable audio solution for the venue, Steve Sidd (general manager) wanted great sound but was under the impression that a JBL/Crown/BSS solution may have not been within his budget. Fortunately Con Constantinou, managing director of Constant Technology Pty Ltd, recommended a quality JBL audio solution which the client was delighted to learn ... More >>