Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 4 July 2025

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Canada - CAST Group has launched a new education programme to offer scheduled and on-demand training and education sessions on BlackTrax and wysiwyg. 
New online classes for wysiwyg are now available to both new and experienced users. The two-hour seminars are crafted to focus on specific areas of wysiwyg to save time and help users work more efficiently. Each seminar covers essential knowledge needed to be successful with wysiwyg, as well as new features and tips and tricks. CAST Group offers custom training on a case to case basis.
In additions to the official sessions, BlackTrax users can benefit from free monthly webinars exploring how to create live experiences using realtime tracking. This live webinar lasts around an hour, with at least 15 minutes for you to ask

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Greece - The week-long Summer Nostros Festival (SNFest) is an international multifaceted arts, sports and education festival held in Athens every June, that is free for all to attend and welcomes people of all ages.
Like every year, SNFest 2019 was hosted by the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Foundation. This is the organisation responsible for the entire construction in 2017 of the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Centre in Athens where the festival is held, for the third year, right on the Athenian sea front. The venue, which also hosts the Greek National Opera and holds cultural exhibitions all-year long, and houses the national library, has already racked up numerous awards both for its innovative, environmentally-friendly construction and its hosted exhibitions.
For this year’s SNFest, Mega-Sound (part of the Oikonomopoulos Group) - Clair Brothers’ distributor in Greece,

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UK - Doughty Engineering celebrates its milestone 50th anniversary this year.
The company first registered as Doughty Trailer Sales Ltd in February 1970 and spent the first 10 years of trading manufacturing trailers, before metamorphosing into the Doughty Engineering that is well-known in the entertainment industry today.
Julian Chiverton, sales director, comments: “We are extremely proud to be celebrating half a century in business. When Russell Doughty, Mervyn Lister and my father George Chiverton started out in 1970, little did they know that the Doughty brand would become synonymous with clamps and other kit relied upon by riggers and lighting designers across the world. Their business was trailers, then designing and manufacturing attachments for rough terrain and forklift trucks in the farming and construction sectors. But by the mid-eighties it was clear tha
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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France - PlugFest, the technical event for entertainment lighting interoperability organised by PLASA, is now underway in Lille. The annual three-day event welcomes manufacturers, developers and technicians from across the continent to test their products and learn about the latest protocols.
For the third year running, PlugFest has sold out, with delegates from major lighting manufacturers such as Robert Juliat, Claypaky, Chauvet, Eaton, GLP, ETC, TMB, ChamSys and Highlite.
The event’s expert hosts, Hamish Dumbreck (JESE Ltd), Peter Willis (Howard Eaton Lighting) and Wayne Howell (Artistic Licence) are set to host a series of break-out sessions covering RDM, DALI, RDMnet, Art-Net, sACN and LLRP, as well as recent ESTA TSC developments.
Nicky Greet, PLASA’s membership, skills and technical director, comments: “We’re delighted to present another PlugFest

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Valley Aid - Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield will join Grammy award winner Amy Wadge in a fundraising event for flood victims hit by Storm Denis in the Welsh valleys. Bradfield will play at a two-day Valley Aid concert in March. Thousands were affected in Wales by widespread flooding and flood warnings and alerts are in place across Wales. Crowdfunding pages have already raised thousands for flood-hit communities. Now Welsh musicians are rallying to help raise funds for the valleys in a two-day festival at the Pop Factory in Porth on 13 and 14 March.
Mobile Menace - A conductor twice stopped an opera in Cardiff after mobile phones rang in the audience. Carlo Rizzi was conducting Welsh National Opera's new production of Verdi's Les Vêpres Sicilienes, at Donald Gordon Theatre at the Wales Millennium Centre on Saturday night. Audience members

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UK - Out Board and EM Acoustics have joined forces to present a combined series of demonstrations offering offer a unique opportunity to experience TiMax spatial mixing, immersive 3D effects animation and vocal localisation with live stage-tracking using TiMax SoundHub and TrackerD4 on a multichannel immersive EM Acoustics system. Mark your diaries for Tuesday 3rd-Thursday 5th March 2020 as this amiable event will take place at SARM Music Bank Studios.
Out Board’s Dave Haydon and Robin Whittaker will be running sessions that cover: 
• TiMax SoundHub new HARDCore FPGA processing, PanSpace auto-calc spatial rendering and TimeLine showcontrol workflows.
• TiMax TrackerD4 all new Precision Stagetracking for live performer vocal localisation and fx panning.

EM Acoustics will formally demonstrate the Reference Series R10 flagship point source louds

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USA - Bandit Lites has hired Nick Brown to provide lighting design and console operation for various productions, including events and Blackberry Farm, a luxury five-star resort.
Brown’s previous experience includes working as the resident lighting designer and technical director foat the University of Tennesseer the Irondale, an Off Broadway theatre in Brooklyn, New York as well as a lighting and video engineer at the Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Feud in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
“I've loved concert lighting ever since I was thirteen years old,” comments Brown. “I knew about Bandit Lites when I was studying theatrical lighting design in college, so I'm very excited to finally be a part of this great team.”
Upcoming events featuring Brown include the University of Tennessee’s Senior Toast, where students are nominated by faculty and staff and invited t

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UK - Green Hippo has further strengthened its London team by appointing Abi Roberts as project and marketing coordinator.
Roberts joins from the legal world, where her attention to detail and communication skills led to a role liaising, and maintaining relationships, with a range of clients. She is now channelling this experience into managing a range of Green Hippo marketing, including digital and social media, trade shows and providing marketing support for the distribution network.
“I’m thrilled to join such a vibrant company with a clear vision for growth in 2020,” says Roberts. “The AV industry presents an exciting change of direction for my career where I can apply my experience to create some exciting new materials for our customers. I look forward to working with you all in the near future.”
Roberts joins Green Hippo as the company moves its L
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Poland - Shure Incorporated has announced plans to enhance its market development initiatives in Europe with the appointment of Jacek Rusek as integrated systems market development manager for Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
In this new role based in Warsaw, Rusek will build direct relationships with end customers in the region to better understand their requirements and find solutions that best meet their needs. He will work closely with Shure distributor Polsound to help Shure expand its market growth and position in Poland.
“We are pleased to welcome Jacek to Shure,” commented Rob Smith, senior director, integrated systems sales for Western Europe, at Shure. “His background in video conferencing and unified communications as well as his expertise in sales, product management, business development, and technical training, are very beneficial. Jacek wi

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Spain - Equipson announced at ISE a new and expanded Work Pro Arion line array range.
The Work Pro Arion Series is a DSP-powered Line Array ecosystem that already includes the popular Arion 21A system and double 10” format SL210A satellites. This system can be configured to suit a wide variety of applications, from medium to large venues where power, quality, and controlled directivity are required through to theatres and concert halls.
At ISE, Equipson also launched the Arion 10A and the Arion 5A, which are ‘significant redesigns’ of previous products.
Arion 10A is a single 10" version of the Arion 21A that incorporates Work Pro’s internal DSP technology and high-quality amplifiers from Danish brand Pascal. In keeping with the Arion 21A, the new Arion 10A uses top of the range transducers that were designed and manufactured in Europe. Its amplifier and D

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Germany Artistic Licence will be showing sunDial quad, winner of the 2019 PLASA Gold Award for Innovation, at both Light+building (8-13 March) and Prolight + Sound (31 March - 3 April) in Frankfurt.
The product - a DMX/RDM/Xicato controlled trailing edge mains dimmer - offers ‘outstanding dimming performance and advanced safety features’. It works 'out of the box' with all dimmable replacement LED bulbs (also halogen and CFL). Performance is further optimized through the selection (via RDM) of one of four editable dimming curves on a per-channel basis.
Also new for 2020, Commissioner dali is a hand-held, battery powered tool for commissioning, testing and configuring DALI installations. The bright, 40 character LCD is easy to read and provides a wealth of information. Commissioner dali has numerous intensity control functions including direct control over DT8 colo

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Germany - Milos provided the design, static calculation and delivery of Milos truss products for a high wire bike climbing course for client, On The Ropes.
On The Ropes is based in Radevormwald and has been led by owner Hajo Muller since 1995. Their main focus is on the planning and building of rope courses at height that are in-tune with the natural surroundings. They also plan and build climbing walls, adventure stations and customized structures. One of their past standout projects includes the Big TeePee complex, which is the world’s biggest teepee, that was designed and constructed for Expo 2000 in Hannover.
The High Wire Bike project started with a rough concept provided to the A4I Germany office by On The Ropes. With this rough idea in hand, Area Four Industries technical director Norbert Tripp designed a feasible structural solution and carry out all structur

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UK -The Second Edition of festival and outdoor event sustainability report The Show Must Go On has revealed the latest industry figures, trends and practices.
Five years since the first edition was published, the new 126-page report, which has been crowdfunded by the industry, gives an insight into sector sustainability, and reflects the progress made in technologies, materials and operational practices to reduce environmental impacts. Its main chapters, authored by experts in their own fields, cover Governance, Resources and Waste, Water, Food, Energy, Travel and Transport. 
The report also marks the launch of an online Knowledge Hub, www.vision2025.org.uk, a free-to-access resource that will feature case studies, briefings and a supplier directory.
More than 100 festiv

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Canada - Jon Stanners, one of two owners of Winnipeg-based production and design company Red Rover Entertainment, turned to an Elation lighting package on Canadian singer Jessie Reyez’s Being Human On Tour outing. Soundbox Productions of Ontario served as lighting vendor for the tour, which played dates in Canada and the US.
Not only did Stanners design a lighting system that fit the budget, he made sure the rig was an appropriate fit for the 500 to 2000-capacity venues the tour played, not to mention the transportation used to haul the gear. “The design was created to have the most impact for these small venues but also had to fit in a single trailer with everything else,” explains Stanners, who has worked with Reyez for the past two years and handled design, programming and operation for the tour along with lighting production management. “Part of fitting i

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USA - The Institute for Creation Research (ICR)’s new Discovery Centre for Science & Earth History in Dallas is benefiting from an advanced, integrated lighting control system from Strand. Specified by The Lighting Practice, the system seamlessly combines the needs of multiple exhibit zones, user requirements and technologies.
The control system exploits Strand’s ability to integrate entertainment and architectural lighting in one, seamless system. It combines Strand’s powerful NEO Rack playback controller (with a second as backup), which is responsible for playback of the exhibits’ show lighting, with Strand’s flexible, scalable Vision.Net platform, which looks after the various area lighting zones.
The system includes a mix of individually addressed track lighting units, in-grade uplighters in the exhibit floors and various accent luminaires highlightin

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Europe - Singer-songwriter Rea Garvey is no stranger to international audiences. This is ensured not only by numerous TV show appearances, but also by his extensive musical output. For the past 20 years the Irishman has been delighting his audience with multi-faceted pop rock and his distinctive voice.
His most recent solo album, Neon was released in March 2018, and in the autumn of the same year and through summer 2019, Garvey presented the new songs on a large Neon tour. At his side for many years has been lighting and stage designer Christian ‘Rocketchris’ Glatthor.
Glatthor - known for creating multi-layered, haptic spaces on stage - designed a variable set with many surprises. With the help of 60 FS20 Fusion Sticks FS20 from Fusion by GLP, he picked up on the Neon theme from the album and the tour. The majority of the Fusion Sticks were suspended from e

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Europe - Chinese LED manufacturer Absen has moved to allay any concerns caused by the global outbreak of Covid-19 by stocking more than 5,000sq.m of LED product ready for shipping, with further 27,000 sq.m in production covering the company’s array of indoor, outdoor and rental display products.
The stock comes from the company’s manufacturing base in Huizhou as well as Absen’s European headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, and across the regions covered by its network of distributors.
Absen is also planning to move its European offices into larger premises by 30 March. The new warehouse is expected to provide the capacity to hold twice the amount of stock than the company’s current one.
The manufacturer has also reported that its factory has been “working at full capacity to meet high demand - with orders up in Europe by 128% when compared to the same pe

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UK - Elliot Griggs chose Robe’s T1 Profiles to provide key lighting for Amélie the Musical, a new production first staged at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, which then undertook a nationwide UK and Irish tour and then played at The Other Palace in London.
Griggs was asked to light the show, directed by Michael Fentiman and based on the five-times Oscar-nominated 2001 French art-house romantic comedy film, Amélie. The lead character has an eccentric upbringing and a vivid imagination which she uses to explores the complexities of love, loneliness, existence and survival in the big city.
The T1 Profiles - used in addition to the touring lighting rigs at each venue on the tour - are being supplied by leading theatrical rental company White Light, investing in their first T1s for this production as they were essential for Griggs’ lighting plot.

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UK - Fineline Lighting, based near Bristol, hosted over 20 lighting designers across two days on 17-18 February for basic and advanced MagicQ training, in partnership with ChamSys.
The ChamSys team were joined for the training by Chauvet ChamSys product specialist Rebbecca Cadd.
The basic course covered the use of all MagicQ products including the range of PC Wings and MagicQ consoles. It taught attendees about starting new shows from scratch, layouts, patching, recording and editing cues, cue lists and chases, FX programming and pixelmapping.
The advanced course covered advanced MagicQ features including advanced patching, media server control, timecode, scheduled events, execute window and group FX.
Aziz Adilkhodjaev, international business development manager at ChamSys, comments: “Massive thanks to Rob and Sevim [Sangwell, Fineline directors] for or

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Europe - Ed Sheeran wrapped his 260-show Divide Tour last year, which featured a large complement of Claypaky Mythos 2 and Scenius Unico lighting fixtures. Mark Cunniffe was the lighting designer for Divide.
Cunniffe created a set piece for the tour comprised of LED tiles and lighting with a massive curved crown above the stage and tall columnar centre piece. The elements at times resembled a goblet and a tree. Four automated triangular pods resided in the underside of the LED structure; each pod was on three variable speed motors controlled by Kinesys.
Cunniffe used 118 Mythos 2 spot and beam fixtures in the crown, base and across the front of Sheeran’s riser; 10 Mythos 2 were mounted inside each triangular pod.
“One of the driving factors behind choosing Mythos 2 was the size,” says Cunniffe. “I knew I could hang it on its side, it’s relatively light

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UK - There are few cities blessed with a more spectacular landscape than Edinburgh, over which Edinburgh Castle presides and forms a natural centre piece for events and celebrations in the city throughout the year.
Through November and December 2019, the city was treated to the inaugural Castle of Light, a celebratory visualisation of Edinburgh’s history portrayed by a combination of mapping, projection, lighting and audio, which treated visitors to a journey through thousands of years of the city’s back story of which its citizens are so rightly proud.
As part of the lighting design, nine of Ayrton’s Perseo-S fixtures made an impressive impact on the show, in particular during the finale of this promenade performance. At the top of the Perseo-S tick list is an IP65 rating making it a suitable choice for intensive outdoor use.
NL Productions (NLP) w
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