The Netherlands - Crestron is extending its training programmes and will be launching its first ever consultants' summit at ISE 2012. Catering for the specific needs of the CI consultant, Crestron has tailored the content of this session to reflect the roll consultants play in specifying a control system.

The summit will be held on 31 January form 13.30 - 15.00 in room G109 at the RAI and Crestron will be providing lunch to all attending delegates. The session will cover the latest product offerings from Crestron and how each can contribute to complete integrated solutions for all projects of any size, residential and commercial.

Leading the session will be Fred Bargetzi, VP of technical sales, and Stijn Ooms, director of technology, Europe.

"We are forever taking on board the feedback from the integrators, end users and consultants and following ISE 2011 we recognised

Europe - Philips Vari-Lite has announced the strengthening of its European Service Network with the opening of four new European Service Centres - Entertainment Equipment Supplies,S.L. (EES) in Spain, FACE in Belgium, Lightco in The Netherlands, and White Light in the United Kingdom. As Authorized Service Centres, EES, FACE, Lightco and White Light will work with end users and technicians throughout Europe "to ensure the complete and timely service of any Vari*Lite automated luminaires".

"As we build our relationships with dealers and technicians worldwide, we are excited to open EES, FACE, Lightco and White Light as our newest European Service Centres," said Julie Smith, director global support services for Philips Vari-Lite. "We have worked extensively with their technicians and staff members to ensure they have the tools needed for success, and we are

UAE - Each year on 1 December, the United Arab Emirates celebrate their independence. The celebrations were especially lavish in 2011, as 2 December marked the formal 40th anniversary of the coming together of the seven emirates to form the UAE. A comprehensive programme of cultural and sporting events kicked off on 1 December to make this a true jubilee event.

The organisers entrusted responsibility for providing the sound reinforcement at two of the most important functions to Sound On Stage Events. The Dubai-based company was responsible for prestige stage productions in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, where well-known Arab artists performed with ensembles of up to 45 musicians.

The event in the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre in the nation's capital drew over 10,000 visitors. The main PA comprised 12 Electro-Voice X-Line line array elements and six Xsubs, whilst 14 XLD281 compact line a

Germany - Swiss digital signage manufacturer, SpinetiX have signed WEYELdistribution as a distribution partner for the German market.

WEYELdistribution is based in Burbach, just outside of the city of Frankfurt and focuses on design, service and training for the ProAV market in Germany. They currently supply technology to various digital signage integration projects in banking, hotels, government, worship and even corporate AV.

"The move to appoint WEYELdistribution reflects our growth in Germany. Having WEYELdistribution as a dedicated partner means that they are able to deliver our multimedia and communications technology effectively to the market," says Serge Konter, marketing manager. "The company offers high technical support and online service and support."

WEYELdistribution will be taking on the new HMP130 Hyper Media Player being announced at ISE

USA - BSR E1.6-4 - 201x, Portable Control of Fixed-Speed Electric Chain Hoists in the Entertainment Industry, is now available for public review on the PLASA website (address below) until March 26.

The control systems covered are most often used to control one or more chain hoists being used to fly equipment or scenery in shows or events being done in arenas and convention centres.

For more information, please contact:

Karl G. Ruling

PLASA Technical Standards Manager

630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 609

New York, NY 10036

1-212-244-1505

karl.ruling@plasa.org

(Claire Beeson)

UK - Children's show, Friday Download focuses on the latest trends in TV, film, music, gaming, fashions and more. The CBBC favourite is filmed in front of a live studio audeince and is hosted by Dionne Bromfield, Aiden Davis, Tyger Drew-Honey, Georgia Lock, Ceallach Spellman and Richard Wisker.

Roger Williams has taken over as lighting designer for the latest series and is supported by Richard Martin Lighting (RML). The lighting rig comprises of MAC 700s, MAC 600s, Mini MAC Profiles, Alpha Wash 300s, GLP Impressions and ChromaBanks.

The set is divided into different stages which is used for various different parts of the show. Friday Download is filmed at the BBC Television Centre and is aired on Fridays at 6pm.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Flightcase and loudspeaker solutions specialist Penn-Elcom has joined forces with California based Janal Cases - one of their long time valued customers - in a new year long initiative to help raise awareness of breast cancer to celebrate the 25th year of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM).

BCAM is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure. The campaign also offers information and support to all those affected by breast cancer.

Penn Elcom is donating pink grip handles to the initiative, which are being offered - fitted free of charge - on cases ordered by Janal's customers for a donation of any size, starting at $25.00.

Muffie Alejandro from Janal Cases approached Penn-Elcom to be a partn

UK / Australia - Crosspoint Solutions has purchased a Yamaha M7CL-32 digital mixing console, which is currently serving audio aces at the Australian Open tennis championship.

The Hampshire-based company specialises in the provision of temporary production and broadcast facilities for the television industry. A key service is the supply of master control rooms, where multiple signals need to be distributed.

"Our success in this field, and having relationships with many location broadcasters, led to enquires for more specific services," says Crosspoint head Geoff Mann. "In response to this demand, we developed a small 'flyaway' style presentation studio that we take to different events around the world."

The studio normally uses four cameras and a compact, high quality mixing console was needed for the associated audio requirements, including mixed returns

UK - The Trafalgar Sun - a new art installation replicating an early morning sunrise - brightened up London's Trafalgar Square on Monday 23rd January, a date defined by academics as 'Blue Monday' as it's apparently "the most depressing day of the year".

As an antidote to the midwinter blues, art collective Greyworld were commissioned by fruit juice brand Tropicana (as part of their Brighter Mornings campaign) to create a giant, uplifting sunrise over Trafalgar Square. It measured 9m in diameter, weighed two and a half tons and gave off over four million lumens of light, the equivalent of 60,000 light bulbs.

Andrew Shoben, founder of Greyworld said: "There are very few moments more spectacular and uplifting than watching an early morning sunrise. We have tried to capture the evocative nature of this natural phenomenon and share it with the public by creating our

UK - International Outdoor Event Expo (IOEX) is predicting a bright 2012 for the events industry as it releases the results of its industry poll.

IOEX has been carrying out an industry survey which has revealed that budgets for the event industry are looking positive with 83.4% of the respondents saying their investment budget would be the same or increased in 2012, with continued growth maintained into 2013.

Growth was the theme for the year with 64% saying their prospects are looking better this year, and opinions revealing an overall upbeat outlook for the future.

Respondents showed that technology was at the forefront of organiser's minds, with 57.1% responding that they would be investing in event technology and 53.7% in AV equipment. Event management, lighting and sound and entertainment came out next in the poll as the largest spends from these organisers.

The poll

UK - December saw the chance for over 100 up-and-coming bands to reach a potentially huge audience as London's O2 ran its December Sessions music programme, giving music fans the opportunity to enjoy 20 nights of live music at no cost. With Sennheiser equipment featuring on every show, one special performance saw the company unusually embracing the sound of silence.

The December Sessions took place on a specially-constructed stage in the O2's London Piazza and were supported by Sennheiser UK, which also sponsors the nearby British Music Experience. For every performance, the company provided ew 300 G3 GB in-ear monitors and e 604, e 614, e 901, e 902 and e 935 wired mics.

In the first of a series of events organised by innovative live events company Silentgig, for one very special performance, the company supplied SKM 5200 wireless mics with KK 105 heads, KMS 105

Martinique - Formule Teck, one of Martinique's biggest rental companies and a long-standing APG customer, has recently taken delivery of 14 DX15 monitor speakers from APG to add to his already considerable APG inventory. The first outing for the new equipment was the prestigious and now traditional event organized each year by the Tourist Office of the Martiniquan capital Fort de France called Les Boucans de la Baie on 30December. Formule Teck handled all the audio requirements for the concert in the evening which included a full APG PA and monitor system.

Les Boucans de la Baie is a celebration that involves the whole town and culminates in a spectacular fireworks display over the bay and a concert held at La Savane, a beautiful 12-acre park that borders Fort St-Louis overlooking the bay. The concert was given by Mahogany, a well-known Martiniquan orchestra of 18

Denmark - The Broendby Hallen Arena is just minutes away from the Danish capital Copenhagen, and is home to the capital's own handball team, AG Kobenhavn. This sports arena, with seating for around 5,000, recently overhauled their sound system, installing a number of products from D.A.S. Audio's vast catalogue of professional sound systems.

Danish firm ProShop Europe was contracted to install the sound system. Project manager Thomas Duch was assisted by D.A.S. Audio sound projects engineer Eva Argandoña in pre-configuration tasks and the final adjustment and setup of the system. Given the characteristics of the arena, with its uneven stands and other architectural challenges, the studies and simulations carried out by Argandoña led ProShop Europe to install D.A.S.'s Aero, Variant, and BiDriver series, according to the needs of the different parts of the arena.

Specifically,

Germany - The Frankfurt IAA 2011 was once again the international must-attend event for all car enthusiasts. There were lots of highlights to discover at the fair, and not just among the cars on show. The motor show was again this year - as always - a major event for fair stand and lighting design. All manufacturers built elaborate sets for their cars, based on sophisticated lighting and media designs harmonized to perfection.

Several stands included a number of lights distributed by Lightpower, and there were a great many Clay Paky moving heads among the lights chosen. Clay Pakys were used, together with other lights distributed by the German company, on the Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and Audi AG stands.

One particularly innovative design was to be found at the BMW AG stand in Pavilion 11. The 9000sq.m stand was illuminated to daylight intensity with 930 moving lights and 700

UK - Bradford based audio and lighting rental specialists, Stage Management Company are once again to join up with Theatre Company Punchdrunk, Manchester International Festival and the BBC to supply full audio, AV and technical support for Dr Who: Crash of the Elysium, a live interactive theatrical experience for New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich as part of the Ipswich 2012 Festival.

"This will be our fourth project working with Punchdrunk, and our third working with the BBC," says Peter Hargreaves, head of production at Stage Management Company, who have previously worked with Punchdrunk and the Manchester Festival on It Felt Like A Kiss in 2009, Crash of The Elysium In 2012 and with Punchdrunk and the English National Opera on Duchess of Malfi in 2010.

"We are always excited when Manchester Festival and Punchdrunk approach us with their c

UK - The Roland M-480 Live Mixing Console has been in constant use in recent theatre productions across Glasgow and Edinburgh with Glasgow based hire company Sono Vie.

For the production of Beauty and the Beast at the Kings Theatre in Glasgow, the RCS was primarily used by the radio mic technician to check the functionality of the numerous radio mics in use at one time by the cast. When connected online, the M-480 RCS can be configured so that the remote screen (PC/Apple Mac) can view and control separate content than that which is live on the screen of the console itself. In this case, the M-480 itself was used to mix the show FOH (utilising all 48 channels), but at the same time, by working with a separate screen, keyboard and mouse, the radio technician could check all the radio receivers and view all the meters.

As well as making things simple in the rehearsal, the

UK - Peavey recently deployed two separate audio systems into Passmores Academy, a new 2000-student secondary school in Harlow, which was featured on Channel 4's seven-part reality TV show, Educating Essex.

Passmores recently achieved Academy status and was rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted; last year, 67% of its students achieved the equivalent of five or more GCSEs at grades A-star to C.

Harlow-based company, Gig Gear, first provided the school with a mobile Peavey audio solution, and then carried out the more heavyweight Peavey installation in the facility's main hall.

"They wanted to be able to transport one of the systems, and despite the fact that it's mobile, we still managed to deliver a high-powered solution," explains Virgil Lund, UK sales development at Peavey. "We decided on QW2Fs for the tops, which have a two-inch compression driver, and then

UK - Rental company HSL supplied Electric Fly Productions with lighting equipment for The Darkness's UK tour, working with lighting designer Nick Jevons. This saw the band's return to the major touring circuit after a five year hiatus, ahead of the launch of a third studio album, slated for 2012.

The Darkness was project managed for HSL by Mike Oates, who comments, "We always look forward to working with Nick and his team at Electric Fly. No job is ever predictable or standard, and the results are always visually spectacular."

This is the first time that Jevons has worked with The Darkness, asked onboard after working with production manager Chris Taplin and The Faces in the summer.

In spite of having just one truck for the whole production and the venues being 'variable size' in every sense of the word, Jevons' ideas - conceived in close collaboration with the ban

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET)'s Video and Lighting divisions are holding 2012 UK open days in conjunction with Green Hippo and PixelRange on 28 February in the South and on 1 March in the North of England.

The events will highlight the latest innovations from these brands, and "explore the hottest developments in video and lighting convergence".

AC-ET - the exclusive UK and Ireland distributor for Green Hippo and master European distributor for PixelRange - will host the two open days at its demo facilities in High Wycombe and Leeds.

Geared for all types of user, the events will include separate introductory and advanced training sessions, lunch and refreshments, and a prize draw to win various branded swag and other goodies.

(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands / UK - XLNT Advanced Technologies and Lift Turn Move (LTM) have announced an agreement for LTM to become the UK and Ireland sales and distribution dealer for CyberMotion, the world's first dedicated mobile stage automation system, and the DS8 Solid State motor controllers for standard chain hoists. The deal was announced at the CUE trade show in Rotterdam on 16 January.

Developed and manufactured by XLNT Advanced Technologies in the Netherlands, CyberMotion is the first system that combines automated hoists, automated winches and automated trolley/track systems, together with a user-friendly dedicated control desk - a complete solution for mobile and flexible applications including touring, one-off events and theatre.

LTM, owned by John Jones, David King and Dave Ward, has an established and dedicated sales and support team for the entertainment market. XLNT co

UK / France - TC Group International (TCGI) has announced the appointment of DV2 as exclusive Tannoy distributor in France.

This appointment consolidates TCGI's relationship with the French distribution company, who have enjoyed a long-standing successful relationship with Lab.gruppen and Lake in France (both of which are also part of the TC Group of companies). The new business agreement to distribute Tannoy commences with immediate effect, and DV2 will be taking the opportunity to represent the renowned UK loudspeaker brand formally for the first time at the SIEL show in Paris on 29-30 January.

Carsten Ishoy, TC Group's VP international sales for installed sound products, said, "After building up a very successful relationship with DV2 over a number of years through the Lab.gruppen and Lake brands, we are delighted that we can now extend that to our loudspeaker business

Qatar - The 12th quadrennial Pan Arab Games took place in Doha, Qatar recently - the first time that the country had hosted the multi-sport event.

Khalifa International Stadium was the main venue for the competition - as well as the Opening & Closing Ceremonies, which were attended by around 40,000 people.

Norwest Productions again worked alongside event sound designer Scott Willsallen, fielding a specialist crew including Ian Shapcott, Steve Caldwell, Trevor Beck and Justin Arthur. Another familiar presence at the stadium was the giant Optocore fibre ring.

According to Norwest Project Manager, Andrew Marsh, "The designs for these Opening & Closing Ceremonies almost always use Optocore for the signal distribution. We have a great investment in the Optocore brand and we hold many of the devices in our rental inventory. Optocore is a very unique product that has placed it

Singapore - W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden along with MA Lighting had full control over a very special New Year celebration held at Marina Bay in Singapore. Headed by the Esplanade and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore, this New Year spectacle spanned across the Marina Bay area, a 1 km2 fresh water reservoir flanked by the new Marina Bay Sands Resort complex, the Financial District and the Esplanade itself, which includes a collection of theatres, restaurants and parks.

The area holds a special significance in the history of Singapore, being a port from which the city started its development. The idea for the 2012 New Year celebration was to fill the reservoir with floating illuminated spheres, each containing a personal note from individuals stating their wishes for 2012. From an initial estimate of 2500, the number of spheres grew to an astounding 20,000.

The

South Africa - Visual Frontier was hired to provide the lighting and AV solution for Skouspel 2011, held from 7 - 9 October and 14 - 16 October at the Sun City Superbowl. Joshua Cutts, who heads Visual Frontier, was the lighting designer. It was the fifth time he had worked on Skouspel.

This year's Skouspel featured a range of new elements such as the giant screens with thematic videos. Cutts explains, "The main focus was on the large LED display and video content produced for it. I wanted to tone down the overall lighting feel so as not to compete with the screens and wanted to create a theatrical feel. Every year the production grows in scale and this year was no exception. It is always a huge challenge to complete the programming in the time we have but somehow we make it work."

Cutts had 41 Vari-lite fixtures at his disposal besides a list of other fixtures. The

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