UK - With international sales of ETC's iRFR application for Apple's iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and the new aRFR application for Android devices now approaching4,500, the company this year presented Light Relief with a cheque for an amazing £16,855 as the UK charity's share of the profits.

When the app was first introduced in 2009, Luke Delwiche from ETC Tech Services in London suggested that the profits be shared between Light Relief and its US equivalent, Behind the Scenes. Since then, the sales of the app have raised over $200,000 for the two charities.

Thanks must go to the apps' developers, Chris Mizerak and Anders Ekvall, for designing such a popular app, which enables users to turn any mobile device into a touchscreen-based remote controller for Eos- and Congo-family control desks, Eos and Ion Remote Processor Units (RPUs) and the Congo Light Server. And, of cours

RSC Record - The Royal Shakespeare Company has reported its financial results for 2011/12 - the first year in its new Stratford-upon-Avon home. Its annual report reveals that the company has recorded a turnover of more than £50m for the first time ever.

Box office takings have more than doubled to £18.1m from £8.3m in 2010/11, when the company had reduced operations due to the refurbishment of the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres. Its audience almost doubled between the two seasons - up to 708,022 people in 2011/12. Percentage capacity remained static at 89%.

The results were reported at the RSC's annual general meeting in Stratford, which saw artistic director Michael Boyd and executive director Vikki Heywood hand over to Gregory Doran and Catherine Mallyon respectively.

NT in NYC - The National Theatre has announced that it is opening a New York

UK - A.C. Special Projects (ACSP) has designed, supplied and installed complete technical facilities for the Sidney Stringer Academy's (SSA) new theatre in Coventry.

The SSA has gained a reputation as an innovator that encourages experimental teaching practices, and offers a range of BTEC vocational courses including Performing Arts and Music, for students aged 11-19.

The new multi-purpose theatre stages full productions by SSA and can be hired by local community groups and organisations.

The project was led for ACSP by Dave Cowan, who worked closely with SSA's head of drama, Michael Collins. ACSP were chosen for their extensive experience providing industry-standard technical facilities to the educational and performance markets.

It follows a very successful prior installation by ACSP in a temporary space to facilitate SSA students during the new theatre's construction -

Sweden - DM Audio's Martin Audio MLA Compact was quickly in action within two days of being derigged from an RPSO concert - across Stockholm at the Maritime Museum. This time a similarly-configured 12 elements per side rig was fielded at the Vitabergsparken (White Mountains) for the annual Parkteatern Festival (staged by Stockholm City Theatre). This consists of four weeks of entertainment in the open air amphitheater.

DM Audio have been servicing the event for many years, and working with show designer Mårten Ihre, they took the opportunity to swap out their conventional line array with MLA Compact, as soon as it became available.

Hosted by the Stockholm's Stadsteater subsidiary, Parkteatern (Park Theatre), the varied programme ranged from soft ballads to high-octane hip hop to modern Danish dance and opera. DM Audio responded by beefing up the LF end, running six DSX subs p

Australia - Rodgers & Hammerstein musical South Pacific is the first Lincoln Center Theatre production to ever tour Australia and it also marks the coming together of Australia's largest performing arts company, Opera Australia, with Australia's largest commercial theatre producer, John Frost.

With a cast of 40 and an orchestra twice the size of most musicals, this international hit and landmark production dominated the 2008 Tony Awards picking up seven of the coveted awards.

One award recipient was sound designer Scott Lehrer and so the pressure was on for Norwest Productions to deliver a sound solution to ensure the Australian production lived up to its heritage!

Norwest's Adrian Riddell was appointed associate sound designer and it was his task to translate Lehrer's design to the Australian production. Lehrer has made no secret of wanting a quieter, more intimate s

UK - London's Royal National Theatre has invested in two new eight-channel Kinesys DigiHoist controllers for its Cottesloe Theatre venue.

The DigiHoists were specified by the National Theatre's rigging resources supervisor, Matthew Wheeler.

The National Theatre (as it is generally known) is one of the UK's two most prominent public funded theatres, and is located on the South Bank of the Thames in central London.

It has three theatres: the amphitheatre-shaped Olivier seating 1100; the 900-seat proscenium arch Lyttelton; and the Cottesloe, an adaptable studio space designed by Iain Mackintosh, holding up to 400 people depending on the seating configuration.

The sale follows on from the purchase of a 21-channel Kinesys Elevation 1+ motor system - supplied in two phases comprising 14 half tonne Liftkets and seven one tonne Liftkets plus Kinesys Vector control - which is used

Iceland - The prestigious Reykjavik City Theatre is delivering new dynamic lighting options to designers of its varied program of productions with a new installation of Vari-Lite VL1100TS luminaires.

Head of lighting Thordur Orri Petursson commented that, "After a shoot-out between VL1100 TS and other brands in the venue, it was decided that the VL1100 was the most suitable product to take the brunt of the FOH lighting."

The VL1100 TS offer a variety of strengths that make it a must-have for the Theatre, but as Petursson said, "The deciding factor was the CYM colour-mixing, the number of gobos it can hold, and the overall size of the fixture."

Icelandic sales and rental company Luxor supplied the lights. Luxor sales manager Alfred Sturla Bodvarsson oversaw the installation along with Petursson and respected Philips Vari-Lite trainer Coral Cooper, winner o

Switzerland - Two Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing systems have been purchased by The Goetheanum in Switzerland, global HQ for the Anthroposophical Movement, as part of an upgrade to its sound system.

Located in Dornach, near Basel, the iconic building is designed by Rudolf Steiner and dedicated to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who founded the philosophy of anthroposophy.

An iLive system comprising two iDR-32 MixRacks configured in DualRack mode with an iLive-T80 Surface in the control room, has been installed in the main 1000-seat auditorium, whilst a smaller iDR-16 MixRack has been purchased as a portable system, which can be used with a PL-10 remote controller in the venue's smaller lecture and conference theatres, or added via the network for additional I/O duties in the main auditorium.

There is also a gallery and lecture spaces, a library, a bookstore, and administrativ

UK - CUK Audio launched its dedicated live sector distribution division - CUK Live - at PLASA 2012, based around its three core live sound brands Clair Bros, Powersoft and Cadac.

A leading force in the pro audio installation market, CUK Audio has seen recent significant growth in its live sound business, resulting in the strategic decision to form a dedicated division for live sound and rental clients.

Managing director Stuart Thomson explains, "Our business is built on the high level of support and service we give our customers, and delivering this standard for the live sector now requires a more focused approach. Many distributors claim to service all markets, but one always wins out to the detriment of the others."

Cadac appointed CUK as its UK and distributor at last year's PLASA show, where interest in the iconic mixer company's new product range - particularl

UK - Global aluminium trussing, roofing and staging specialist Milos enjoyed a highly successful PLASA exhibition at Earls' Court in London, where it previewed its new Mobiltechlift range.

It was the first time that the Czech Republic headquartered Milos has presented itself at an exhibition in its newly expanded format, following the recent acquisitions of premium brands Litec from Italy and Tomcat in the USA.

The key international sales and marketing teams from the main Milos brands were all present on the stand, meeting new contacts, touching base with existing ones and gathering plenty of information and feedback.

Collectively, they represented the future of MIlos which is now the largest aluminium trussing and staging manufacturer in the world, with major manufacturing bases in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, the US, Mexico and China.

The contemporary 'universal'

UK - Midas Consoles has presented live audio specialists Britannia Row with a special 'Pushing the Boundaries' award for its work on the Queen's Jubilee Concert earlier in the year.

Midas announced the gong during a pre-PLASA distributor's dinner and then later in the week on the Midas PLASA Stand during the European press launch of the PRO1 and VeniceU.

"The award was made in recognition of Britannia Row's design and application of the largest, most complex network of Midas consoles to date," explains brand manager Richard Ferriday. "The system was used on the hugely demanding Queen's Jubilee Concert where more than 250,000 people packed into The Mall, St. James's Park and at the Queen Victoria Memorial, to watch the stellar line up of bands, who performed in quick succession, as millions more watched around the world on TV."

"We are delighted to be

South Africa - Robe moving lights were again at the hub of the lighting action for a Main Stage design by Johan Ferreira from JSF Productions at the popular 2012 Innibos Festival in South Africa.

The festival recently won a KykNET Fiestas Award for 2011's Best Festival.

The four-day arts and culture extravaganza, held in Nelspruit at the Bergvlam School Grounds, was attended by 120,000 people. Technical production for the Main and Klipdrift stages was supplied by Martindale, Gauteng based rental company Sound Headquarters, and it was Ferreira's seventh year of designing the lighting.

With the additional resonance of the Award win, more audience were expected and the organisers wanted to generally up the ante on the look and feel of the event and in particular the Main Stage, so Ferreira set about designing something special.

The Robe fixtures totalled 52 - a mix of Robin 6

Russia - Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre has undergone a major refurbishment. As well as renovation and construction work, the theatre management decided to invest heavily in state-of-the-art communications equipment.

The nerve centre is the largest RTS professional intercom system for stage management worldwide with six interconnected individual stage-manager systems, and here they were prepared to accept no compromises. For this reason, the Hamburg-based specialist Amptown System Company was charged with the installation.

"The new intercom system had, above all, to guarantee one thing," explains Stefan Thomsen, Amptown System Company's specialist in communications and stage-management systems, "that all those involved in a production would be able to exchange information with each other at any time without any problem."

Furthermore, the system - however comple

UK - A change in the performance schedule of the musical The Lion King during the 2012 Olympics gave entertainment lighting specialist White Light just the window of opportunity it required to replace the entire dimming system at London's Lyceum Theatre - without affecting a single performance of the hit show!

The Ambassadors Theatre Group decided to replace the installation because of concerns about the ongoing availability of spare parts for the Strand LD90s, installed as part of the Lyceum's dramatic reconstruction in 1996. In consultation with White Light, it was decided to replace them with ETC Sensor 3 racks, now convincingly established as the dimmer of choice in the West End with White Light having completed installations at the Piccadilly and the Vaudeville theatres, amongst others.

A like-for-like replacement was decided upon, with White Light supplying four 4

UK - In a summer to remember, Lucozade's YES! Arena played host to many exciting moments. For the YES! Arena festival tour, Lucozade teamed up with five of the biggest music festivals in the UK - to provide high energy music, fun in the sun, and an experience that festival goers are not soon to forget. Entertainment lighting specialist White Light was tapped by brand experience agency TRO to provide lighting, rigging, staging, and power to the Lucozade YES! Arena festival tour.

Fans came to see artists such as Snow Patrol, The Killers, Ed Sheerhan, Nicki Manaj, Florence + The Machine and more, but were pleased to discover the excitement going on in the Lucozade Arena. As visitors showed up to concerts across the UK, they were surprised by Lucozade giveaways, their favourite music, and of course, an impressive light show in the YES! Arena.

With everything ready, the festival to

UK - LED lighting manufacturer, MHA Lighting has announced a new partnership with Jersey-based, LED Lighting Technology, who in 2004 brought LED Lighting to the Channel Islands for the first time.

This new partnership, which sees MHA granting LED Lighting Technology an agreement to distribute MHA's waveguide products throughout the Channel Islands, was formed in response to the rapidly-growing demand for companies to make the switch to energy-efficient LED lighting of high quality and reliability.

LED Lighting Technology's managing director, Paul Couser, says, "As a company at the forefront of this new and pioneering lighting technology, we are constantly looking to partner with the very best major UK manufacturers, to ensure we deliver our customers ultimate quality, reliability and value for money.

"We selected MHA Lighting because of their excellent reputation i

UK - Following the continued success of its audio product lines, professional audio technology company Flare Audio has announced it is to concentrate solely on developing and manufacturing its own brand of audio products, bringing new opportunities to rental partners and distributors worldwide.

Flare's specialist range of products, including the Triwave and Quadhorn ranges, use extensive knowledge of applied physics to create designs based on Nanoflow technology, says the company.

Founded in 2007, Flare's aim is "to set a new standard in professional audio, with both current and upcoming product lines focusing strongly on clarity, tourability and control".

Subsequent development and future products are seeing Flare provide product solutions relevant across the audio market, from touring, live events or studio use, to venues, clubs, pro-audio, DJ and commercial and

UK - The iconic London Hippodrome has been lovingly restored by leisure and gaming entrepreneurs Simon and Jimmy Thomas following a multi-million pound conversion, and reopened it as the Hippodrome Casino.

Aside from the Casino, this landmark venue, operating on five floors at the corner of Leicester Square, incorporates an intimate 182-seat cabaret theatre - The Matcham Room - set at the rear of the venue, on the footprint of the original stage.

The technology infrastructure has been specified and installed by Willow Communications, who challenged Harman Professional UK & Eire distributors Sound Technology with providing a 32-channel Soundcraft digital mixing desk at the 11th hour, after being let down at the last minute by the original manufacturer.

Realising the urgency required, with a show scheduled for that night, Willow MD Stephen Barlow contacted the Letchworth based

USA - The Widener University Pride football team has plenty to be proud of: two NCAA Division III National Championships, reaching the semi-finals three more times, and winning more MAC Championships than any other Middle Atlantic Conference team.

Unfortunately, the aging audio system at the University's Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium was not up to the same championship standards. Plagued by long-standing coverage and sound quality issues, the school's athletic director Jack Shafer called on Widener alumnus Art Kalemkarian, who designed a new system based around Community WET and R-Series all-weather loudspeakers.

The system includes six WET Series W2-2W8 loudspeakers covering the home team's bleachers from atop the press box. The visitor seating and the playing field are covered by a pair of R2-52Z long-throw loudspeakers, also located on the press box roof. The powerful R-Serie

UK - displayLED has revealed its state of the art showroom and industry resource, designed to be Europe's most comprehensive collection of LED video displays. Featuring the latest in innovative LED products from leading manufacturers, The Pixel Depot opened this September at the company's headquarters near Dorking, Surrey, attracting hundreds of decision makers across the AV rental and installation markets.

On display products include solid LED modules and tiles, creative and flexible displays, mesh/curtain products, video controllers, content management software and an impressive LED dance floor. Other features include replicas of digiLED product applications, including the use of wearable LED and incorporation into objects such as a piano, as utilised by a leading US performer.

Also on show is the world's highest resolution commercially available screen. With 1.9mm pixel pit

UK - PLASA 2012 saw a successful final chapter of the show's history at Earls Court, with high quality visitor attendance, a hugely popular Professional Development Programme and a vibrant out-of-hours social schedule - a fitting end to an era before the show begins anew at ExCel London in 2013.

Although the show attracted fewer visitors than last year, following a quiet - and gloriously sunny - Sunday, numbers picked up again for Monday and Tuesday, and after an unusually busy final day the overall visitor attendance reached 11, 500 (subject to ABC audit). Despite anecdotal reports of reduced international turnout, the overseas attendance was in fact a robust 25% of the total footfall, compared with 26% in 2011. The overall response from exhibitors, however, was vintage PLASA - excellent quality visitors and good levels of business - plus a strong sense of the buzz returning to

Germany - Opened in 2010, the Katielli Theater in Dattelnn is the fulfilment of a lifelong dream for actor, singer and dancer, Bernd Julius Arends. Since opening it has proved a favoured venue among artists, with many popular names from the German cabaret and musical community choosing to make appearances there.

The venue, formerly a small art-house/repertory cinema, has recently been upgraded with a new t&mSystems audio system, designed and installed by Muenster-based Prosound Eventservice.

Bernd Arends has performed in large musical productions across Europe for over 20 years, including Beauty and the Beast, Jesus Christ Superstar, My Fair Lady and many others. This has given him a wide experience of the audio system quality he wanted to achieve, but budgets were also an important consideration, as he explained, "to open a private theatre these days

UK - Adlib has made a major commitment to Soundcraft digital control, following up their purchase of three new Vi6 consoles earlier this summer by placing a further order with UK/Eire distributors Sound Technology for four of the new Si Performer digital consoles at this year's PLASA Show.

Launched at the PLASA Show, the Si Performer is a full-featured compact audio console featuring up to 80 inputs to mix and are the first audio consoles to incorporate DMX lighting control - designed for single-operator applications.

Director Dave Kay confirmed that the Liverpool based production company had ordered two Si Performer 2 (with 24 recallable mic pre amps) and two Si Performer 3 (with 32) for rental stock.

"Si Performer 3 can be used as a monitor desk to work alongside our Soundcraft Vi consoles and the Performer 2 will be popular in the corporate world as a FOH desk. We ha

UK - IT and AV rental company, DB Systems, has spent just over £100,000 on 170 LED LCD screens, following increased demand from customers. All the new screens, which are a mix of 55", 47", 42" and 32" in size, are Full HD, while 80 are 3D Smart TVs. The investment takes DB's LED inventory (32" and bigger) to just over 400 units and is part of an ongoing programme to tailor its stock to cater for the waning event industry demand for standard LCD screens.

Early this year, DB purchased top-of-the-range 80-inch LED screens, including touchscreens.

Oliver Richardson, DB's sales and marketing director, said: "The huge advantage of LED technology is how they look on exhibition stands or as digital signage around shows. They're almost like wall paper, which makes them so aesthetically pleasing. Our design agency customers love it when we supply LED

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