Singapore - DPA Microphones has appointed Acoustic & Lighting Systems to handle the distribution of its entire product range in Singapore and Thailand. DPA has also appointed Arcadia Tech as a direct dealer in Singapore. Ken Kimura, managing director of DPA’s APAC office, says: “We are excited to have both companies looking after DPA and are confident this move will benefit more professional users in the regional audio community as our upgraded mics with the CORE by DPA Technology is being introduced in both territories.” Headquartered in Malaysia and with offices in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, Acoustic & Lighting Systems is one of the most prominent audio visual and lighting companies in South East Asia. Established in 1993 as a live sound company, A&L has expanded over the years to encompass broadcast and, more recently, the corporate AV sec
UK - Steeldeck, platforms, staging and seating solutions manufacturer, has secured a new London production facility (see LSi May for more). The new facility is located on the outskirts of London in Erith and will provide over 2300m2 of space, doubling the capacity of the company’s previous base in Bermondsey. Steeldeck has historically been based in central London, but remaining in the heart of the capital had become irrelevant since the separation of the company’s rental and manufacturing arms. Philip Parsons, Steeldeck CEO, comments: “The old premises were very conveniently located near our rental business in London’s Bermondsey, and to various suppliers such as the powder coater, but the a
Europe - A group of professionals from across member organisations, manufacturers and designers in the live entertainment industry had 'a very productive meeting' in Brussels on 17 May on the issue of Stage Lighting with the European Commission, a statement says. The meeting was between representatives of the EU’s Energy & Culture departments, and PEARLE representing its members in all EU states including SOLT/UK Theatre, the trade associations PLASA, VLPT and OETHG, the ALD, IALD and the Association of Swedish Lighting Designers. As a result, the organisations have agreed "to channel our work into seeking to draft a specific, technically based, exemption for lighting uses in the stage and entertainment industries in the new proposed Eco Regulations planned for 2020. This work needs to happen quickly with all collective comments being channelled thro
World - Philips Lighting completed its rebrand to Signify following the company’s Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on 15 May. The name change is set to be implemented in all 70 countries where the company is active by the beginning of 2019. Signify will continue to use the Philips brand for its products under the existing license agreement. Eric Rondolat, CEO of Signify, comments: “The choice of our new company name originates from the way light has become an intelligent language, which connects and conveys meaning. It is a clear expression of our strategic vision and purpose to unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world.” Philips Lighting separated from Royal Philips in 2016 and announced it would change its name in March 2018. The new name satisfies the company’s contractual requirements under the C
USA - Building on the momentum that started with the company’s 2017 move to a larger facility, InterAmerica Stage is rolling out a new brand identity. The new look starts with an updated logo, which embraces the familiar way clients refer to the organisation. “Everybody we work with calls us IA Stage,” says general manager, John Gitzy. “Heck, we even call ourselves IA Stage!” The new logo and branding theme were created by Black’s son, Andrew, who is a professional illustrator and animator. IA Stage has been busy integrating the new brand identity into all facets of the company’s public presence, and to augment the branding efforts, the company launched a new website designed by Designzillas at the end of April, introducing cross-platform functionality and more streamlined user experience. “We want people to visit our website and find something
Europe/USA - Yamaha and Audinate are teaming up to present a free webinar titled Audio Networking For Houses Of Worship, Colleges and Universities on 23 May (Wednesday). The webinar, to be broadcast on ProSoundWeb.com, will examine Dante-enabled solutions for system design, implementation and management for carrying large numbers of audio channels around an auditorium and for distributing audio throughout a campus. Andy Cooper (manager, pro audio application engineering, Yamaha R&D Centre London) and Karl Christmas (technical marketing manager, Yamaha R&D Centre London) will feature alongside Kieran Walsh (Audinate director of application engineering, EMEA). The webinar runs from 6pm CET / 5pm BST / 12pm Eastern Time and 9am US Pacific Time.
Italy - AV technology specialist Peerless-AV has announced a distribution agreement with Milan-based AV distributor AGMultivision for the manufacturer’s complete portfolio, including outdoor displays, indoor kiosks, mounts, trolleys and stands, and accessories. Under the new agreement, AGMultivision will be responsible for sales, marketing, customer support and distribution in Italy. Melinda Von Horvath, vice president of sales and marketing - EMEA, Peerless-AV, comments: “AGMultivision is a perfect partner to help grow our brand awareness, promote our products and expand our customer base throughout Italy. They are a trusted and highly respected distributor with strong sales and support competencies that are fundamental to contributing significant growth for us as a company.” Guido Villa, managing director of AGMultivision, adds: “We are looking for lon
Zambia - Entrepreneur Siddharth Patel wanted his new Fire & Ice Night Club in the heart of Ndola, Zambia’s third largest city, to be truly cutting-edge in technology and aesthetics, so he approached Johannesburg-based lighting sales and installation specialist DWR for ideas and solutions. DWR project manager JP Vernon conducted a site visit, chatted extensively with the client and produced some concepts which they discussed, including the installation of Anolis Arc Source 4 MC luminaires to provide mood lighting. The 28 x ArcSource 4 MCs are installed above the bar, DJ booth and VIP area at the back of the space. They function as striking down-lighters and greatly enhance the ambience of the lively 200 capacity venue. The bar is geared to attract a dynamic community of guests living and working in the city which is also Zambia’s commercial capital and is
USA - Mid South Audio of Georgetown, Delaware, has made a major investment in Nexo’s STM Series modular line array, ordering 98 cabinets in the largest single audio purchase in the company’s history. “We made the decision about a year ago that we needed to add a new line array to our inventory,” states Kevin Short, director of business development, Mid South Audio. “We had been cross renting, and with our business growing, it was time to expand our inventory.” Short said the company started looking closely at five line array manufacturers, receiving live demos and listening to all five rigs. “We were given the opportunity to demo the rigs on gigs before we narrowed the decision down to two. This was going to be the largest single audio purchase in our company’s 29-year history, so we were really serious about what we wanted to come away with. The sound
UK - Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance is to develop a new £3.5m Centre for Digital Creation and Production with investment and support from industry partners, including leading companies such as; Autodesk, Cast, Disguise (formerly d3 Technologies), ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls), Philips Lighting, Robe and White Light. £940k funding for the project was also provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), through its Catalyst Fund. The investment will continue to be monitored by HEFCE’s successor, the Office for Students. The Centre will build on the College’s existing technical production expertise in lighting and sound design, and extend this to include digital & immersive technologies, video design and engineering, content creation and visualisation; leading and influencing the development of advanced technological p
UK - GoboPlus.com has announced its support for the #SaveStageLighting campaign by providing free #SaveStageLighting gobos to performance venues across the UK and Europe. A campaign initiative spearheaded by the Association of Lighting Designers’ Robbie Butler, encouraged theatres and other performance venues across Europe to project a ‘#SaveStageLighting’ gobo on the buildings’ exteriors to raise awareness of the controversial Ecodesign Working Plan 2016-2019. GoboPlus.com gifted 150 metal gobos to ALD members to project on Light Up day on 28 April. The #SaveStageLighting gobos were given to any venue which wanted to take part, and theatres, schools, opera houses and even television studios all over the UK and mainland Europe took up the challenge. The National Theatre, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, Brechin High School, West Yorkshire Playhouse
UK - Production equipment specialist VER has opened its new lighting showspace and pre-visualisation suites. The new facility houses VER's entire product range. It has been built as part of upgrade works at the company’s North London hub and is adjacent to VER’s equipment store. To help launch the new showspace, the company is running a series of open-house events featuring a variety of automated fixtures and lighting effects, including the Minuit Une M-Carré, an innovative new approach to scenographic illumination and effects that will change the way you look at light - exclusively available to rent from VER. Speaking about the new studio, VER’s director of lighting, Europe, David March says, “We’re delighted to be launching our new showspace. The facility allows us to provide crews with hands on testing of both the VER and Aurora product range plus
Greece - Asproulis Experience has become K-array’s distributor in Greece. The Thessaloniki-based company specialises in acoustic measurements, services and installations. It was formed in late 2017 by industry veteran Christos Asproulis. Asproulis comments: “From day one, I sought to work with K-array and become their point of reference in Greece. "K-array’s design and quality sound is something that no one can refute. Our goal is to offer high-end solutions and procure installations all over the Greek territory. With our close relations with our large network of dealers, we will be able to supply K-array in every part of the country.” (Jim Evans)
Slovakia - Green Hippo has appointed City Light Slovakia as its distributor in Slovakia with immediate effect. City Light Slovakia was established in 1993 and in addition to being a distributor, the company offers technology installation and post-warranty services and also has experience in providing operator training; an area in which it will work closely with Green Hippo’s highly regarded HippoSchool and in-house training division. Marek Plancar, owner of cityLight Slovakia, comments: “For us, the distribution of Green Hippo Hippotizer Media Servers opens the door of creativity and offers high-end hardware and software, for great shows. We are glad to become part of the Green Hippo family and its product line of Hippotizer Media Servers - it is the world’s best solution for real-time video playback. We hope that we can begin a positive cooperation as the exclu
USA - Austrian AV technology manufacturer AV Stumpfl has announced the launch of a US subsidiary - AV Stumpfl Inc. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the office will be helmed by managing director Todd Liedahl and supported by a network of distributors, dealers and technology specialists. Fabian Stumpfl, AV Stumpfl GmbH CEO, comments: " The establishment of AV Stumpfl Inc. is a new chapter in our company’s history. Todd is without doubt the perfect choice for the role of managing director. Although our products are already well known in the US market, we feel that there is still a lot of growth potential for both our projection screen and media server systems. He adds: “The USA is obviously of major importance as a trend-setter territory. Professionals from all over the world look to the US for the latest technological trends in the AV and entertainment ind
USA - Theatre Projects is opening an office in Denver on 1 June, the company has announced. Principal Millie Dixon will lead the new office with support from other familiar faces including Aaron Wong and Ali Mignone. The location was chosen for being relatively central to western and mid-western US and for being easy to reach from Los Angeles, Portland, Minneapolis, Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta by plane. With the opening of the new office, Theatre Projects will have five offices worldwide - Denver, Connecticut (South Norwalk), London, Paris, and Shanghai, as well as a representative in Chile. (Jim Evans)
UK - Stage Electrics Group CEO Maria Townsend and marketing director and PLASA chairman Adam Blaxill met with Ashley Fox MEP for the South West to discuss the proposed EU Ecodesign regulations. At the meeting, Blaxill outlined the potential implications, not only for specialist lighting companies like Stage Electrics and their sister company SLX Hire & Events, but also for theatres, social clubs and schools all of whom own equipment which will effectively become obsolete. He comments: “The UK and Europe are world leaders in entertainment lighting, these regulations are a direct threat to our ability to deliver world class entertainment.” Fox, who had already responded to the consultation before meeting the Stage Electrics team, offered insight into the legislative process and promised to continue to raise concerns with the European Commission and lobby for an
China - MA Lighting and Avolites had blocked alleged infringing companies from exhibiting certain products at the recent Guangzhou Entertainment Technology (GET) exhibition after a number of product copyright infringements were identified by both companies and the GET organisers. The move comes shortly after the two stage lighting solutions manufacturers joined forces in a similar action against an alleged counterfeiter at Frankfurt’s Prolight+Sound. Franco Zaghini, director of business development for MA Lighting, and Avolites’ sales director Koy Neminathan led the team to negotiate with alleged counterfeit manufacturers on the show floor and asked them to withdraw all displayed infringing products. Zaghini comments: “On the first day of the show, we sat with the GET organisers to show them all our patents, trademarks and IPs and their authenticity. At t
Stage Invasion - The anti-media campaigner who interrupted SuRie's performance in the Eurovision final managed to invade the stage after climbing into the venue's camera run while being pursued by security. Organisers the European Broadcasting Union said the man - believed to be a so-called "philosopher, activist and DJ" who goes by the name of Dr ACactivism - made his way to the stage via a bridge. "He climbed into the camera run and reached the main stage via the bridge, pursued by security," said a spokesman. "He was removed off stage after seven seconds and was questioned by police. We take security very seriously and an investigation into what happened is already underway." The man previously stormed the stage during the final of The Voice in 2017 and the National Television Awards in January this year. Autism Friendly - The Prin
UK - Keeping up with a hectic workload being experienced across all companies, Blackburn based lighting and video rental specialist the HSL Group has again increased its investment spend to keep up to speed with the newest technologies. “This will help service ongoing and upcoming projects across all sectors - rental & staging, theatre, television, sporting events and concert touring. The rapid pace at which the technology is changing and the fact we want to keep ahead of the game is driving this, together with an increase in demand. It’s vital that we can continue offering our clients the very best options for all of their shows, events and creative projects,” commented HSL’s Simon Stuart. Fixtures like the.Robe MegaPointe and the Martin MAC Encore have really made their mark, together with products from GLP, SGM and Vari*lite. Other top brands on the re
Europe - Lighting control manufacturer Visual Productions has concluded a distribution deal for Belgium with Audio Visual Lighting. Audio Visual Lighting technical manager Luc Buytaert approached Visual Productions to discuss distribution. The timing could not have been better for Visual Productions. For the past months Visual Productions account manager for Belgium, Maarten Donath, has been successfully developing the market working directly with installers, designers and local resellers. It was clear that the interest in and usage of the core products in Belgium was rapidly growing. A full distribution deal was exactly the required next step. AVL is a well-established distribution company serving both the Dutch and French speaking markets in Belgium. Alongside sales manager Yolanda Eliano, Buytaert has built a successful distribution company which has gained an outs
USA – For nearly two decades, ETC’s LDI Student Sponsorship has given students a way to gain experience, make connections and launch a career, and to attend the LDI tradeshow with all expenses paid. Applications for this year’s Sponsorship are available at www.etcconnect.com/LDISponsorship, and due by 8 June 2018. ETC’s LDI Student Sponsorship includes roundtrip airfare to the LDI tradeshow, which will be 19 to 21 October this year, along with hotel accommodation, all meals, a full conference pass, a student reception to meet people in the industry, and exclusive ETC swag. Students in their final year of undergraduate study, graduate students, and students from outside of North America who are studying at the university level at the time of the LDI show, and who are studying lighting design, theatre technology, stage machinery, or closely related fields, are eligible
Slovenia - Cankarjev Dom – Slovenia’s leading cultural and congress centre - has added Robe Spiiders, plus more BMFLs Blades and CycFX8s to its already extensive stock of Robe moving lights which also includes Pointes. They now have around 150 units. The largest of five performance venues in the Cankarjev Dom complex is the 1650 capacity Concert Hall and in addition to these are the foyers and two galleries and conference rooms also used for events. It’s both a co-producing and a receiving house staging a wide variety of shows, events all year round, from opera to dance, popular music to choral, orchestra to drama and everything in between. Some venues and spaces are also hired out for corporate events and conferences. Each venue has its own lighting rig and all of them need dynamic and flexible lighting to deal with the diverse programming, however some kit is a
UK - Full technical service provider Hawthorn has added Barco’s UDX-4K32 large-venue laser projector to its already extensive inventory of high-end projectors. Representing an investment of over £500,000, the company has added six of the units - the flagship of Barco’s UDX laser projector platform - to its fleet. Launched last year, the UDX-4K32 provides 31,000 lumens of light output, 4K resolution, and the specification and performance of high-end laser projection in a compact and easily-transportable chassis. By featuring Constant Light Output (CLO) functionality, the UDX-4K32 also guarantees peace of mind by providing constant brightness and colour reproduction over time. On top of that, the UDX platform offers the widest colour spectrum in the industry. Without compromising on brightness, the UDX colour quality matches the renowned Xenon quality and outperforms the
