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PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

Events

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UK - White Light managing director Bryan Raven has written an open letter asking for support for the supply chain to the live events industry. The London-based supplier, in conjunction with a number of industry colleagues, has outlined a 10 point plan for help needed from the UK Government.
“The live events industry - which includes music, theatre, corporate events, festivals and live broadcasts - was amongst the first to be closed down by the COVID-19 pandemic and will be the last to return to normality,” writes Raven. “This is global issue and I would ask you to take the time to watch this video from the Live Events Coalition in the US which graphically represents the issue for the whole world.”
He continues: “Both the producers of live events but also the suppliers to live events need help. It is critical to consider the entire ecology of the live events s

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USA - As part of Meyer Sound’s ongoing webinar education programme, today (15 May), company president & CEO John Meyer will present From Apocalypse Now to Bluehorn at 9:00 PST (16:00 GMT).
The one-hour presentation traces Meyer Sound’s innovative development path in the world of cinema, post-production and residential from the company’s early days collaborating with Francis Ford Coppola to today’s Bluehorn System.
“Education has always been a pillar of the holistic Meyer Sound core brand philosophy of sharing knowledge. Recent events have put the spotlight on the importance of offering our public training not just with in-person seminars but via online platforms,” comments John McMahon, Meyer Sound senior vice president of sales and marketing. “Our global team was quick to respond to the need by curating an informative and engaging programme.
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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UK - Technical entertainment charity Backup will be holding a virtual pub quiz on Friday 15 May to raise money for the charity.
Backup provides financial support to industry technical professionals working in live events, theatre, TV and film who have fallen ill, been injured or are suffering from mental health problems. The charity provides a range of services including financial support, advice and re-training, and the organisation is working harder than ever to support those in need during the COVID-19 crisis.
Tom Wilkes of Collaborative Creations will be hosting the quiz at 8pm on Friday 15 May, which will be taking place via Zoom, and all industry members, friends and family are welcome to take part and compete for some fantastic prizes.
Backup Trustee Lee Dennison said: “Unfortunately due to the coronavirus outbreak our annual fundraising extravaganza

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UK - Martin Audio’s first virtual tradeshow takes place on Wednesday 20 May, with registration slots throughout the day filling up fast.
Much like Martin Audio’s Open Days, the virtual tradeshow will offer an overview of the portfolio suitable for end users, distributors, rental companies and integrators. The event will be webinar-based across three time slots on Wednesday 20 May to ensure that people in different time zones can come together for the show. Each session will last for 90 minutes with the first starting at 7.30am BST, followed by a second at 10.00am BST and a final session beginning at 5.00pm BST.
“We’ve been delighted with the response so far,” says Dom Harter, managing director at Martin Audio. “With over 500 registrants to date this is fast becoming an excellent opportunity for us to guide people through our portfolio and to help attendees

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USA - For 11 years, country music lovers in the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix, have gathered for the KNIX BBQ and Beer Festival, enjoying on stage performances, along with things like a petting zoo, games and popular food pits. With this year’s live event postponed, HDE Agency, its organiser, has moved the festival online with a series of five livestreamed Saturday shows.
They don’t have a petting zoo (viewers will have to rely on their own dogs and cats for that), and they’re not cooking up any finger licking good treats, but the livestreams are offering generous servings of country music. Supporting these performances are a John Garberson-designed lightshow that features Chauvet Professional Maverick and Rogue fixtures supplied by Creative BackStage. (Pro Production provided the audio.)
Taking place on a temporary stage in a converted studio in the Creative Backst

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UK - Global Infusion Group’s catering divisions GIG and Eat to the Beat are usually in action at venues, TV studios and event sites all over the world feeding the stars. With theatres, arenas and convention centres closed and concerts, sporting events, festivals, conferences, live performances and filming on hold due to the coronavrus pandemic, the award winning company has quickly adapted its operations to deliver catering to the NHS and other keyworkers on the frontline during this extraordinary time.
Working together, GIG and Eat to the Beat have been catering for 15 NHS and key workers sites across Buckinghamshire. This includes two hospitals, outreach sites and the IT department, delivering between five and 200 meals per day, Monday to Friday, with a top up on Fridays to ensure people have access to food across the weekend. In addition, GIG and Eat to the Beat support

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Europe - Panasonic has withdrawn from IBC 2020 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in September later this year. Instead, the organisation is focusing on supporting its partners and customers through its online initiatives, with the launch of its own Technology Experience Zone to help share expertise and information for the industry.
“It has been a very difficult decision. As much as we look forward each year to welcoming visitors at this important industry event, we must prioritise the well-being of our staff, partners and attendees,” states André Meterian, director of the Professional Video Systems Business Unit for EMEA.
“In the meantime, we will focus on creating additional activities and work with partners and industry leaders to continuously develop new content for our Technology Experience Zone, including live streaming, webinars, video podcasts and training.

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South Africa - Carolyn Steyn, South African philanthropist, actress, founder of 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day and Classic FM1027 radio host personality, has donated R100,000 (around £4,400) to the Feed Our Crew initiative established to help theatre and entertainment crew and freelancers who most need assistance.
As an accomplished actress, Carolyn was concerned about the welfare of the theatre crew, especially after the lock-down in South Africa was extended. The entertainment business has been one of the hardest hit industries in the country. When Carolyn saw a Facebook post by one of her friends, Debra Batzofin, theatre practitioner in the industry for the past 46 years, it ultimately enabled her to pay it forward.
“Carolyn immediately assisted me, and we were able to feed

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UK - For the first time in its 150-year history, the Royal Albert Hall will play host to a special concert behind closed doors. For the event, which will mark the VE Day 75th anniversary on Bank Holiday, Friday 8 May, international Mezzo Soprano Katherine Jenkins OBE will perform on the Royal Albert Hall stage to an empty auditorium. The half-hour concert will be streamed to audiences around the world via YouTube at 6pm BST and is the first performance of the #RoyalAlbertHome series to come from the Hall itself. It follows on from the singer’s successful at home lockdown concerts which have amassed over 2 million streams to-date.
This unique concert is made possible by funding from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, as part of #LondonTogether, and will be introduced with a video message from the Mayor. #LondonTogether invites Londoners to highlight great examples of positive

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USA - Atlona will launch AtlonaComm 20, a month-long virtual tradeshow experience beginning 1 June on Atlona’s website. The online event will offer a schedule of product offerings, training and education experiences, and personalised meeting opportunities for customers, partners and other visitors.
AtlonaComm 20 represents Atlona’s proactive response to COVID-19-related event disruption, including the cancellation of InfoComm 2020, as well as general business travel and in-person sales visits. Atlona hatched its plans for an online event back in early March as the magnitude of the rapidly-evolving health crisis unfurled.
“We wanted to provide guests with a tradeshow experience that closely resembles the experience of being there,” says Ilya Khayn, CEO of Atlona. “We took a proactive approach in creating a virtual, interactive event to share our latest innovat

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UK - PLASA is calling for UK-based entertainment industry professionals from all sectors to write to their local MP highlighting the challenges the industry has faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The action forms part of the #EventsForTheFuture initiative, launched by the ABTT, PSA, PLASA, SOLT and UK Theatre, which aims to increase the visibility of the events and entertainment industries and campaign for further support.
To make it simple to contact their local representative, the organisations have created four letter templates suitable for businesses, employees, freelancers, and one-person limited companies. The templates are freely available to download on each association’s websites – head over to www.plasa.org/coronavirus-mp-letter-templates to downl

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Latvia - With a warehouse full of touring gear grounded by Covid 19, Latvian rental company, 3S SIA quickly transformed its Riga headquarters into a fully equipped livestream performance space, including Allen & Heath dLive and Avantis systems.
Created in partnership with local broadcaster, TVNET, the resulting 3S Lockdown Sessions have reached tens of thousands of isolating music fans each week since they debuted in March, with livestreamed performances by popular artists including Latvian Blues Band, Aminata, Samanta Tina, Lauris Valters, Ozols, Indygo and Riga Reggae.
When devising a mixing system for the sessions, the 3S team did not have to look any further than its own extensive Allen & Heath inventory, which includes four dLive systems. A dLive S7000 Surface was paired up with a DM64 MixRack to mix the broadcast, with a gigaACE split enabling conn

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South Africa - Feed Our Crew, the South African fundraising initiative for freelance live event technicians, has received hundreds of applications as well as generous support from companies and individuals in the two weeks since it was launched.
Feed Our Crew, working in collaboration with People4Purpose, offers financial support to out-of-work crew through donations and was launched in response to slow state emergency funding payments.
Donations are converted into 1000.00 ZAR vouchers (around £50), which are distributed to qualifying recipients via their mobile phones. This is calculated to provide enough funding to support a family’s fundamental needs for a month.
The vouchers are redeemable at the major retailers ShopRite / Checkers and can be used to buy groceries, medication plus other essential utilities.
DWR Distribution has been one of the key sp

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UK/France - Showlight 2021, scheduled to take place May 2021 in Fontainebleau, France, has been postponed until further notice due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. First held in 1981 at London’s Barbican Centre and usually taking place every four years, the enduringly popular lighting event is renowned for its industry-leading programme of papers presented by the great and good of the lighting industry, along with its often unique setting and many networking opportunities.
A statement from Showlight reads: “This has been an extremely difficult decision, which has been made in view of both the immediate effects and anticipated recovery period that will be needed by companies and individuals across the industry in the coming months.
“The state of the lighting industry, the probable extension of restrictions on gatherings and the effect that this is having on the

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The Audio Engineering Society has begun to announce programme details for the upcoming Virtual Vienna Convention, including three keynote lectures and the Heyser Presentation.
As a result of circumstances dictating the move of the convention to an online format, the Audio Engineering Society is bringing the AES Europe Convention directly to virtual attendees around the globe, with keynotes from AES Fellow Jamie Angus (University of Salford), Marisa Hoeschele (Acoustics Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences) and Franz Zotter (Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Arts and Music, Graz), as well as this year’s Heyser Presentation by AES Fellow Francis Rumsey (technical consultant, author).
Additional details on the AES Virtual Vienna Convention Technical Programme, including topics and events, paper presentations, workshops, tutorials, posters,

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USA - Demonstrating creativity and resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stampede is turning its Cleveland, Ohio Big Book of AV tour stop into a live virtual event on 14 May that will feature pre-arranged one-to-one manufacturer-reseller focused virtual sessions on Stampede’s new COVID-19 business engagement platform.
“Nothing is going to get in the way of Stampede helping its resellers to succeed in this challenging business environment,” Stampede president & CEO Kevin Kelly says. “Resellers all across North America rely upon Stampede to provide them with the latest new products, business development programs and training that will enable them to take their businesses to a higher level of success. In the current environment, we are pivoting to virtual events to meet our resellers’ needs.”
Cleveland will be the first of several virtua

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UK - Le Mark Group has switched its production focus from its well-known Road Case and Cable Label labels to a new range of tapes and heavy-duty floor stickers aimed at helping shops and places of work adjust to new social distancing requirements brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
From hazard tapes reminding people to keep a safe 2m distance apart, to floor stickers directing people where to stand and wait whilst shopping, the full range can be found online HERE.
Meanwhile, the popular Dirty Rigger line has been reconfigured and is now producing PPE equipment including PVC face masks and aprons. 
MD Stuart Gibbons comments: "We wanted to be able to support the NHS and care workers as much as possible. We'

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USA - Following the success of ADJ’s first run of Stay Connected educational live video broadcasts, the company has announced that more have been planned. Covering a wide variety of lighting-related topics, and including panel sessions with industry leaders, the next wave of broadcasts will take place twice each week throughout May and into June.
Each new instalment of Stay Connected will have a particular focus and provide an opportunity for lighting and event professionals to upskill from the safety and comfort of their own homes or offices. Some will take a deep dive into a specific piece of software or technology, while others will cover a more general topic. All the sessions are designed “to teach, equip and inspire”.
Broadcast via Facebook Live, the videos will also feature interactive elements allowing viewers to ask questions directly to the

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USA/Europe - A group of industry manufacturers, including Audio Ltd., Ambient, dB Audio, DPA Microphones, Lectrosonics, K-Tek, Sonosax, Sound Devices, Bubblebee Industries, Schoeps, Ursa Straps, and Viviana Straps are offering a new-product based virtual event.
Virtual Sound Summit 2020 is a two-day virtual event featuring a number of new product and technology announcements that would have taken place at the 2020 NAB Show.
Say the organisers, “Presentations will be of interest to location sound and production professionals, chief engineers, news technicians, ENG crews, camera operators, network executives and other audio professionals in the field. This marks the first virtual Sound Summit, a series of educational presentations aimed at joining audio professionals together to collaborate and discuss audio production tools and techniques.”
The summit is sched

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UK - A group of associations have launched the #EventsForTheFuture initiative in a bid to amplify the calls for better government support for the hard-hit events sector during the COVID-19 crisis.
#EventsForTheFuture is a collaboration between the Association for British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA), Production Services Association (PSA), the Society Of London Theatres (SOLT), and UK Theatre. The bodies, which together represent over 3,000 businesses and individuals, have issued a joint call to events and entertainment industry professionals asking them to write to their MPs to highlight the government support needed in order to safeguard the future of the sector.
“The overall aim is to ensure events and entertainment are protected in the long term," says a statement. "Providing consistent messaging to government

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Europe - As much of the world follows safe-at-home and social distancing guidelines and mandates, the Audio Engineering Society is bringing the AES Europe Convention directly to attendees.
Originally scheduled to take place in Vienna, Austria, the AES Virtual Vienna Convention in now set for 2-5 June 2020, with an online format.
The event is billed as “a front-row-seat to the AES event experience, utilising live streaming, on-demand audio/video/multimedia presentations, interactive Q&A and forum dialogues to realise the personal connection and emotional feedback that is at the heart of AES live events”.
The AES Virtual Vienna Convention will explore “a gamut of audio engineering science, application and technology with presentations from some of the leading minds in the industry”.
Further details on the AES Virtual Vienna Convention, which will

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UK - Martin Audio plans to host ‘a dedicated virtual tradeshow’, putting the spotlight on the new additions to its portfolio.
Like the company’s Open Days, the virtual event will offer an overview of the portfolio suitable for end users, distributors, rental companies and integrators. The event will be webinar-based across a number of time slots on Wednesday 20 May to ensure that people in different time zones can come together for the show.
“These are unprecedented times for the pro audio industry, and we want to play our role in helping industry professionals to stay active, connected and informed,” says Dom Harter, managing director at Martin Audio. “The webinars will last for about 90 minutes, and I will be joined by colleagues to talk people through our portfolio and to help attendees find the right product for different applications and budgets.”

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UK - Fairport Convention’s annual Cropredy Convention in Oxfordshire and The Eden Sessions in Cornwall are the latest major music events to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic. Both are being rescheduled for 2021.
Since its first staging in 1980, the Cropredy festival has taken place annually since on farmland near Banbury, Oxfordshire.
This year’s three-day event had been scheduled to take place on 13-15 August. It will now be staged over 12, 13 and 14 August 2021 (the equivalent weekend) on its usual site.
The line-up of acts will be carried forward: artists booked to appear this year have agreed to switch to 2021. Highlights include Trevor Horn Band, Clannad, Steve Hackett – Genesis Revisited, Richard Thompson, Matthews Southern Comfort and host band Fairport Convention.
Tickets purchased for Cropredy 2020 remain valid for the rescheduled fest

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South Africa - Days before lockdown, thousands of fans gathered at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria to celebrate the 2020 edition of RAMfest, South Africa’s music festival for all things alternative.
This years’ line up included some of South Africa’s most popular alternative bands, including Facing the Gallows, Peasant, Man as Machine, Newtown Knife Gang, The Valley, Stoker, and Truth & It’s Burden. Highlights of the event included a much-anticipated reunion show by South African rock legends, The Van Coke Kartel and USA-based death metal giants, The Black Dahlia Murder, who headlined the one-day festival.
Festival organisers Real Alternative Music (RAM) once again contracted Stage Effects and Blue Array Productions to provide technical services for the event. Stage Effects’ Erik de Bruin has been working with RAM on the festival for several years a
  1. Edinburgh Fringe 2020 cancelled due to Covid-19
  2. AES Vienna convention cancelled
  3. InfoComm 2020 cancelled due to Covid-19
  4. Isle of Wight & Download festivals cancelled
  5. Knight of Illumination Awards 2020 postponed
  6. Industry rallies to offer training during COVID crisis
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