UAE / Oman - Melody House, distributors of Radial Engineering in the GCC have recently supplied a number of Radial direct injection (DI) units that include the popular J48. Talentz have continued to invest in their rental inventory, as Oman has now become a permanent stop for many artists visiting the Middle East region. The company has also broadened their service coverage where they have recently provided their services for the A.R. Rahman concert in Dubai.

"Radial DI boxes are an industry standard in the touring market, with a lot of international acts visiting the Middle East it is crucial for companies like Talentz to have them in their inventory," commented Dino Drimakis, business development manager at Melody House. "We expect to see the family of Radial users to grow in 2012."

(Jim Evans)

UK - The free programme of demonstrations, seminars and tutorials at PLASA's Leeds event is even bigger and better this year as visitor registration doubles in size.

PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012 looks forward to welcoming a record number of visitors to the fourth annual PLASA Focus event at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 April - as PLASA Events confirm that visitor registration to date is already up 100% on 2011. Building on the success of the two-day educational programme from previous years, PLASA Events is delighted to announce the launch of the new PLASA Focus Professional Development Programme: a series of free seminars and demonstrations delivered by some of the industry's leading experts.

Events manager Sophie Atkinson confirmed, "As promised, we are bringing a broad choice of sessions to Leeds, including a look at some exciting regional pr

Live News - Madonna has announced the dates for her latest world tour, which will start in Israel in May. The 53-year-old will play two dates in the UK, while the tour will also visit South America and Australia, where she has not performed in 20 years. The announcement comes days after the singer performed during half time at the US Super Bowl. A record 111.3m people tuned in for the game. Madonna's 12 minute performance received mixed reviews.

According to Nielsen, the company that tracks TV viewing figures, the football game was the most watched show in US history. However, TV network NBC and the National Football League (NFL) apologised on behalf of rapper M.I.A, who appeared as a featured artist during Madonna's set. The British hip hop musician raised her middle finger whilst facing the camera during the performance. The picture was temporarily scrambled, but it came too l

UK / USA - By Design Day, the annual fundraising day for Light Relief in the UK and Behind the Scenes in the US and Canada, takes place this year on Tuesday 24 April on both sides of the Atlantic.

The main fundraising event for these charities, By Design Day focuses attention on the various ways that individuals can support the two organisations that are dedicated solely to helping entertainment technology professionals in need. Many make personal donations, some hold collections at their places of work and often designers support the day by voluntarily giving a day's royalties to one or both of these charities. Light Relief assists those involved in the UK lighting industry while Behind the Scenes aids professionals based in the US and Canada working in any area of the entertainment technology industry.

By Design Day 2012 has the full backing of a host of award-winning design

UK - Events crewing firm Gallowglass has entered into a joint venture with Kirsten Henson, managing director of KLH Sustainability. A new company, Gallowglass Sustainability, has been launched to assist clients, suppliers and contractors in making cost savings and improving public relations through events planned with environmental and social considerations.

Gallowglass managing director Nick Grecian said, "Clients such as the BBC and Eve Trakway have already pledged to embed sustainability throughout their organisations' working practices, and we are committed to sharing their values. As a company, we have already achieved BS8901 and ISO14001, but we need to take this to the next level. Kirsten Henson is ideally-placed to ensure that sustainability policies convert into practical reality throughout the supply chain."

Kirsten Henson has been providing consultancy in

Grammy Awards - Adele was the big winner at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, winning six prizes including record, song and album of the year. She also made her live comeback at the ceremony, performing for the first time since having throat surgery last year. Rock band Foo Fighters won five prizes, while rapper Kanye West scooped four. The event saw heartfelt tributes to pop star Whitney Houston, who died on Saturday, while Amy Winehouse received a posthumous award.

Accepting the trophy for best pop solo performance for her song Someone Like You, Adele said, "Seeing as it's a vocal performance, I need to thank my doctors, I suppose, who brought my voice back."

Theatre Opening - A replacement for the old Westminster Theatre will finally open this autumn. The St James Theatre will launch at the end of September, housed in a residential development near t

UK - Newly formed installation business, Push the Button Ltd (PTB), launched in January 2012, is the brainchild of Nick Ewins.

"PTB's full time staff members, alongside our team of skilled specialist electricians and engineers, bring a friendly, expert approach to the demands of entertainment installation projects. Whether it's a top West End theatre, a cruise ship or a multipurpose arts venue, PTB understands the client's needs and has the ability to respond productively and positively every time," says Ewins. "This philosophy has brought work to our doors from the moment we opened them for business."

Push the Button's mission is "to bring an intelligent and sympathetic approach to its clients' projects". The business covers the fields of electrical design, installation, project management and test & inspection.

Although PTB is effectively a st

UK - Venue IT, the permanent infrastructure division of Etherlive, has strengthened its ties to the hotel industry with its appointment by The Cumberland hotel, The Tower and Marble Arch.

The landmark London hotel has chosen Venue IT as its technology provider for meetings & events. The appointment follows discussions looking at the longer term conferencing needs for the award winning hotel.

Following a £95m refurbishment, The Cumberland is now looking to assert itself in the lucrative corporate events market set to be stimulated by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

Venue IT will provide high-speed Internet connectivity which can be accessed throughout the hotel's 26 meeting & event spaces, including the ultra modern Ocean Room, which has a capacity of up to 350 people. The enhanced communications infrastructure will support innovations such as dedicated

USA - Moving to provide its consolidated international distributor network with a new level of training support, The AVC Group has announced the roll out of a comprehensive 2012 training programme that combines trade show, internet, and field based classes into one comprehensive global training initiative.

According to Ken Johnsen, international training manager at The AVC Group, the new programme was rolled out last month at ISE 2012 and featured brand specific training on the ELAN, Niles, Xantech, Sunfire, and ATON brands. "Over a five day period we trained a large percentage of our European distributor partners and their trainers on every aspect of each brand's product line," Johnsen stated. "We are now taking this same integrated approach and bringing it to every part of the world."

The entire focus of The AVC Group's international education effort, Joh

World - wysiwyg, the previsualization suite from CAST Software of Toronto, is on the current Roxette world tour.

Roxette began their current tour in February 2011, their first world tour since 1995, and have so far visited Europe, Russia, South America, and South Africa, with the 2012 leg covering Asia, Australia and Scandinavia, for a total of over 120 performances.

Calle Brattberg is the lighting designer, set designer, programmer, and operator for the tour, as well as creator of the wysiwyg design used for lighting the show.

The main lighting for the Fall leg of the tour was supplied by Starlight in Sweden, consisting of 40 Martin MAC 2000 Wash, 39 Vari*lite VL3000 Spots, 11 Vari*lite VL2500 Spots, 10 SGM Ribaltas, 11 Cromlech JARAGs, 14 Martin MAC 301 LED washes and 18 2-lights by James Thomas Engineering. Brattberg's own company, LXworks, is the supplier of the MA2 ligh

Park Life - The number of concerts held at Hyde Park has been cut from 13 a year to nine after complaints from residents. Westminster Council has also decided to reduce the number of people who can attend the events, from 80,000 to 65,000, and in some cases to 50,000.The changes come into effect next year. Hyde Park's licence to host events came under review after complaints about noise almost doubled since 2008.

The staging of live Olympics screenings and concerts planned for 2012 were not included in the review and the council agreed that an 18-day series of concerts will be held in the park to celebrate the Games and events related to the Queen's Jubilee.

Councillor Audrey Lewis, Westminster Council's Licensing chairman, said, "We have a duty to balance the needs of local residents with the desire of concert organisers to hold events and the compromise that the committ

South Africa - Gareth Chambers has joined DWR Distribution to assist with technical support.

Chambers worked at AV Tech for nine years where he was in charge of the lighting department and managed the crew. In October last year he started freelancing.

"I enjoyed the lighting aspect of a show, the creativity involved," said Gareth. "But I'm looking forward to being in an environment that's a bit more structured."

Meanwhile, DWR Distribution bids farewell to JC Du Plessis who has joined Multi-Media.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Lighting and visuals rental company HSL has acquired a new 240,000sq.ft warehouse and office premises very close to their current HQ in Blackburn, Lancashire. This will quadruple the current space and is currently being prepared to be fully operational by summer 2012.

HSL's business has expanded exponentially over the last four years and the company has completely outgrown the current building in Ribble Business Park and a second adjacent unit that came on stream two years ago.

In the new premises, there will also be room for future expansion into the rest of the space once the initial 165,000sq.ft 'phase one' development is complete.

Features in the new space will include a large technical department, complete with climate controlled test rooms from +85 to minus 20 degrees - including an anechoic chamber (dead room) - to enable the extreme soak testing of all products

South Africa - Nick Barnes has joined DWR Distribution in Durban. From 2006 to 2008, Barnes studied Entertainment Technology at the Durban University of Technology, and often helped out at Black Coffee during this time. In his final year he got involved with Gearhouse Durban and proceeded to join the company as junior lighting technician and lighting workshop manager. He was only 20 years old at the time.

"I got behind Jason Fritz who was then at Gearhouse, and he and Simon Hampton mentored me," recalls Barnes. "I obviously learned all I could about lighting, rigging and power. Offer Lapid was really good to me as was Stuart Andrews, who was the branch manager at the time."

Barnes then took a sales position at Electronic SA Durban Branch where he stayed for close to two years.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Experts behind the triumphant restoration of Newcastle's Theatre Royal will disclose the secrets of the project's success at PLASA Focus, Leeds on Tuesday 17 April. The seminar, which kicks off at 1pm in the Bury Theatre, forms part of the new PLASA Focus Professional Development Programme. It will see Jon Woodley of Charcoalblue Theatre Consultants heading up an expert panel comprising: Peter Hall from Sansome Hall Architects, Theatresearch's David Wilmore and Mark Priestley from Unusual Rigging.

Following an extensive £5m restoration project, Newcastle's Theatre Royal reopened its doors to the public on Monday 12 September 2011. The complex renovation drew on all aspects of the Charcoalblue team's theatrical expertise as Woodley explains, "The scope of the restoration for this Grade I listed theatre was particularly ambitious. It included complete internal rede

UK - The fifth Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) 2012 is open for nominations and industry professionals from all sectors are invited to get involved.

Organised by the STLD, ALD and Clay Paky, KOI is the only industry event that celebrates the outstanding creative achievements of lighting designers working in the sectors of Television, Theatre and Rock. At the same time it forges closer ties between the world of lighting design and the lighting industry as a whole.

Each sector is assessed by its own panel of industry experts and breaks down into a number of categories:

Television - Light Entertainment, Drama, Small Studio and Events

Rock - Stage events, Arena events and Eco Innovation

Theatre - Dance, Opera, Play and Musicals

Already nominations are flowing in from lighting designers, service providers, production managers, technicians, TV fans,

UK - PLASA Events is pleased to announce its second regional event in North America, PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012, to be held July 11-12, 2012 at the Municipal Auditorium, in Nashville, TN.

Nashville is the latest event to be launched under the PLASA Focus banner, and follows the popular PLASA Focus: Austin, to be held February 22-23 in Texas. The show will run prior to the annual Summer NAMM event, bringing together industry professionals from around the world.

Modelled after PLASA Focus: Leeds (UK), which topped 2000 visitors and broke previous attendance records in its third year, the PLASA Focus series of events in North America will bring regional entertainment technology communities together to do business and network in a relaxed and friendly setting.

Each two-day PLASA Focus show is free to registered visitors, and a unique inclusive hard wall booth package - includin

Germany - 2012 sees German smoke machine manufacturer Look Solutions celebrating its 15th anniversary, proudly selling their German-made fog and haze generators to professionals worldwide.

Instigated by Kirsten Eicher and originally operating from an office and small workshop storing and dispatching a small product range, Look Solutions soon found it necessary to move in into its own large premises in Ronnenberg/Hannover. Now, with distributors in more than 31 countries and a subsidiary in the US, Look Solutions is a truly global company.

Part of its success is derived from the close working relationship between the production, consultation & sales and service departments which all share the same premises. "This enables fast and constant communication creating the ideal conditions for the development of innovative products, allowing the designers to respond quickly to cus

UK - The Hire Company's South coast office has moved to custom built freehold units on the new Christchurch Business Park, Radar Way, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 4FL. The new home for The Hire Co. more than doubles the storage and equipment preparation space, allowing the company to set up and fully test larger projectors and demonstrate its larger equipment to customers.

Manager Scott Clarke commented, "This eagerly awaited move will help The Hire Co. to deliver an even more efficient service to our hire and conference customers. Last year saw us service a record number of events, producing record turnover. This has seen continued investment in more equipment, the latest delivery of our new 16,000 ANSI lumens Panasonic PT-EX16 Projectors, pushing our old unit to breaking point.

"Whereas parking and loading in our old premises was a chore, this is not the case at Chris

UK - The PLASA 2012 free registration offer ends in just under 48 hours! Over 9,000 people have taken advantage of the free registration offer for this year's PLASA 2012, taking place at Earls Court in London from 9 - 12 September. Register before midnight on the 29th February and save £20 on the standard ticket price.

All previous PLASA Show visitors have been sent this special offer via email, and free registration for new visitors is live at www.plasashow.com

(Claire Beeson)

South Africa / UK - Two female members of the South African Roadies Association (SARA); Nomsa Ndlovu (26) from Zola, Soweto and Nonhlanhla Bonongo (28) from Emdeni, Soweto - will join SARA president Freddie Nyathela in attending The National Skills Academy Creative & Cultural (NSA) Annual Industry Conference 2012, which takes place at The Lowry in Salford, Manchester on 6-7 March 2012.

The Conference will bring together professionals from the Creative and Cultural industries from all over the UK, to discuss how to work better in collaboration with young people and education, and explore the real return on investment in skills, and what impact this is having on the sector. John Hayes MP (Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning) will be the keynote speaker, and he will be joined by some of the most influential figures from the creative and cultural se

UK - Backstage Academy has announced the last few remaining places on its Stage Pyrotechnics course on Monday 5 March.

The one-day course is one of a few approved by The Association of Stage Pyrotechnicians and completion of the course will assist with membership of the association, by allowing one year's free membership upon joining.

The course, which provides an overview of different pyrotechnic devices, their uses and the relevant health and safety, is delivered at Backstage Academy in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The day culminates in students helping to produce a pyrotechnics display in the LS-Live studio, a 17,500sq.ft space that is normally used for the production rehearsals of internationally recognised touring artists.

Backstage Academy will also be running the following courses in March: ProTools 101 course - 5 March; Vivien Basic - 15 March; Vivien Advanced - 16 Mar

Arts Funding - Investment by businesses in the arts has dropped to its lowest level for seven years, despite a government drive to encourage philanthropy. Companies gave £134m in the financial year 2010/11, according to Arts and Business, which compiled the figures. That is £10m down on the previous year and the lowest since 2003/4. But overall investment in the arts, including money from private donors and trusts and foundations, rose by £28.5m to £686m, Arts and Business said. The charity, which aims to connect cultural organisations with donors, said individuals gave £382m in 2010/11, up £23m on the previous year. Investment from trusts and foundations rose from £155m to £170m.

Anarchy In The UK - The Sex Pistols have signed a record deal with Universal, it has been announced. An "expanded and repackaged edition"

UK - On Friday 22 June a group of intrepid motorbike riders hailing from all sectors of the entertainment technology industry will set off from the Royal Albert Hall in London for a four-day open-air tour of England's green and pleasant A-Roads.

Their mission? To raise as much money as possible for industry charity The Theatrical Guild (TTG), the only charity dedicated to looking after the interests of backstage and Front of House personnel.

"2012 marks the third First Night Riders event and we're hoping to make it the most successful and fun ride yet," says organiser David Edelstein, who is a keen biker and managing director of stage engineering company Triple E. "It's important that we value the help charities like The Theatrical Guild provide. TTG is the only charity in the UK available to anyone who works, or has worked in theatre - backstage or front of hou

Latest Issue. . .