Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025

General

Details
USA - PixMob, a Montreal-based company designing crowd experiences through LED wearables, won the new Sustainability Award at this year’s LDI for the PixMob Recycling Programme.
Since the beginning of the programme in 2018 with Taylor Swift’s Reputation stadium tour, PixMob successfully recycled over 1m wristbands, an initiative recognised by the LDI Awards panel.
“It’s an honour for us to receive this award because the Recycling Programme represents the first step in our plan to reduce our environmental impact and eliminate single-use plastics in our supply chain,” explains Jean-Olivier Dalphond, president of PixMob. “To achieve this milestone, we had to reinvent how we work, from our deployment of the Recycling Programme at venues to our message to the audience.
“Artists have also sought to be involved and get the fans behind the effort. As a resu

Details
South Africa - The South African Communications Industries Association (SACIA) has announced that the Council of Events Professionals Africa (CEPA) will be reconstituted as a special interest group under the SACIA umbrella.
CEPA was established in 2014 as the events industry’s professional body to develop and award professional designations to individuals working in the events industry. Originally formed as a three-way partnership between the Exhibition and Event Association of Southern Africa (EXSA), the International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) Africa and the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI), the Council (CEPA) has broad buy-in from members of all three associations, and the CEPA Board members appointed by the founding associations will continue to oversee activities through their appointment to a governing council.
SACIA

Details
Festive Spirit - Theatre Royal Stratford East will make its pantomime available for streaming to local hospitals and care homes. Its production of Dick Whittington will be captured live at the venue and made available for streaming to hospitals, hospices and care homes in east London and Essex. The initiative expands on a 2017 scheme in which Rapunzel was made available to three organisations in and around the area.
TRSE head of learning and participation Flo Paul said: “We’re delighted to be able to offer this streaming service to people in our local community who are not able to make it to Theatre Royal Stratford East to see our much-loved annual panto. This year we are expanding the offer to adults in care homes, as well as children in hospices and hospitals. At Stratford East, we believe it’s vital to offer a range of opportunities for people of all a

Details
USA - Behind the Scenes has announced that J-4 Design has become a Pledge-a-Service partner by pledging to donate a percentage of their fees from theatrical lighting equipment repair to the charity. This represents a percentage of the gross labour charges from every repair order or outsourcing contract.
J-4 Design focuses on architectural and theatrical systems sales and equipment repair services and work on all types of architectural and theatrical systems.
On announcing the pledge, founder Scott ‘Scooter’ Wasserberg states: “I’m doing this because I was once in pain and dealing with my own personal mental health crisis and trying to find ways to pay the bills and find a new job and just not feel down. Our Pledge-a-Service commitment speaks to the heart of the company’s mission, to build partnerships and find solutions. Behind the Scenes provides solutions

Details
Call to Arms - Industry leaders including National Theatre bosses Rufus Norris and Lisa Burger and Bristol Old Vic’s artistic director Tom Morris are calling on the sector to band together to fight for increased arts investment from a new government. They have issued the call to arms in an attempt to undo the effects of austerity-era cuts.
Their demands for increased arts funding from central government come alongside warnings that the regional theatre sector could “fall over” if support does not increase, and that the crisis facing organisations nationwide is “sharper and more acute” than has so far been publicly acknowledged.
As the UK prepares to head to the polls and with both Labour and the Conservatives promising a boost to public spending, theatre bosses have claimed now is the moment for a major policy shift around arts funding.
Morris said: “

Details
Record Breaker - At the American Music Awards, Taylor Swift was presented with the Artist of the Decade award by singer-songwriter Carole King who commended Swift for the strength of her lyrics, and the relatability of her music, predicting: "The best is yet to come." In turn, Swift acknowledged the impact King's music had had on her parents and her family, saying it was every musician's goal "to create something that will last".
The career-spanning honour wasn't Swift's only award at the ceremony - she picked up another five competitive awards, including artist of the year. That brings her total tally of AMA trophies to 29 - breaking a record held by Michael Jackson, who received 24 American Music Awards.
Secondary Ticketing - Andrew Lloyd Webber is joining forces with ticket resellers Twickets in a bid to beat touts. The theatrical grandee, whose LW playhouses

Details
USA - ETC continued its commitment to caring for entertainment technology professionals in need by presenting a cheque to Behind the Scenes during LDI for $23,628.98. This represented the most recent proceeds from the company’s iRFR and aRFR (Radio Focus Remote) applications. Since the launch of the iRFR in 2009, ETC’s mobile app sales have now generated over $390,000 in donations.
The iRFR and aRFR mobile apps enable convenient, touchscreen-based remote control for Eos family consoles and controllers. You can learn more about the apps from the ETC website and download them from the iTunes or Google Play stores.
“We never imagined that this app would provide such continuous support to Behind the Scenes. ETC is grateful to all the people who have supported the Eos platform and purchased this app over the years,” comments Wendy Orfan, marketing communications m

Details
Get Back - One of the live industry’s worst-kept secrets has been confirmed: Sir Paul McCartney will headline Glastonbury in 2020. The former Beatle will top the bill on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday 27 June, a week after his 78th birthday. He last played the Somerset event in 2004, and organisers have long been keen to get him back for an encore. Next year will be Glastonbury's golden jubilee and co-organiser Emily Eavis says: “There really was no one that we wanted more for the 50th anniversary.”
Together Again - Mötley Crüe are to reform for a stadium tour of the US - less than five years after they played what they said would be their final ever show. Def Leppard and Poison will join them, but dates and venues are yet to be announced. Before their supposed farewell tour in 2014-2015, the band had signed what they said was a "cessation of touring agreement"

Details
UK - Penn Elcom has launched a new range of its premium flat pack 19" racking Credenzas, manufactured and tailored to meet the high standards of custom installers working in all market sectors - from commercial to residential and entertainment.
These are available in two, three, four, six, eight and 12U variants and in two high-quality wood-style finishes for maximum versatility in all types of built environment.
Demand for the products has been fuelled by numerous factors including changes in digital technology and the need to combine elements of home entertainment / smart-home and commercial / industrial systems into good looking integrated packages.
Each pack includes two pre-threaded steel rails and a set of four non-marking feet. The panels are specially made from tough 25mm high resin density melamine faced chipboard, which is durable, featuring 2mm solid

Details
USA - Behind the Scenes reports that its recent Survey to Assist in the Development of a Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Initiative in the Entertainment Industry received “an incredible response from the industry” with over 3,300 people completing the survey.
An initial look at the survey results confirmed that the long hours, pressures of deadlines, lack of resources, and uncertainty of employment have taken a very hard toll on our industry. These affect not only mental health, but physical health as well, and impact relationships with family and friends. Unsurprisingly, over 90% of respondents have experienced anxiety while over 80% have suffered from depression.
What is also apparent from the responses, and very encouraging, is that many individuals want to step up and help colleagues they feel are struggling but simply don’t know how and are very

Details
Czech Republic - Prague-based Elvia-Pro has taken on the distribution of German fibre network specialists BroaMan in the Czech Republic, following a request from private commercial station, TV Nova.
Formed in 1993, Elvia-Pro specialises in management, engineering and project work within the broadcast sector, and manufactures and installs equipment for OB and DSNG trucks, specialising in main broadcast organisations such as Czech TV, TV Nova, TV Prima, TV Barrandov and production houses.
It was TV Nova who were largely responsible for the new distribution arrangement. “They came to us with a request for BroaMan devices,” recalls Tomáš Kocáb, Elvia-Pro’s sales product specialist. BroaMan technical sales manager Maciek Janiszewski made a professional presentation at TV Nova, leading to the new distribution deal, which was formalised on the BroaMan stand at the IB

Details
USA - Producers, musicians, DJs and music industry professionals came together at the Capitol Studios in Hollywood earlier this week to honour producer Quincy Jones with an AKG Lifetime Achievement Award.
Held in Capitol’s historic A and B studios, guests were treated to a performance by Quincy Jones protégé and multi-Grammy award winner, Jacob Collier, along with a variety of immersive experiences that celebrated the microphone and headphone brand’s iconic past while showcasing its rich future. The evening culminated with host and broadcast journalist Nic Harcourt presenting Quincy Jones the AKG Lifetime Achievement Award, for Quincy’s contribution to music since the early 1950s.
“For almost seven decades in this business as a musician, composer, arranger, conductor and producer, I have always gone for the music that gives me goosebumps. And whether it was

Details
On The Campaign Trail - Actors and theatre staff are being urged to make sure they have made arrangements to vote in next month’s election amid warnings that those working away from home on Christmas shows could be disenfranchised.
Matt Hood, Equity’s assistant general secretary, described the election date as “inconvenient for many”, adding: “For our members, many of whom will be working away from home on tour, in panto or filming, it runs the real risk of them losing their right to vote.”
Thomas Hescott, chief executive of Stage Directors UK, comments: “November and December is an extremely busy time of the year for our members, many of whom are working away from home on Christmas shows. The short notice means many of our members are already away working and so have little opportunity to organise postal ballots. We are concerned that our members will s

Details
USA - Newly-elected ESTA board members are Todd Spencer, PSAV, for president; Alan M. Rowe, IATSE Local 728, returns for his second term as organisational director, and Joe Aldridge as individual director. These terms of office begin on 1 January 2020 and run through 31 December 2022.
ESTA and its members wish to thank outgoing board members Jules Lauve of Theatre Projects Consultants and Dana Taylor for their dedicated service.

Details
Major Revamp - The Brit Awards have announced a major revamp for 2020, with fewer awards and an end to fan votes. Organisers promise "more music" as a result, with artists being given full creative control of their performances. Prizes like Best British Video and Best International Group have been cut, while the outstanding contribution award has been retired for 2020. Despite press reports earlier this year, gendered awards will remain part of the ceremony.
The changes come after several years of falling ratings. This year's ceremony, which saw performances from Pink, Dua Lipa and George Ezra, was watched by 4.1m people, down 400,000 from 2018.
This year, all awards will be decided by a 1,200-strong "official voting academy", made up of “experts” from all areas of the music industry. Brits chairman David Joseph explained the changes, saying: "We will be putting cr

Details
Property Moves - An immersive Monopoly experience is the first show to be announced under a new partnership between Selladoor Worldwide and games company Hasbro Inc. The collaboration will see the theatre company and Hasbro adapt more boardgames into live experiences in the future. While further productions have not yet been confirmed, other boardgames in Hasbro’s portfolio include Cluedo, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Twister and Operation.
Monopoly will run at a location in London which is yet to be announced in 2020. The experience will include a 75-minute segment where teams will compete to win tasks in order to move along the board, buy properties, and attempt to win the game. Features from the game including famous London landmarks, chance, community chest and jail will all be “brought to life” in a space that will also f

Details
Lead Guitar - Some of the biggest names in rock and roll including Sir Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Steve Winwood, Mark Knopfler, Pete Townshend, Albert Lee, David Gilmour, Joe Brown, Richard Thompson and Dave Pegg have signed a guitar to be auctioned in honour of stroke victim Jerry Donahue.
In 2016, American guitarist Jerry Donahue suffered a catastrophic stroke, almost certainly ending his career as one of the world’s finest folk-rock guitarists. The former Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and Hellecasters guitarist, was regarded by the music media as an extremely talented musician with an extraordinary technical approach to string bending.
“To have so many famous signatures on this guitar is a fantastic achievement,” says close friend Dave Pegg, bassist in Fairport convention. “We know that the guitar will raise many t

Details
Glastonbury 2020 - Tickets for next year's Glastonbury Festival sold out in just over half an hour. All 135,000 tickets for the 2020 event were bought within 34 minutes, according to organisers. Demand for the Somerset festival far outstripped supply, as 2.4m people registered to try to attend.
Glastonbury celebrates its 50th year in 2020, and big acts are expected to be booked to appear on the various stages at Worthy Farm. Sir Paul McCartney has hinted he may return to play the festival in its anniversary year.
Emily Eavis, daughter of founder Michael, tweeted: "We have now sold out. Thank you all for your incredible, continued support. Demand was higher than ever, with over 2.4 million people registered. Bring on 2020!"
Carbon Neutral Theatre - Shell’s membership of the National Theatre will come to an end next year, as the arts organisation unveils a

Details
Gendered Awards - The Brit Awards say they will review the way they distribute prizes, with one option being the abolition of separate male and female categories. But reports that gendered awards have already been axed are "based on rumour and speculation", organisers said. "We can 100% confirm that there will be male and female awards in the UK and international categories in February 2020," they told the BBC.
The statement was issued after a story in The Sunday Times at the weekend claimed organisers wanted to accommodate non-binary artists - who identify as neither male nor female - and that scrapping gender-specific categories was the likely outcome. The report came a week after pop star Sam Smith asked fans to call them by the pronouns "they/them", not "he/him". "After a lifetime of being at war with my gender I've decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out,

Details
UK - The PLASA Awards for Innovation, organised in collaboration with LSi magazine, took place at the end of a vibrant Monday at the PLASA Show 2019. The Awards recognise and reward pioneering product designs and the people behind them and are widely respected as they are independently judged by a team of industry experts with a variety of specialist backgrounds.
This year saw 36 entries for the Awards, with the judges selecting seven winners and one Gold Award winner.

The winners, along with the judges comments, are:
Nexo for the P12 Point-source loudspeaker
“This is the ‘loudspeaker version of a source 4’ having interchangeable horns with tool-less interchangeability.”
Robe for Esprite
“This advances technical practice by increasing the potential lifespan of LED fixtures, hopefully

Details

The doors have opened for day two of PLASA Show 2019 at London Olympia, with Platinum Sponsor Robe, Silver Sponsor d&b audiotechnik and Technical Sponsor Hawthorn. The show floor is already brimming with business as visitors explore the latest products and solutions from 220+ brands from across audio, AV, lighting, rigging and staging.

The show’s platinum sponsor Robe have unveiled an expansive theatrical stand based on the classic 80s movie, Back To The Future. Live performances run every 90 minutes, with a viewing area on the show’s gallery level for visitors to watch from above. The creative duo behind the stand, Nathan Wan and Andy Webb, comment:

“Robe’s stand this year features a fully time coded show called ‘Return to the Future’ which is centred around a time travelling DeLorean car. During th

Details
USA - The deadline for ordering 2019 Behind the Scenes Holiday Cards is just two weeks away. These cards were created especially for Behind the Scenes and are a great way to spread holiday cheer while bringing help and hope to your colleagues in need. The order deadline is 30 September. Orders may be placed at behindthescenescharity.org/holidaycards.
Three card ordering options are offered: card packs of 10 with a standard greeting, personalized cards with a company logo and custom message (minimum order 250 cards), and electronic versions for delivery by email. All proceeds benefit the Behind the Scenes charity which provides financial assistance to entertainment technology professionals who are seriously ill or injured. Six new designs are featured this year.
All proceeds benefit the Behind the Scenes charity which provides financial assistance to entertainment techn

Details
Europe - From The Road to the Billboard Music Awards with NBC Universal, to the Thanksgiving Parade Celebrations in New York City, and a recent show in Las Vegas, Production Zync Entertainment are cementing their partnership in the world of design and production, and PRG has supported a diverse range of productions for them across the world.
Over the last seven months PRG has been working closely with newly formed Production Zync Entertainment, on the delivery and execution of a range of television, music, sport and live projects, from studio to arena across Europe, the US, and the UK.
PRG has provided Production Zync with a fully supported ‘one stop shop’ technical production solution across multiple territories, including equipment, crew, transportation, logistics, and pre-visualisation support.
With sites in London and Los Angeles, Production Zync combin

Details
Glastonbury Records - Kylie Minogue's decades-spanning greatest hits set has become the most-watched Glastonbury performance ever, according to BBC figures. An average audience of 3.2m people tuned in to see her play the festival's legend slot, beating previous highs set by Ed Sheeran and Adele. Viewership peaked at 3.9m during the closing minutes of Kylie's set, as she played Dancing and Spinning Around. The emotional show came 14 years after a cancer diagnosis forced the star to pull out of a planned headline slot.
This year's Glastonbury saw a significant shift in viewership, with audiences increasingly choosing to catch up with performances online. The total number of online requests, including YouTube views, iPlayer requests and live streams, reached 37.5m - an increase of 86% from 2017 (Glastonbury took a year off in 2018). However, TV viewership was
  1. Music Support raises mental health awareness
  2. ESTA standards available for public review
  3. The Week in Light & Sound
  4. The Week in Light & Sound
  5. PLASA 2019: Data Strategy presents QC-Satellite
  6. The Week in Light & Sound
Page 32 of 242
Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

Latest Issue. . .