As from March 5, Stage Electrics Bristol has moved its operation to Third Way, Avonmouth, Bristol, BS11 9YL. The move has been made to unify the company’s existing six Bristol premises under one roof. The 100 staff at Bristol now benefit from a staff canteen, on-site parking and air-conditioned workstations, while clients will benefit from a streamlined hire operation. The company’s contact numbers are listed below.

Purchasing Enquiries: +44 (0)1179379580
General Administration: +44 (0)117 982 7282
Customer Enquiries: +44 (0)117 938 4000

Installation and service subcontractor Install recently completed the relocation of its head office. The new premises, situated within three miles of the M6 and located within a newly built business complex, boast an 8,000sq.ft warehouse, an electronics workshop, a purpose-designed training and conference suite, and an extensively equipped office area. The rapid growth of Install over the past year has meant that the premises are not the only part of the company to have expanded. The 12-strong workforce has increased to 22, based both on and off-site. The most recent addition to the team is John Elves who becomes the company’s new general manager.

Carl Rivord, a 20-year veteran of lighting design work and the automated lighting industry returns to TLS Inc as a sales/project manager. Rivord got his start in the lighting industry in the early 1980s doing touring and production work with various companies in the Midwest. He then opened RSM Inc which manufactured, amongst other things, the Beamer - a controllable universal moving mirror attachment for theatrical fixtures - on behalf of Great American Market (GAM) of Hollywood.

White Light North will be holding a series of Academy Days in March and April, offering theatre lighting professionals a chance to get ‘up close and personal’ with products and personnel from a wide range of manufacturers. The first pair of open days, on March 21st and 22nd, will feature Avolites, Martin Professional, Robert Juliat and Le Mark. Avolites will be showing the Pearl 2000 and Sapphire consoles, the Art touring dimmers, the macro tablet and the Avo Visualiser system, Martin the MAC2000 and the rest of the popular MAC moving light range, and LeMark the GAM range of colour, gobos and effects, including the new FilmFX linear effect for Source Four spotlights. Robert Juliat’s acclaimed range of lanterns and followspots, for which White Light are now the UK distributors, will also be on show. Companies represented at the April open days, on the 10th and 11th of Ap

Traditional brewers Fuller, Smith & Turner, have entered the burgeoning London leisure suburb of Shoreditch - the trendiest colony in the capital - with their new brand, Katabatic.

With 3,200sq.ft offering a capacity of 480, and a late license inherited from the previous incumbents (Propoganda), this is prime real estate. The late night venue will eventually have cost £1.2 million to develop - a proportion of which has gone on an inspired sound, lighting and vision scheme across the two floors.

As well as offering views of the DJ practicising his craft inside, the exterior design shows off the encased foyer decor of AVR Colourchanger beams refracted from a cluster of tiny mirrorballs, with the campest of light sculptures providing an artistic backdrop. The colour-changing spots from Abstract and Martin Pro, working with the fibre optics, bring Katabatic (a metereological word meanin

The management team at Presentation Services Ltd (PSL), has purchased the assets and business of Gearhouse Group PLC’s Southern UK operation, together with the company’s North American operations. These include PSL and PSL Central, Lighting Unlimited, Set & Stage, Proquip, Presentation Graphics, Gearhouse Multimedia, ConferenceCast and Quorom Travel. In the US, both the Los Angeles and Nashville companies have been purchased. The transaction was concluded on Saturday 3 March and equity funding has been secured for the new company through 3i, with Barclays providing debt funding. The new Group is to be called Presentation Services Group Ltd; all of the companies will be relaunched under the PSL name and will continue to focus on the rental, staging, exhibition and concert touring markets. The new management team comprises Gary Davis, Chris Scadding, Darren Glossop, Irene McLea

Continuing its recruitment campaign, AC Lighting has announced a number of new appointments. The Northern Region sales office, located in Leeds, has been further expanded by the addition of Graham Bassett and Dave Hartley. Bassett, who takes up the position of Northern Region Sales Co-ordinator, is well known in the industry having spent 12 years with Lighting Technology in Manchester and Newcastle playing a lead role in developing business in the North. Hartley joins as Northern Region Sales Representative having progressed his career most recently with Lightfactor Sales and previously with Bose. The marketing department, based at the corporate offices in High Wycombe, has appointed Steve Dean to the newly-created position of marketing manager. Dean joins from an extensive background in senior positions in management, marketing and sales within the data/telecomms industry. Prior to join

After entering into an agreement to establish a joint company with local Chinese partners late last year, Martin Professional has announced that Raymond Wong will head up its new Hong Kong office. The new operation - Martin Professional Hong Kong Ltd - took over distribution from Martin’s former Chinese distributor and has been fully operational since the beginning of February 2001. Martin holds 20% of the shares in the new company, which has its registered office in Hong Kong. Branch offices will soon be established in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai. Wong was previously sales director for Sanecore, and during his time there handled all imported products, including Martin Professional lighting and Jem smoke machines.

Production Resource Group (PRG) has announced today that industry veteran Don Stern has moved into the role of chairman emeritus of Fourth Phase. Stern is the former owner of Bash Theatrical Lighting, which was acquired by PRG in 1997, and has remained instrumental in the operation of the lighting group. He will remain active with Fourth Phase in his new role, and will work closely with CEO Jere Harris on various initiatives, but will be free to pursue some additional interests after a lifetime in the theatre.

High End Systems sales representative Jeff Washburn is now overseeing the architectural market for the Austin, Texas-based automated lighting manufacturer. Washburn will continue his duties as regional sales manager for the Central USA, while adding the responsibilities as the new architectural manager for High End's architectural line of luminaires.

Italian rock veterans of over 30 years, Pooh have spent the past two months on an arena tour of 19 Italian cities, promoting their new triple-platinum album ‘Cento di queste vite’ (A hundred of these lives). Pooh, one of the few acts which manage to stay on stage for three whole hours, are renowned for the quality of their technical and musical presentation. Staging and lighting for the current tour is looked after by service company Xenon, owned by Renato Neri, who is using a wide array of Clay Paky lighting fixtures for the show, including the new Astroscan projector, launched at PLASA 2000. Neri says: "Astroscan is a spectacular effect that can create soft and relaxing atmospheres or powerful flashes of light. It can be positioned on the stage or up on the trusses, and covers the entire intermediate area thanks to pyramid head which oscillates at the speed and angle d

US manufacturer Color Kinetics has launched Color Kinetics Japan. The new company is the product of a thriving distribution partnership between Color Kinetics and ALS Inc. In the past year as a Color Kinetics distribution partner, ALS has successfully introduced the Color Kinetics range of digital colour-changing lighting to the Japanese market. The new company will market the full product line throughout Japan whilst also contributing to the development of market-specific technologies. Kiyoshi Otsuki, president of ALS Inc, will become president of Color Kinetics Japan, and the office will officially open on April 1 in Tokyo.

Eastbourne Council has embarked on a general lighting upgrade effective across the town’s three main theatres, The Congress, Devonshire Park, and The Winter Gardens. Knowing from the outset that Strand was the brand of choice to suit their requirements, the theatres’ technical team approached a number of suppliers before opting for London-based White Light - one of Strand Lighting’s trading partners in the UK. The complete order comprised a total of 80 Cantata fresnels and 16 Alto fresnels, all complete with barndoors and other associated accessories, as well as 18 SL15/32 zoom coolbeam spotlights. The fittings were supplied ready to go by White light which, combined with the company’s service policy, was an important factor in securing the sale.

Douglas Morgan, of the Eastbourne Theatres’ technical team, commented: "We had made an informed decision t

When Tony Hall of Essential Lighting took the brief for a recent annual sales convention at the Wembley Conference Centre, he was challenged with a large and complex ‘gyroscopic’ revolve that was to be a centrepiece of the show. Whilst a mains feed could be run through the various slip rings, Tony needed to incorporate a minimum of 36 ways of generic control and three ways of dimmed neon in the revolve to dramatically enhance the main reveal sequence and create a variety of looks for the show. Aware of the existence of radio DMX technology but unable to find it anywhere in the UK rental market, Tony called A.C. Lighting to help source the product. The recommendation was to utilise a state-of-the-art RadioDMX system manufactured in the USA. AC Lighting’s Glyn O’Donoghue stated: "Using a RadioDMX system provides a ‘cableless’ transmission that permi

Lightfactor is capitalising on an excellent start to 2001 by expanding the sales force with the addition of Brian Henshall, who will be working as Northern Area Sales Representative with the dynamic team led by Bill Jones. Brian has enjoyed a varied career in the pro lighting and sound production and entertainment industries. Prior to this he has worked in the related areas of electrical wholesale and communications, all of which has contributed to his broad base of experience. Just before the move to Lightfactor, Brian worked with a well known UK entertainment and leisure sales and installation company. Brian’s move to Lightfactor will further his career as well as offering the opportunity for him to work in a flexible, creative and initiative-led sales environment Henshall comments: "It’s great to be onboard with Lightfactor, a company with an impressive track-record a

Color Kinetics has been awarded US Patent 6,166,496 for a method of augmenting a full variety of digital content - including video games, music, movies and even information - with the company's digital lighting technology. This third patent for the company covers systems and methods of combining and decoding lighting control information with an entertainment signal, so that video games, music, movies, and Internet content can directly drive full spectrum digital lighting to enhance that content. The result is a fully immersive experience where light - in an infinite variety of colours and intensities - interacts with sound, video or information to extend the entertainment experience beyond a television, movie screen, computer monitor or speaker system. Color Kinetics is branding this technology combination ‘Surround Light’. Potential applications cited by the company include

DHA Lighting continues its international expansion with the appointment of Exton as its stockist in Iceland. As Iceland's leading lighting supplier, Exton H/F, under the leadership of Gunnar Gunnarsson, provides comprehensive support to DHA as a distributor of gobos, moving effects and the DHA Gecko gobo projector. Based in Reykjavik, Exton H/F is involved in theatre, film and television lighting and can be contacted on telephone +354 896 2110 or at the e-mail address below.

Flying Pig Systems and High End Systems have announced details of the 2001 Automated Lighting Academy - a comprehensive programme designed to educate participants in the fundamentals of automated lighting. The goal of the six-week course is to give each student the necessary skills and knowledge to be experts at using automated lighting to create powerful lighting designs. Those successfully completing the class will be fully prepared to work with leading lighting designers.

The 2001 inaugural course will run from June 25 - August 3, and will be based in Los Angeles. Some theory will be covered, but the focus will be primarily ‘hands-on’. Students will first be taught how to operate automated luminaires and consoles, and gradually the focus will shift to using these tools effectively. This learning will be done through a variety of projects and assignments. In addition, lea

PLASA Media has today learned that the veteran lighting designer, Michael Northen MBE, died peacefully in the early hours of yesterday morning. Northen, who was Life President of the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and one of the best-known figures in lighting design, had been suffering from degenerative heart disease for some time. Credited with being the first professional Lighting Designer, he designed for over 300 productions during his long career, at venues including the Royal Opera House, the Royal Ballet, Glyndebourne Opera House and RSC Stratford. He was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List this year in recognition of his services to theatre.

In an announcement today to members of the ALD, chairman Rick Fisher said: "Michael’s thoughts were always with the lighting world. It is entirely characteristic that he wished to celebrate

Reacting on input from industry lighting designers and architectural lighting specialists, Martin has incorporated a 150W source into its new, smaller exterior housing. The Exterior 200 is a conveniently compact and powerful 150W, short-throw, CMY colour-changer in the same design of weatherproof (IP65-rated) aluminium housing as the award-winning Exterior 300. Its asymmetrical wide-throw flood beam makes it suitable for applications where projection distance is limited. Extremely versatile and housing a long life 6000-hour lamp, the Exterior 200 can be tucked discreetly into architectural design details of buildings or other structures. A built-in light sensor, memory presets and DMX controllability add to its independent functionality.

Production Resource Group (PRG) has announced that it has established new credit totaling $125 million with GMAC Business Credit, to support its strategic plans. This refinancing was coupled with the sale of PRG's Systems Group consisting of Signal Perfection Ltd and the Ancha and SPL-Integrated Solutions divisions, to a newly-formed entity controlled by shareholders of PRG and Systems Group management. "With such rapid expansion, there have been obstacles and growing pains. None the less, the hard work of the talented people that make up PRG and the new management we've implemented has significantly reduced our debt from $190 million to $110 million," says Jere Harris, chairman and CEO. "I attribute these achievements to the continual efforts of our employees. It's their diligence, dedication and teamwork that has directly resulted in improved performance."

PRG ant

Clay Paky’s intelligent lighting fixtures played a major role in Italy’s recent Sanremo Festival 2001. Clay Paky was the official lighting supplier for the festival and lit the Ariston Theatre with a large number of intelligent projectors, including 48 Stage Zoom 1200s, 60 Stage Light 300s, 80 Mini Scan HPEs and a number of Stage Color 1000 Halogens and Super Scan Zooms. The Stage Zoom 1200s were used both for general lighting and for a high impact effects, with 20 of the units highlighting the singers and other guests when they entered the Ariston Theatre, via the specially made catwalk. The Stage Light 300, powerful, compact and fast moving body projectors, were installed on the large hemisphere of the back wall, where they formed a synchronised ‘moving wall’ of light.

The Mini Scan HPEs, installed in an arc on the platform, around the walls, along the gallery

Australian manufacturer of architectural lighting control products, Dynalite, has announced that Dimtek Ltd has been appointed the exclusive distributor of Dynalite Products in the UK and Ireland. Dimtek is a joint venture between Dynalite and a company headed by Jon Theis (formerly lighting controls product manager at Thorlux Lighting, a division of FW Thorpe plc). With an experienced staff of sales people and engineers, Dimtec is in an excellent position to offer full customer support, say Dynalite. John Gunton, managing director of Dynalite, said: "Establishing a joint venture office will enable us to better serve and support our valued customers in the UK and Ireland. A direct representation in these areas will also enable us to align our research and development activities with emerging trends in the UK lighting control market."

Dynalite has a number of new product relea

More recruitment news from AC Lighting: firstly, Ian Ferguson joins the company’s UK sales division. Ferguson is well known to many people in the industry having spent the past eight years as business manager with Playlight in their London office. With 24 years of industry experience, Ferguson has an encyclopaedic knowledge of equipment and its applications. Phill Capstick, UK Sales Director, stated: "We are delighted to have the opportunity for Ian to join AC Lighting. His experience and skills will make a major contribution to our business development plans."

Strengthening the corporate office staff, meanwhile, is Marie Kent who has been appointed as personal assistant to MD David Leggett. Previously with banker UBS Warburg in London, Marie has an extensive background in senior roles including a period of nine years in Sydney, Australia, working for IBM.

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