Greece - Ayrton has announced Athens-based Megaevent as its new, exclusive distributor for Greece. Founded in 2001, Megaevent has provided distribution and support of leading products in lighting, sound and AV equipment across all sectors of the entertainment market for nearly 20 years. “We always look forward to new technologies and our target is to provide these together with the best after-sales support to all our customers,” says Megaevent CEO, Sotiris Kolios. “Through our many years of experience we have selected the best partners to work with, centred on respect for companies with great R&D and continuous evolution. “Ayrton has proven to be one of them: we have watched Ayrton’s progress over the years and, like most of the lighting designers in Greece, hold their brand in high regard. We believe their products to be leaders in every aspect, and are
UK - Music Support continues to hold weekly online support group meetings to allow the music industry’s 12 Step recovery community to continue to connect during these challenging times, with numbers of attendees growing weekly. Meetings take place every Monday 18:00-19:00 GMT throughout the summer, providing a confidential and non-judgemental space for people to share and encourage one another on the journey of recovery. “We’re pioneering a change of culture within the industry that suggests another lifestyle is possible within it and as beacons of that, we host a weekly online support group meeting for those in our business who are members of any 12 step fellowship,” says the team behind Music Support. “We acknowledge that although each fellowship uses different words, they speak the same language of hope – and that’s why now more than ever, it is imper
Germany - Landmark buildings glowed red throughout Germany Monday night, 22 June, for Night of Light, a massive expression of support for the events industry and a vivid reminder to the nation’s leaders about the challenges facing the businesses and individuals who make up this vital sector of the economy. Initiated by Essen-based marketing agency LK-AG, the awareness campaign drew the support of EVVC, Germany’s venue association and thousands of businesses from every region of the country, including Chauvet Germany. “We are proud to be a part of this important event,” said Thomas Fischer, managing director of Chauvet Germany GmbH. “The situation we face cannot be ignored. We must all pull together to ensure a prosperous future for our industry.” In addition to lighting its home offices in red, Chauvet Germany provided fixtures to illuminate buildings
UK – AED Group has launched a ‘Mid-Air Disinfection System’ (MADS) for the UK market under its Luxibel brand. Developed since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it is made up of UVC ventilation cylinders that disinfect the air using UVC light technology. It has been specifically designed to cater for larger spaces with an audience where air circulation needs to be taken into account. Glenn Roggeman, CEO of AED Group, used his knowledge of aerodynamics gained during his training as a helicopter pilot to drive the design forward. He comments: “This system sucks air breathed out by people into our aerodynamically-patented system. Micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses are neutralised, meaning germ-free air is blown back into the room. “When we are able to meet up again in enclosed spaces with groups of people, air disinfection will contribute to reducing in
UK - #LightItInRed is a UK based direct action lighting initiative that is scheduled to take place on the night of Monday 6 July 2020 to draw attention to the critical condition of the UK live event and entertainment industry and its need for special government support to see it through to re-starting. Currently, unlike other industries, there is no set date for live events, shows, festivals and performances to restart after the Covid-19 shut down. The #LightItInRed action was inspired by #NightofLight in Germany on 22 June, which saw over 9,000 buildings, monuments, structures, towers, landmarks, castles, offices, houses, spaces and places illuminated in ‘Emergency Red’ to raise awareness and grab the attention of the public and the government. #LightItInRed initiators, Steven Haynes from Clearsound Productions and Phillip Berryman from The Backstage Theatr
USA - This past Memorial Day weekend, rental company Main Light Industries sponsored Illuminate Delaware, a four-day event in which landmarks in Wilmington and around the state were illuminated as a tribute to essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as fallen U.S. military personnel. Based in Wilmington, Main Light Industries is one of the largest rental companies in the United States yet the company also plays a valued role in their local community. Main Light employee and lifelong Wilmington resident John DiEleuterio coordinated the effort with assistance from Electro Sound Systems, BEW Productions, Wake Media, and Spaceboy Clothing, as well as a sizeable team of volunteers. A collective of Delaware lighting and event industry professionals gave their time and energy to help make the event a reality, helping with designing, progr
Germany - ETC and High End Systems participated in the Night of Light initiative this week. ETC lit the historic mining tower in Hausham - close to the ETC GmbH office in Holzkirchen - as part of the ‘Night of Light’s’ nationwide display. The 40m-high monument was lit by ETC’s Source Four LED Series 2 Daylight HD, Source Four PAR, Source Four XT HID, ColorSource Spot, ColorSource PAR and High End Systems SolaPix 19 fixtures. The initiator of the project, Tom Koporek from LK-AG Essen comments: “The event industry will not survive the next 100 days. The current conditions and restrictions make the financial set-up of events virtually impossible.” Alongside the organizers who have been greatly affected by the pandemic, there are also around one million employees and an industry that generates over ten billion euros at stake. ETC and High End Systems reco
Germany - On 22 June, over 9000 buildings, monuments, cultural sites and spaces plus other objects were illuminated in ‘emergency red’ by over 8,300 participating companies - primarily in Germany - for #NightofLight2020. As previously reported, #NightofLight2020 was initiated and carefully planned by a team of lighting and AV professionals led by Tom Koperek from Essen-based event marketing agency LK AG to raise awareness of the critical economic plight of the live event industry in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Moving light manufacturer Robe lighting enthusiastically supported via German subsidiary Robe DE which also assisted in supplying kit for some key locations from the current demo stock. In addition to the many installations already independently utilising Robe products, the company’s HQ in Valašské Meziříčí, Czech Republic, and the Ger
UK - Version 2 has been supporting a growing number of crews with low energy solutions both in the studio and on location. Working with a number of leading lighting directors, the Buckinghamshire-based lighting rental specialists have supported coverage on a selection of premier summer events with products form their low energy inventory. First up was a visit to Worthy Farm, Somerset as Broadcast Partners for the BBC’s comprehensive coverage of the 2019 Glastonbury Festival. Making use of a selection of V2 low energy fixtures, lighting director Oli Richards and gaffer Paul Evans made last year’s Glastonbury coverage a completely LED lit event. The Version 2 team deployed a pair of lighting trucks to help deliver the look for both the ‘live studio’ areas and the considerable number of interviews held remotely across the vast festival site. The studio set-
Germany - Supermodel Heidi Klum spent from the end of January to mid-May 2020 searching for Germany’s next top model. She found what she was looking for in the form of Jacqueline Wruck, when the grand final of the popular TV programme Germany’s Next Topmodel was held at Studio Berlin Adlershof (minus the audience). LD Manuel da Costa and his team from mdc licht.gestalten were responsible for the lighting design of this lavishly equipped show. Additionally, in collaboration with the video technicians, he oversaw the technical settings of the cameras and supported creative producer, Joy Hayat Berhanu and her team, in the individual productions of the show. Manuel describes the setting for this year’s finale: “The real problem was the non-existent audience,” he reports. “In the past few years we have always been in large, full 10,000-seat halls for the
New Zealand - Industrial Sessions, a new live streaming and recording studio in Queenstown, has equipped its space with Claypaky HY B-EYE K15 and Mythos 2 fixtures. The studio marks a collaboration among TomTom Productions for lighting, video and set design, Soundpeople for audio and multi-track recording, and Shotover Media for camera and direction. It is located in the TomTom Productions warehouse. “Our purpose is to bring high-quality live streaming to Queenstown and the world by giving local and national musicians a space to perform and connect with their audience in a time when they can’t perform as usual,” says Hamish Edh, managing director of TomTom and co-creator of Industrial Sessions. “The space is also used for corporate meetings, a pretty popular usage given the COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings. We do one or two Industrial Sessions a week and convert t
UK - ChamSys has added a new dimension to building lighting designs on its MagicQ series of consoles and software. The company has just-introduced XYZ positioning feature makes it simple for designers and programmers to achieve the looks they envision in 3D space, without getting slowed down adjusting fixture pan and tilt parameters. Building on the company’s existing Focus Point and Focus Line, the new feature allows MagicQ users to store XYZ palettes referencing static positions, dynamic trackers, and visualisation objects. MagicQ supports direct import of patch and XYZ information from popular 3D Visualisation packages, such as WYSIWYG, Capture, Depence, L8, and Vectorworks. (ChamSys has recently implemented the emerging industry standard GDTF MVR protocol enabling direct import from Vectorworks.) “Our customers often patch and pre-programme their shows i
USA - When award-winning songwriter Victoria Shaw required lighting for her music performance and storytelling series Songwriters Under The Covers with Victoria Shaw, Bandit Lites delivered. The show is described online as “a new, intimate, music performance and storytelling series created in collaboration with award-winning songwriter Victoria Shaw puts the spotlight on the songwriters of some of music’s biggest hits across pop, rock, and country. Top-selling songwriters share the little-known stories behind their hit songs along with an intimate live acoustic performance on stage”. For the second season, viewers can expect to see Ken Mo, Clint Black, Tommy Shaw (of Styx and Damn Yankees) Bob DiPiero and Garth Brooks. Lighting designer Mark Carver was tasked by the producer to create a warm and inviting atmosphere in order to make the artist on stage an
Australia - Power and protection are the keywords with dimming and distro and Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) now has both thanks to LSC Lighting Systems. NIDA is Australia's leading centre for education and training in the performing arts and features six professional performance venues, studios and rehearsal rooms. As the largest of the performance venues at NIDA, the Parade Theatre offers seating for audiences of up to 707 people in its three-tiered, horseshoe-shaped auditorium. The Playhouse is a 155-seat amphitheatre, designed for more intimate productions. NIDA has three smaller black box theatres - the Space, the Studio Theatre and the Reg Grundy Studio - that are frequently adapted to suit different production needs. NIDA recently decided to upgrade its dimming and power distribution systems with LSC Lighting Systems GEN VI dimmers and APS
South Africa - In mid-March, South Africa was placed under lockdown to try to deal with the imminent threat posed by the rapid spread of COVID-19. Almost 100 days later, the events industry is still under severe restrictions, with no indication from the government when large-scale events will return. “The lockdown has been very hard on people in our industry, especially for the freelance crew, technicians and engineers,” says DWR’s Jannie de Jager. “After a couple of days into lockdown, it quickly became apparent that boredom was going to be one of our greatest enemies, and would negatively affect the mental health of everybody if we let it.” Jannie and the lighting team at DWR, therefore, decided to challenge lighting designers in South Africa to put their skills to good use during the lockdown by designing a light show using the MA2 PC platform. “We ar
Germany - The plight of the German events industry due to the COVID-19 crisis was highlighted during a campaign that saw thousands of buildings across the country illuminated in red on the night of 22 June (Monday). The Night of Light campaign attracted more than 8,000 participants, including production houses and manufacturers, who used lighting and projection tools to light the facades of more than 9,000 buildings in over 1,500 locations. The initiative aimed to spotlight the struggles of the events industry, with the red light chosen to symbolise the ‘red alert’ level that the industry is under due to state-wide restrictions on large-scale live events. Germany’s event industry comprises more than 150 sub-sectors and is one of the country’s top employers, with around a million direct employees. It generates a combined turnover of around €130bn, accord
UK - PLASA has launched #WeMakeEvents, a new campaign with the aim of amplifying the industry’s voice and gaining meaningful Government support. Central to the campaign is a video highlighting the vital role of supply chain companies along with the freelance community and the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic upon the live events sector. PLASA is calling for people from across the industry to share the video across social media to give much needed exposure to the supply chain to events including production and rental companies, manufacturers and freelancers, to raise awareness of the need for longer term financial support. In addition to sharing the video, PLASA has published two infographics illustrating the complexity of the live events supply chain and
USA - ETC ColorSource Spot jr is the latest addition to the ColorSource family of affordable ETC fixtures. At only 5.5 kg, ColorSource Spot jr is nearly half the weight of a full-sized ColorSource Spot fixture. And it’s not only half the size, it’s also about half the price. Spot jr is available in two array options - Original for subtle pastels and white light to enhance skin tones, and Deep Blue for more saturated, dramatic colours. Like all ColorSource fixtures, Spot jr includes ETC’s colour integrity technologies so you can be sure the colours you set in rehearsal are the same colours you see during the show. This includes thermal droop compensation, third-party lifetime testing, and comprehensive factory colour calibration. Spot jr has built-in 25-50-degree zoom which is suitable for small stages, club spaces, and retail with both longer and shorter throws.
USA - The latest addition to ADJ’s Hydro Series of weatherproof moving head luminaires, the Hydro Wash X19, is a powerful and versatile wash fixture designed for touring, rental and event production applications. Combining impressive brightness with an expansive feature set, this rugged workhorse is ready to shine in even the most challenging of conditions, says the company. Nineteen Osram 40W RGBW 4-in-1 LEDs fill the face of the Hydro Wash X19, making for an impressive total of 760W. The LEDs offer smooth colour mixing, allowing for the creation of a wide variety of different hues, and are arranged in three concentric circles. Each LED is individually controllable, allowing for the creation of pixel-mapped effects, with support available for both the KlingNet and Artnet control protocols as well as standard DMX-512. Linear motorized focus allows the beam angle to v
Germany - As part of a rebranding campaign, Volkswagen’s new showroom design is being rolled out at some 10,000 facilities across the globe. Prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, groups of invited dealers got to “test drive” the new retailing concept through Volkswagen Brand Experience Days, an event involving 50 nations, where guests could get a first-hand look at a real replica of a new store. Accenting the aesthetic features of the harmoniously balanced showroom concept was a lighting design by Markus Axmann of Maxx Lichtdesign who used a collection of Chauvet Professional Ovation and COLORado fixtures supplied by Hildebrandt Veranstaltungstechnik, which was entrusted with the overall technical implementation. “Brightness and colour temperature were extremely important in reflecting the new design concept,” comments Martin Hildebrandt, CEO of Hildebrandt Veranst
UK - PLASA is gearing up to launch a new video highlighting the vital role that the supply chain and backstage crew play in the production of concert touring, theatre, and live events. It is hoped that the video will shine a light on product manufacturers, production & rental companies, crew, designers, programmers and more – all in vital need of on-going Government support and often overlooked in mainstream media coverage of the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the entertainment industry. Earlier this month, PLASA released two infographics illustrating how the live events supply chain will be impacted without further government support. The graphics reflect the number of people it takes to deliver just one performance - on average 443 professionals, spanning planning, design, preparatio
USA - Lighting for houses of worship will be the focus of The Elation Hour virtual presentation, taking place this Wednesday. With the knowledge that dynamic lighting systems can positively impact the overall worship experience, houses of worship are finding success in growing their ministries through flexible stage and house lighting systems. Those who tune in will gain insight into how dynamic lighting can enhance both live and broadcast worship from three houses of worship market lighting specialists. Hosts John Dunn and Bob Mentele will welcome Josh Holowiki from E2i Design, Griffin McCravy from Church of the Highlands, and Chris Eguizabal from Harvest Christian Fellowship for a special Elation Hour discussion about elevating the worship experience utilizing lighting and control technology. The discussion will take place on Wednesday, 24 June at 10:00 a.m. P
France - Ayrton has introduced Karif-LT, its ultra-compact 300W LED beam-spot, and the first in Ayrton’s new line of LT (Long Throw) products dedicated to long-range applications. Karif-LT is equipped with a 168mm frontal lens offering a zoom ratio of 17:1 and a 2.8°- 47° zoom range, the narrowness of which is unprecedented and unmatched in an LED fixture, says the company. A new high-efficiency, low-etendue, compact LED module delivers an ultra-intense beam which, calibrated at 8500K, can generate powerful metallic white light and deep, vivid colours. Karif-LT has an overall output of 13,000 lumens at a colour temperature of 7500K, and a centre-beam luminous intensity of 3,500,000 candelas. Billed as ‘a creative wizard’, Karif-LT’s rich feature set includes a CMY colour mixing system, a patent pending multi-position CTO wheel with seven different c
USA - Glenn Becker, the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA)’s first president, passed away on 19 June aged 70. “Glenn’s vision was about bringing the industry together to make it a better industry”, says ESTA. “He thought that competitors could come together and share ideas and solutions to make business easier and more successful for everyone. Because of that vision and Glenn’s hard work, the Theatrical Dealers Association (TDA) was born.” Becker organised its founding meeting in 1987 and served as the first president from 1987 to 1991. In 1994, when the decision was made to form ESTA, the TDA board turned to Becker to chair the committee that rewrote the bylaws and set up the new organisational structure. The board would continue to turn to him over the years to take on special projects. He became involved in theatre in high
