Belgium - Belgian-based automation engineering specialists Wicreations designed and created five major automation elements for Mylène Farmer's highly visual 2013 Timeless tour, using a combination of bespoke and standard Wicreations products.

Mylène Farmer is one of the most successful French recording artists of all time. She has sold over 30m records worldwide and had 13 number one hits in the French charts eight of them consecutive, as well as working as a model and actress during a prolific and successful career.

Wicreations, renowned for their innovative work in the entertainment industry, were approached by the tour's production manager Didier Gaume and technical director Pascal "George" Meley, who have worked with them before on a number of projects, and asked if they could provide a number of solutions to help stage this spectacular show.

Timeless'

UK - Former European sales manager at City Theatrical, Alex Cowan, has taken up a new post in the sales department at staging equipment, set construction and studio hire company LS-Live, in Wakefield.

He brings to the role a wealth of experience in sales and new business development, having secured big wins in previous posts for a variety of entertainment industry companies such as HSL Group, Pixelrange and City Theatrical.

Said Cowan, "I visited LS-Live to discuss business and couldn't believe this top of the range facility. I've been all over the world and there is nothing else like this out there.

"As soon as people understand that they can get everything from under one roof, from set design to final construction and rehearsals in the studio, they won't use anyone else.

"My job is to ensure that when anyone thinks about touring and live events, whether th

UK - Drapes and rigging specialist Blackout returned to Olympia creating a large pristine arena for the London International Horse Show, 16 - 22 December 2013.

For the 12th consecutive year, Blackout worked with organisers Innovent to transform the venue for the prestigious equestrian event. The team utilised 2,500sqm of drapes to enclose the ground floor auditorium and create the entrance tunnels to the seating blocks.

The brand presence of sponsors was maximised through a wall of advertising on the outside of the arena for which the team constructed framework scaffolding to attach the banner wrap.

Chris Brain, installations director at Blackout, commented, "We also installed a backdrop of starcloth above the main competitor tunnel which we used to enhance the iconic golden galloping horse statue.

"Our draping package enables us to completely enclose an area for

Europe - Luc Peumans from Belgian creative lighting design practice Painting With Light sprinkled his fair share of fairy dust whilst crafting a provocative and emotive lighting design for the Music Hall Events arena production of Peter Pan.

The show is characterized by an all-action narrative that includes free flying (wireless courtesy of a massive sub-stage wind turbine), dramatic visual effects, pyro and stunning fully 3D mapped digital scenery.

Peumans has worked on many previous projects for the producers, and once again he has imagineered a careful mix of spectacle and visual style to match the vibe, energy and magic of the show.

The concept for this version of Peter Pan was developed by creative director Luc Petit and Music Hall's Geert Allaert. Peuman's brief was to provide epic arena style lighting to suit and highlight the action within the fast flow

UK - Models in Vogue's annual fashion extravaganza in Manchester, Fashion Night Out, were set in motion on the catwalk by four travelators from LS-Live, which were hired by Maynineteen Entertainment and Events Ltd for the fashion show production at Manchester Arndale. The event involved the city's luxury shops and brands like Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, H&M and Mulberry, and was attended by fashion VIPs and designers.

LS-Live's staging equipment rental stock at its headquarters in Wakefield includes a large number of automation machines, from travelators and scissor lifts to turntables and toasters, so they can quickly respond to hire orders. The machines can also be built into their standard stage decking for a seamless look.

Said Ibrar Haque, Maynineteen production manager, "We would like to express our thanks for all the hard work that you and your team put in t

USA - ETCP provides evidence of your technical proficiency and professionalism in the industry, so seize the opportunity to distinguish yourself by becoming ETCP Certified!

Having ETCP Certification demonstrates that you are in the top third of the industry professionals in North America; furthermore, to maintain your certification, you must accrue continuing education credits which shows your employer that you are current with industry developments and practices. ETCP has issued almost 1750 certifications! Don't get left behind, submit your application today!

The ETCP Examinations will be given at USITT in Ft. Worth TX. All three ETCP examinations will be given in one session the morning of Saturday, 29 March, 2014. Candidates who wish to take more than one exam should contact ETCP. Members and employees of members of USITT receive a $100 discount on examination fees. Interes

The Netherlands - Thousands of delegates and guests passed through a newly launched Intellitix RFID enabled Mojo Barriers Gatekeeper access gate at Eurosonic Noorderslag last week.

Two of Europe's leading event suppliers revealed the results of their collaboration, with the integration of Intellitix market-leading access control software into Mojo Barriers' Gatekeeper system. Audiences scanned their RFID wristbands, passing through a four gatekeeper system on the way into the 700-capacity temporary 'Cathedral' concert venue. Mojo's project manager Jasper Caldenhoven liaised with the Intellitix technical team leading into the global launch to achieve the seamless integration of their software and scanning technology into the Gatekeeper.

Mojo Barriers' managing director Cees Muurling, also a speaker in the conference programme, states, "With the rise of RFID cashless paymen

Canada - Scapin Staging, a company which specialises in the sale and rental of staging equipment, has announced the acquisition of Show Distribution, a company also specialising in the sale and rental of staging equipment and electric hoists. This will allow Scapin Staging to reach new markets and to better serve its clients with the addition of new and exciting products.

This acquisition doubles Scapin's number of employees. It will also enable Scapin to offer its products in new markets such as the Maritimes and the US where Show Distribution maintains a distribution centre and has a significant market share. This will broaden Scapin's reach, which began when it moved into Ontario, opening its Toronto office in August 2011.

Under the new administration, Show Distribution's activities will continue at its Quebec City location with its current team while its rental department

UK - Han(R) GND from Harting is a new connector series which offers an innovative solution for the safe grounding of electrical circuitry in portable units or for concerts and other events where equipment is erected on a temporary basis. For the first time, it allows full potential equalisation to be implemented in a pluggable design.

The robust IP 65 plastic housing single-pole connector is designed for stranded wires from 10 mm² to 35 mm² cross-section, and is available in both crimp and axial screw termination. The axial screw arrangement allows wires to be terminated to contacts without the need for special tooling.

Extra connector mating security can be provided by the use of additional locking elements that prevent unintentional interruption. Cable-to-cable hoods and gender changers allow a full system distribution cabling configuration to be assembled.

Han(R) GND ca

UK - Bristol-based lighting and rigging rental specialists Fineline celebrates the start of 2014 with a rebranding exercise, complete with a new-look logo and website to consolidate a last quarter investment strategy that is focused on offering new and innovative technologies and imaginative solutions to its growing portfolio of clients.

2014 is the third year that Fineline - originally established in 1988 - has been running under new, lively and energetic independent ownership, with a management team led by MD Rob Sangwell.

The company has built up a reputation as a leading lighting and visuals facility in the South West region - encapsulated in the new strap-line 'Professional-Creative-Trusted' - and works nationwide in the UK and worldwide internationally.

Sangwell explains, "Three years ago, a new era in Fineline's history was launched with the buy-out and implement

USA - Doughty Engineering will be showcasing its family of Trigger and Quick Trigger Clamps at this year's PLASA Focus in Nashville, Tennessee. Visitors to booth #313 will be able to see for themselves how the range, which launched in 1998 with the Trigger Clamp and led to the first Quick Trigger Clamp in 2001, has developed.

Julian Chiverton, sales director for Doughty, said, "Over the past 13 years Doughty Engineering has expanded the range of Quick Trigger clamps, that first Slimline Quick Trigger leading to the Titan in 2007 and the Baby version in 2012."

The Baby Quick Trigger Clamp is designed specifically for smaller truss sizes, being adjustable to diameters of 25-38mm. Easy to use, it saves the user time and money and has a safe working load of 40kg. Julian added, "Our entire range of Quick Trigger Clamps shares the same guarantee of providing a high de

UK - Siobhan Hitchen, managing director of Rope Assemblies Ltd, has become the first female director of LEEA (Lifting Equipment Engineers Association). Siobhan was elected onto the board of the fast-growing organisation, which now represents over 740 member companies worldwide, alongside three other new directors, Douglas Price of Gunnebo, Richard Oldknow of The Crosby Group and James Bolger of Certs Assured.

Siobhan has worked in the lifting industry since she joined Rope Assemblies in 1997. Established by her father in 1986 and based in Retford, Nottinghamshire, the company manufactures and supplies a wide range of wire rope and fibre rope assemblies to customers working in sectors that include the entertainment industry and climbing and personal protection equipment.

Commenting on her election, Siobhan said: "I'm delighted to be able to support the invaluable work of L

Canada The Cirque du Soleil's Varekai, which has been touring the world since 2002, returned to Montreal, Quebec in December 2013 for its re-launch as Arena Shows. The production team proposed to lighting designer, Nol van Genuchten the deployment of the BlackTrax realtime tracking solution from CAST BlackTrax Ltd for moving light tracking of performers.

"As lighting designer for the very first edition of Varekai, it's great to be working on it again as it evolves. With the new arena tour, Varekai is hosted at a different location each week and presents its own lighting challenges allowing me to adapt the lighting to 'the arena' of each new environment," said van Genuchten.

"We introduced BlackTrax as an operational efficiency and cost saving tool as well as a way of calibrating lighting highlights to track performers on the stage area. Blac

Belgium - Belgium based entertainment engineering specialists Wicreations combined their expertise and skills to develop and build a dynamic and sophisticated special performance structure, complete with a full motion control solution, to facilitate a spectacular show featuring 37 international artists including 11 aerial performers.

The show, Odyseo, was devised by artistic director Pascal Jacob to commemorate the 150th anniversary of world leasing Belgian chemicals and plastics manufacturer Solvay. Fifteen performances took place over 10 days in a special tented venue installed at the Solvay Campus HQ in Brussels.

Brussels based Y. Services handled all the artistic, technical and show production and scenography under the direction of Yvon van Lancker, well known for his work with Cirque du Soleil founder Franco Dragone in Las Vegas.

Wicreations was approached by Yvo

UK - RUD Chains Ltd is one of the world's largest manufacturers of round steel chain components and systems, producing top quality chains and applications to suit a vast selection of working environments. RUD has held key positions in the machine construction industry for over 140 years, specifically in the areas of forming, welding, heat treatment and surface technology. RUD is known in the industry as one of the leading hoist manufacturers and suppliers for a wide range of hoist chains made from highly wear resistant round steel chains according to EN 818-7 for motor driven and manual hoists. RUD hoist chain can be supplied to suit a variety of project sizes from the smallest size - 3 x 9 mm up to the world's largest - 32 x 90 mm.

The advantages of RUD hoist chain is impressive, offering an extremely high resistance to wear due to its robust surface and depth hardness resultin

Vietnam - Continuing to expand the successful Vuvuzela Beer Club brand in Vietnam, the Golden Gate Group recently held a grand opening for another Vuvuzela Beer Club on Truong Son Street, the gateway to the heart of Saigon from Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

As with the other Vuvuzela Beer Clubs, audio specialists and Van Damme cable exponents, QV Sound, designed the sound system to meet the critical demands of the Golden Gate Group's management. The sound system needed to achieve high sound pressure levels, high quality sound, and enough bass to "rock" the crowd. To achieve this QV sound used high quality Neutrik connectors and Van Damme cabling throughout.

QV's business development manager Mr Quoc Nguyen said, "We always use Van Damme cables and fittings from VDC Trading wherever possible because they are trouble free, they represent excellent value and f

UK - The Lights, a contemporary venue in the heart of Andover in Hampshire, recently underwent a renovation project to improve health and safety for stage light rigging, and called upon one of Doughty Engineering's main UK distributors, Hawthorn Theatrical Ltd, who knew exactly what kit to install.

Mark Lambert, property services manager for The Lights, which is owned and managed by Test Valley Borough Council, explained, "Reducing the need to work at height was our main objective with this project, and although safety was the number one priority for us, we also needed to be cost conscious. Following agreement on a suitable and affordable system with Hawthorn Theatrical, the company was appointed as the main contractor. Hawthorn subsequently specified Doughty Engineering as their hoist supplier."

Alan Jackson, Hawthorns said, "Following an initial site visit by

UK - Mantracourt have announced that its BroadWeigh wireless load monitoring system is now available with a dedicated flight case.

The new, robust and lockable flight case provides protection and security for the equipment, as well as providing wheels and heavy duty handles for ease of transportation.

The BroadWeigh portable wireless system offers real-time, simple, effective and accurate load monitoring for rigging professionals, enabling them to monitor and log the precise loads on any given rigging point.

"We have been working closely with the entertainment industry in the development of the BroadWeigh systems," said Louise Stubbs, marketing coordinator at Mantracourt. "Having refined and proven the technology, we took on board feedback from our customers that for temporary and touring applications we needed to provide some form of protection and ease of ha

Russia - Numerous products from Germany-based ChainMaster have been utilised for the XXIIth Winter Olympics currently being held in the Russian town of Sochi. ChainMaster has been active in Russia and the neighbouring states since 1998, and in 2004 opened ChainMaster Consulting Office Russia.

In addition to several smaller projects, ChainMaster's activities in Sochi have mainly centred on equipping the Bolshoy Ice Dome and the Iceberg Skating Palace, each of which is capable of accommodating up to 12,000 spectators. It is planned to stage the ice hockey matches in the Bolshoy Ice Dome and the artistic and short track ice skating events in the Iceberg Skating Palace.

In each of these arenas, ChainMaster equipment forms part of a variety of installations - most notably the system for raising and lowering the two giant video cubes. Here, safety was the paramount concern governing

Europe - Le Maitre is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its renowned G300 Smoke Machine - an industry standard around the globe which has been widely adopted by theme parks, theatres, cruise ships and the emergency services for breathing apparatus training.

The G300 was Le Maitre's second generation high powered smoke machine, following on from the Smoke Processor 3 series, and at the time of its launch was commented on by competitors as setting the standard by which all other machines would be judged. Le Maitre's goal at the time was quite simply to make a machine that was better than anything else on the market. This has clearly proved to be the case with sales still going strong and many of the unique features still not being able to be emulated by other manufacturers.

Le Maitre came up with and patented its 'Layered Block System' called Genesis - hence the 'G' of G300. T

UK - PLASA has announced the launch of a major new industry survey designed to help guide the Association's future development of technical qualifications for the industry.

PLASA is carrying out a survey of employers and technicians across both theatre and live events in the UK in relation to the further development of qualifications and are calling for participation from employers and technicians in the live events and theatre sector. It is hoped data will emerge on how many technicians are working, both employed and freelance, and in which areas of specialism - and it will assess the appetite of the industry for further vocational qualifications beyond the National Rigging Certificate.

Matthew Griffiths, CEO of PLASA said: "This is an essential piece of research for the entertainment technology sector that will be vital in setting PLASA's skills planning over the coming

UK - PRG (Production Resource Group) - a leading supplier of entertainment and event technology - has selected Prolyte truss for its European trussing inventory.

PRG provides integrated services and equipment, including audio, video, lighting, rigging, staging, and scenery and automation systems, and has chosen Prolyte to supply a structured platform of complementary truss products. The core offering will include a range of trussing from the compact H30V series through to more heavy-duty systems such as S36V and S52V trusses, encompassing some items powder-coated in black.

The initial investment exceeds a staggering 10,000 metres of trussing; creating a considerable modular stock which PRG plans to expand on in the future.

The wide and versatile range of trussing systems that Prolyte offers ties in seamlessly with the variety of markets that PRG serves, enabling single disci

UK - Show technology, control and integration specialist the FIX8 Group is "absolutely delighted" with its latest purchase of flight cases from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire based manufacturer 5 Star Cases, and this brings their total now to over 60 x 5 Star built cases.

Specially modified shock mounted 19" rack systems have been customized to fit FIX8's individually spec'd media server systems. The media server's racks are uniform in width and depth, but vary in height from between 12 and 30 units.

In addition to the actual media server computers, the racks also house all the required peripherals needed for a complete media server video processing system, including PPUs, support racks and cameral channel control racks.

FIX8 also has more cases which are designed to house four 24 inch monitors, complete with DVI cables and stands - so the contents in the two differe

UK - Manchester based lighting and rigging specialist dbn has designed, supplied and installed a highly effective production lighting rig for the Albert Hall in Manchester - a new 2000 capacity venue in a former Methodist meeting hall dating back to 1910 in the heart of the city.

The space - original features including double height windows with stained glass detail and a magnificent organ fully renovated with pipes left exposed - has been lovingly restored to its former splendour and opened as Manchester's live music and event space by independent owners Trof.

Trof have a penchant for discovering found spaces and turning them into buzzing entertainment hubs, and the Albert Hall is no exception as it gears up for full operation with promoters and private clients clamouring to book it for bands, comedy and cabaret shows, club nights, parties and corporate events.

dbn's Stephe

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