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Rigging / Staging

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UK - Le Mark Group is celebrating its fortieth anniversary. It all began in September 1983 in the kitchen and garage of the family home in Alconbury, supplying a range of self-adhesive tapes to the Arts Entertainment TV and Movie industry. The company was run by Stuart and his ex-wife Linda Gibbons as joint MDs.
The company grew and evolved, moving several times until finally settling in their current location at Houghton Hill Industries.
By the 1990s the product range had grown to include custom, and award-winning products, such as their much sought after dance floors. The familiar 90s TV shows such as; BBC TV’s Top of the Pops, Morecambe & Wise, Play Your Cards Right - all used Le Mark flooring.
Blankety Blank termed the phrase “a shiny floor show’ using Le Mark’s Studiotak peel clean stage floor covering.
The comp

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USA - Lighting and rigging company, TSL has prioritised increasing and improving the stock of rigging supplies within their inventory this year.
New investments which have already arrived are the EXE Rise D8 + 350kg and 500kg Chain Hoists, with the EXE Rise D8 + 1000kg and 2000kg LV Single Fall Chain Hoists on their way. These hoists are the most up to date and comply with European regulations.
TSL’s new 2000kg hoists boast a single chain (single fall) configuration, which means they are a lot bigger and more powerful but the main benefit is that the chain can be used without fear of getting it entangled which is an improved safety feature.
More Doughty frames and a range of truss have also been purchased to increase stock availability.
Sam Tamplin, TSL managing director says: "We're committed to developing our rigging capabilities by investing in the r
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USA - ESTA has announced a team of nine ETCP recognised trainers as the recipients of the Frank Stewart Volunteer of the Year Award for service in both 2022 and 2023:
Bennett Brian (Reed Rigging, Inc.), Tyler DeLong (DeLong Rigging Solutions), Brent "Mickey" Henry (ETC), Shane Kelly (DePaul University), Rebecca Knipfer (ETC), Ed Leahy (The Chicago Flyhouse, Inc.), Verda Beth Martell (DLR Group), Tracy Nunnally (Vertigo), and Patrick Stewart (ETC), whose father is the award's namesake. These trainers tirelessly volunteered around their busy schedules to plan, design, and deliver a curriculum for the Midwest Rigging Intensive (MRI) two years in a row.
“Being recognised by ESTA for doing MRI is one of the highlights of my career thus far,” said DeLong, whose company, DeLong Rigging Solutions, is a sponsor. “I support MRI because it is a unique event driven by a gro

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UK - PLASA Show once again returns to Olympia London to showcase the future of live entertainment technology. From 3-5 September, the expanded show will set the stage for 239 brands, 112 educational sessions, and the meeting of thousands of industry professionals. Free tickets are available until 31 August, after which the price will increase to £15, then £20 on the door.
Lighting professionals can look forward to meeting Artistic Licence, Astera, Ayrton, Chauvet Professional, Claypaky, Elation, ETC, GDS, GLP, MA Lighting, Martin, Robert Juliat, ROXX, SGM, TMB, Vari-Lite and more leading brands. Plus, headline sponsor Robe will run impressive live demonstrations on its stand throughout the show.
Pro audio professionals can connect with brands suc

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Lithuania - HOF has announced that it has appointed Baltic Production Service BPS as a distribution partner for Lithuania. BPS is a leading stage & light company in Lithuania, offering a variety of services to its clients including light design, stage design solutions, rigging, event services and equipment rental.
Povilas Leckas, CEO at Baltic Production Service BPS says: “Our credo is efficiency, experience and passion for what we do. We like HOF because we see it as a creative company that cares about the market and its needs. As a production company, we are keen to bring new ideas that could help us do our job faster and more efficiently and help our partners succeed.”
Edwin Duivelaar, export & sales manager at HOF, adds: "With Baltic Production Service BPS we share the same philosophy. Baltic Production Service BPS joining the HOF family is another imp

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UK - House of Oz is a platform to showcase the depth and breadth of Australian talent from the emerging to the veteran, in a venue with a distinctly Australian flavour. Born at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2022 as part of the UK/Australia Season, House of Oz featured a diverse programme spanning genres and generations, and in its inaugural year, won an award for Best Fringe Venue.
More than just four walls, House of Oz provides the production, marketing and PR support for Australians to showcase their work.
For the 2023 event, Skywalker Gibbon, a giant inflatable gibbon designed by Melbourne visual artist Lisa Roet, takes pride of place on the front of King’s Hall, Newington, Edinburgh. The venue, a 19th century church and Grade B listed building, required a sensitive solution to allow for the 20m wide by 6m tall artwork to be displayed safely, with Adrian Bell,

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UAE - Seaworld at Yas Island Abu Dhabi is the region’s first Marine Life Theme Park. It is also the first facility in the MENA region to achieve Global Human certification (the international brand of American Human, which is the world’s largest certifier of animal welfare). The new attraction was delivered by ALEC Engineering & Contracting LLC and opened its doors to the public in May 2023.
Unusual Rigging was brought on board by ALEC and subcontractors ASU and Holovis to handle the various rigging installations around the park, ensuring that the equipment and design solution remained constant throughout the different disciplines and buildings.
One of the main aspects of the project was the installation of a series of acrylic ceiling panels in the venue’s central hub. Called One Ocean, the hub looks like an underwater cave with rocky arches marking the entran

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UK - When Audio Light Systems was contracted as specialist theatre systems installation contractors, to deliver The Studio at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Doughty Engineering was the supplier of choice for the facility panels and production light boxes that the venue would need.
The Studio - a home for new expressive art, opened its doors earlier this summer - more than 40 years after it was originally planned. Although a smaller performance place was part of the original 1970’s design of the site at Port-Na-Craig, financial restrictions meant that this particular ambition could not be realised at the time. The dream remained, however, and the designated space was held (and used as a set store) until it became a reality.
Steve Aitchson, project engineer at Audio Light Systems said: “The space, whilst fairly small (seating 172 over two levels at full capacity), requi

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UK - A Serious Stages Supanova provided the colourful focal point for Brighton’s Fabulosa Pride in Preston Park, with over 150 LGBTQ+ artists entertaining 60,000 fans, 5-6 August, 2023.
Widely acknowledged as the country’s most popular Pride event, Serious Stages supported the organisers of this year 50th Brighton Pride anniversary weekend. The Black Eyed Peas, Zara Larson, Steps and Melanie C were amongst the artists appearing on the 22m Arch Supernova stage, complete with front-of-stage thrust allowing the stars to get up close to the sparkling audience.
Two goalposts carrying giant LED video screens and PA speakers flanked the stage, creating a spectacular focal point for two days of music, looked over by the Serious three-storey front-of-house tower with the technical sound and lighting mixers. Serious also installed speaker delay towers across the park.

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Estonia - Sixty82 B.V has announced that Progear has been appointed as its exclusive distributor for Estonia.
Progear has quickly emerged as a significant player in the Estonian market. With a commitment to meet their customer's needs swiftly, Progear has built up a comprehensive stock of Sixty82 products, ready for distribution.
"We are thrilled to collaborate with Progear and extend our market reach in Estonia," stated Rainier Smeding, sales director of Sixty82. "Progear mirrors our dedication to delivering top-tier products and services. Their industry knowledge, resources, and passion position them perfectly to represent our brand and fuel our growth in this region."
Brand Manager for Sixty82 at Progear, Andreas Reinula, will be at the helm of this partnership.
Raivo Sinijärv, managing partner at Progear shared, "It's an honour to be the exclusive dis

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UK - The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) has launched the LEEA Connect App (Version 2.0). For the first time, the free to download app is available not only to LEEA members but also to non-members. This means it can be downloaded by engineers, examiners and anyone with an interest in the safety or technical aspects of lifting operations.
The new app delivers technical guidance, documentation, the latest LEEA news feeds, safety alerts as well as access to the LEEA Library and other information straight into a user’s smart device.
Ross Moloney, CEO of LEEA, said: “Previous version of the Connect App were only available to LEEA members, but making the new LEEA Connect App (Version 2.0) publicly available opens up a huge opportunity for anybody involved in lifting to benefit, for example, from directly accessing LEEA’s Code of Practice (COPSULE), techn

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UK - Latitude Festival offered a wide range of entertainment and interactive activities to its 45,000 audience, July 2023, with Serious Stages supporting the promoters, Festival Republic, with bespoke stages and site structures.
The main stage Obelisk Arena, a Serious 22m, six-bay Supanova, adorned with Latitude branding and giant screens, hosted a varied line-up for the Common People with their New Shoes On, on the Green Green Grass of Latitude. There was more live music on a range of Serious staging platforms across the three-day festival, including the BBC Sounds Stage, The Alcove, The Sunrise Arena, the Lavish Lounge (BBC Introducing), The Faraway Forest and the Trailer Park Stage. With plenty of laughs to be had on the 26.5m x 6m Comedy tent stage.
Operations manager Abbey Thomas reports, “The décor across the Latitude site creates an aesthetically beautiful fe

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UK - The UK premier of the much-publicised movie, Barbie, took place 12 July at Cineworld Leicester Square. Limited Edition Event Design with support from IPS (Impact Production Services) produced the event.
Helping to create the colourful scene was a collection of 272 IP65 rated Chauvet Professional video tiles and lighting fixtures from IPS’ own extensive inventory.
“As most of the action at a premiere event takes place outside, IP rated equipment is the most suitable, since it allows everything to keep operating whatever happens with the weather,” Tom Warden of IPS said of the event’s kit. “There is only one chance to get things right on these shows and Limited Edition Event Design does an excellent job as the technical production designer.
Film premieres are a tough gig in the best of times, especially when they take place in very busy centra

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UAE - As house riggers at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, Unusual Rigging & Engineering is used to handling the requirements of the array of different events that are hosted there. However, The International Indian Film Academy Awards 2023 presented URE with its biggest project at the venue to date.
URE’s Richard Hoare explained: “IIFA is a massive event - the Bollywood equivalent to the Oscars - held annually, it celebrates the best talent the Indian film industry has to offer. This year we were asked to supply our venue rigging services for the event. This involved more than 316 points to suspend more than 105 tonnes of production equipment. This was 100+ more points than we rigged for the 2022 event and three times the amount we’d expect to put in for a normal show.”
One of the big challenges this year was time. The venue was booked back-to-back with ev

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Spain - HOF has confirmed that it has appointed Acson as a distribution partner in Spain. The cooperation will start with immediate effect.
Acson is a professional lighting and sound system distribution company that has been in the industry for more than 30 years.
Alex Costa, managing director at Acson, says: “Many of our customers are production companies that need brands and products that help them reduce set-up and dismantling times for their shows across Spain. We found HOF to be the perfect match to what we were looking for to be able to meet our customers’ requirements.“
Edwin Duivelaar, export & sales manager at HOF, adds: "Acson is a very respected company in Spain. They can push the HOF products in their wide range network in Spain. We are sure that the HOF products will give Acson a complement to their already wide product portfolio."
Ac

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UK - Unusual Rigging will commence building works on a ‘ground-breaking’ new headquarters today, 26 July as part of its commitment to respond to the climate emergency.
The innovative project is set to see the company pave the way as pioneers - showing what can be done towards regenerative design within the built environment whilst also sharing the obstacles they face with the wider industry.
The organisation, known for its work on events like the Olympics, the World Cup and West End and touring theatre hit shows, says it is taking ‘a huge leap forward’ in their commitment to the circular economy.
The design for the new HQ and research building, on the company’s current site in Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire, takes all the economic principles of the circular economy and applies them to the new building.
Tom Harper, managing director at Unusual Rigging

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Portugal - Europalco delivered a memorable event using Kuka robots for the truck and bus manufacturer Fuso to unveil the new eCanter, a light truck 100% electric. Prime Minister António Costa, Secretary of State for the Economy Pedro Cilínio, and company representatives were among the 150 guests.
Team4 relied on Europalco to organise the one-day event at Fuso's manufacturing plant in Tramagal, Portugal. It took two days and 20 dedicated audiovisual and structural technicians to assemble and programme an event that marked the commencement of the manufacturing of the new Fuso truck.
The Lisbon-based provider was responsible for the scenery, stage, audiovisual, automatic controls, and furniture. Europalco built an 8x4m LED wall that displayed the opening reel of the event.
For the unveiling of Fuso's new truck, Europalco designed a show to reflect modernity, nove

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UK - Pearce Hire has announced the opening of its new warehouse in Peterborough. The new facility aims to streamline workflows and enhance the quality of services provided.
Located in the heart of Peterborough, the expansion from 17,000 to around 27,000sq.ft of floor space will not only help the business to grow upon its already extensive inventory of lighting, sound, video and rigging equipment, as well as its staging and power distribution systems but also offer more space to prepare and process equipment for different departments.
As projects started to increase after the COVID pandemic, it became evident that Pearce Hire began to run out of space. From storing, to manoeuvring and maintaining equipment, more space was needed to prevent staff from working longer hours, which in time, could have increased the risk of mistakes.
Designed from the ground up, this

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Denmark - Entertainment automation specialist, Motor Stage Automation (MSA), has made a substantial investment in Kinesys, comprising 30 x Kinesys Apex 500 Kg hoists and 30 x Kinesys Apex V2 drives plus three Mentor 401 safety controllers - offering SIL3 safety over Ethernet and safety control of up to 60 devices simultaneously.
This follows up a second-batch purchase of 21 x Kinesys Apex 500 Kg hoists and 26 x Kinesys V1 Drives, a Mentor 401 and Vector control delivered last year, bringing MSA’s current total of Apex hosts to 72, including Apex 1250Kg motors that arrived when the company launched in 2021.
MSA is a brand-new company, and before launching in 2021, Christian Vigso and his team scoped out the market to find brands that were reliable, respected, flexible, and good value, and assessed the advantages of each. They also wanted brands that were omnipresent w

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UK - 50 Cent, Lil Yatchty, Travis Scott and D_Block Europe were among the urban music line-up appearing on the Serious 25m TZ Roof at Wireless Festival last week.
Serious Stages is supplying stages and site structures for Festival Republic across a range of UK festivals throughout the summer and has recently returned to Wireless Festival.
Serious operations manager Abbey Thomas says: “We work closely with Festival Republic’s creative and production teams to design and install stages that meet the needs of the headliners, while also creating a unique aesthetic for their events.
“Our TZ Roof was installed as the main stage at Wireless and incorporates bespoke curved screens on the goalposts to create a seamless, immersive visual experience for the audience. With the use of recently designed HD bowstrings, we were able to increase the capacity of the roof loa

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UK - Star Live, the specialist production agency that delivers live event and specialist build solutions, has secured a significant investment from LDC, part of Lloyds Banking Group.
Star Live was responsible for the bespoke stage, grandstand seats and Royal Box at last month’s Coronation Concert. The company has delivered other major projects at events including the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, BST Hyde Park and the Platinum Jubilee, along with stadium tours by acts such as Adele.
The business is enjoying considerable growth, having increased revenues by more than 30% in the last year alone to reach over £24m. It has also secured major projects both in the UK and internationally, including the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy, alongside a multitude of major sporting, cultural and entertainment pr

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UAE - Dubai-based iRIG has announced its partnership with Eilon Engineering as the exclusive distributor of their Ron StageMaster load monitoring systems. The partnership became effective on 1 June 2023, marking a significant milestone for both companies in expanding their presence in the Middle East market.
Eilon Engineering’s innovative load cell technology and commitment to quality have earned them a solid reputation among professionals worldwide. By partnering with iRIG, Eilon Engineering aims to leverage their expertise and strong regional presence to better serve customers in the Middle East.
The partnership will allow iRIG to enhance its product portfolio with Eilon Engineering's wireless and wired load cell solutions, providing customers in the region with access to the appropriate products for their lifting and load monitoring needs.
Both iRIG and Eil

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South Africa - Andrea ‘Dray’ Fowler has joined DWR Distribution’s sales team in Johannesburg.
For the past nine years, Dray has worked for a company that specialises in signage lighting while her career has seen her operate in business finance, office automation and sales.
“I knew about DWR Distribution from my husband Clint who also works in the live events industry, and from our friend Kyle Robson who works at DWR,” said Dray. “It always sounded like a vibey organisation where I've heard they work hard, play hard and fight hard. To me it seemed like a company where if I looked after them, they would look after me.”
“It’s wonderful to be able to expand the sales team and we are already impressed with Dray’s energy and the way she so easily fits into the team, almost as if she has always been part of it,” said Robert Izzett, sales director

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Singapore - Acoustic & Lighting System has joined the international network of Fenix Stage distributors.
Discussions began at ISE Barcelona 2023. Acoustic & Lighting will add Fenix Stage's lifting towers, ground support towers and display support solutions to its product offering for the Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore markets.
“We are delighted with this partnership, as our international expansion efforts are paying off and our network is growing rapidly,” says Fenix.
Fenix Stage sales director Alex Bryan has already presented training sessions at Acoustic and Lighting bases in in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and Bangkok (Thailand).
These training sessions marked Fenix's official welcome to Acoustic & Lighting System. “We thank the attendees and our new distributor for their support and are excited to a
  1. MSA automates Pretty Woman production
  2. Fenix Stage appoints Stagemix distributor for India
  3. Unusual role in West End with Mrs Doubtfire
  4. Lars Noske joins HOF management team
  5. Fenix Stage aids innovation at BTL 2023
  6. Jimmy Johnson joins MSA team
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