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Qatar - The 12th quadrennial Pan Arab Games took place in Doha, Qatar recently - the first time that the country had hosted the multi-sport event.

Khalifa International Stadium was the main venue for the competition - as well as the Opening & Closing Ceremonies, which were attended by around 40,000 people.

Norwest Productions again worked alongside event sound designer Scott Willsallen, fielding a specialist crew including Ian Shapcott, Steve Caldwell, Trevor Beck and Justin Arthur. Another familiar presence at the stadium was the giant Optocore fibre ring.

According to Norwest Project Manager, Andrew Marsh, "The designs for these Opening & Closing Ceremonies almost always use Optocore for the signal distribution. We have a great investment in the Optocore brand and we ho

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Singapore - W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden along with MA Lighting had full control over a very special New Year celebration held at Marina Bay in Singapore. Headed by the Esplanade and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore, this New Year spectacle spanned across the Marina Bay area, a 1 km2 fresh water reservoir flanked by the new Marina Bay Sands Resort complex, the Financial District and the Esplanade itself, which includes a collection of theatres, restaurants and parks.

The area holds a special significance in the history of Singapore, being a port from which the city started its development. The idea for the 2012 New Year celebration was to fill the reservoir with floating illuminated spheres, each containing a personal note from individuals stating their wishes for 2012. From an initial estimate of 2500, the number of spheres grew to an astounding 20,000.

The

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South Africa - Visual Frontier was hired to provide the lighting and AV solution for Skouspel 2011, held from 7 - 9 October and 14 - 16 October at the Sun City Superbowl. Joshua Cutts, who heads Visual Frontier, was the lighting designer. It was the fifth time he had worked on Skouspel.

This year's Skouspel featured a range of new elements such as the giant screens with thematic videos. Cutts explains, "The main focus was on the large LED display and video content produced for it. I wanted to tone down the overall lighting feel so as not to compete with the screens and wanted to create a theatrical feel. Every year the production grows in scale and this year was no exception. It is always a huge challenge to complete the programming in the time we have but somehow we make it work."

Cutts had 41 Vari-lite fixtures at his disposal besides a list of other fixtures. The

City Theatrical - Banner - July 2025

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New Zealand - At the heart of the new retail departures area at Auckland International Airport in New Zealand is Pou Manawa, a huge tree of architectural fabric onto which colour and traditional Maori designs are reflected using Martin Exterior 410 wash lights and Martin smartMAC image projecting moving heads.

Ignite Architects developed the idea of a 'heart' space - an interactive and engaging area that people could gravitate to - and, as much of the imagery symbolizing what New Zealanders hold dear is focused on trees, the Pou Manawa was born.

"We had an exhaustive period of early testing to get the best fixture for the projection," says Chris McKenzie of Martin distributor Kenderdine Electrical. "We had other colour changing fixtures specified but when the Exterior 410s became available we changed the specification to use them. The 410s were the perfect solut

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UK - Production management and technical services specialist Illuminate Design has signed up with Digital Deluxe for PR and marketing services.

Illuminate Design, which is headed by Ben Payne, Robin Shephard-Blandy and Andrew Wales, was set up in 2005 with the intention of providing production services to the entertainment industry. However, in recent years, the company has expanded its offering to include technical services - including offering venues a complete overhaul of theatrical lighting and sound equipment.

The company now has a diverse mix of clients, including local theatres, hotels, dance companies and even holiday parks. By maintaining a mix of different client types, the company intends to continue to service clients of all sizes, from a large international tour to a one off night of entertainment.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - A basketball arena at the University of Wisconsin has been decked with 20 dBTechnologies Arena 15 loudspeakers, which managed to overcome the foibles of a room with a broad range of applications. Beside sporting events, Quandt Fieldhouse in Stevens Point is also the venue for 'commencement' ceremonies and hosts a multitude of concerts and assemblies, asking a lot of the sound system - and the design/build team.

Brian Baumann and Kent Laabs of Soundworks Systems Inc. handled the design and installation. They explain, "The audio system needed to be capable of high SPL's for UWSP Pointer basketball games and other athletic events. It needed to be capable of clear music reproduction whilst maintaining high speech intelligibility for both low and high SPL events. On top of all that, budget was a factor.

"The room itself presented acoustic challenges which included i

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Theatre Figures - The West End enjoyed record box office sales in 2011 for an eighth consecutive year, according to figures released by the Society of London Theatre (SOLT). Takings topped £528.3m in 2011 - up 3.1% on a like-for-like basis on the previous year. Due to the closure of a number of theatres while new shows were set up, the overall attendance was 13.9m - down 1.73% on 2010. According to SOLT, though, the average audience at each performance was up. The Society said the growth in sales could be attributed to sell-out productions such as Matilda the Musical and the continued success of Les Miserables, now in its 26th year.

"We are extremely proud that our theatres have yet again gone on to achieve another record-breaking year of sales," said SOLT president Mark Rubinstein. "Despite the prevailing rigours of the economic climate, theat

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USA - Clear-Com has launched the Clear-Com Global Rental Group (CGRG). Through a network of experienced rental partners equipped to provide Clear-Com intercom systems for productions of any size, the new service, led by industry veteran Larry Estrin, offers "greater flexibility and options for addressing customers' communications requirements".

The CGRG comprises "a hand-selected team of trained and experienced rental businesses worldwide". These partners support short-term and rapid installation needs with a full range of advanced wired and wireless production intercoms and technical support. As director of CGRG, Estrin (who has extensive experience with events such as the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, Grammys and Academy Awards) provides rental partners with greater knowledge, skills and resources to supply the highest level of production communications, says

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USA - Systems integration firm Axxentos of Fort Lauderdale, Florida turned to Technomad upon evaluating the outdoor audio needs of Club Med Sandpiper in nearby Port St. Lucie. The new outdoor audio systems, featuring 14 Technomad weatherproof loudspeakers, comprise part of a property-wide renovation alongside indoor AV upgrades and general construction projects.

Club Med Sandpiper's 400-square-mile resort property exists in southern Florida's sweltering climate, requiring durable outdoor audio systems that can withstand the year-round heat, humidity and moisture. The resort also required high-quality loudspeakers that could power full-range, high-volume audio over long distances, and reproduce soothing background music at clearly audible levels.

"I've learned what gear can survive in harsh environments over the years, and from all the outdoor installations I have done, on

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The Netherlands - Christie is showing a broad spread of products and solutions in EMEA for the first time at ISE 2012 from adjacent large-scale, two-tier booths (Hall 1, Stand H27 and H40).

All premium portfolios will be strongly focused in a series of targeted zones - including the largest Christie MicroTiles display wall seen at a trade show - as well as a defined broadcast area, an entire section showcasing entry level projectors, and a dedicated cinema function showing Christie Solaria 4K DLP Cinema digital projection.

Christie JumpStart, which will be launching this year at ISE, is a PC-based software solution for positioning a wide range of content onto a 5-10 megapixel digital canvas with minimal effort. Combining user-friendly JumpStart software with reliable HP hardware, Christie JumpStart enables customers to arrange windows of local content - including video files,

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Switzerland - A system comprised of MediorNet, Artist and RockNet equipment from Riedel Communications was used to distribute video, audio and communication signals for the renowned alpine skiing competition at the Swiss Chuenisbärgli in Adelboden.

Rivella AG was the on-site technical partner for the event. Riedel delivered a versatile installation that helped make the Ski World Cup in Adelboden a successful weekend with over 40,000 visitors - despite the bad weather conditions.

The World Cup race in the Bernese Oberland, a major event in the FIS skiing tour, is one of the most difficult giant slalom courses in the world. The demands of the event in Adelboden included establishing a reliable communications infrastructure as well providing a fail-safe distribution of the event's video and audio signals.

For the first time, Rivella used a MediorNet system to distribute

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UK - Blackout provided bespoke heart shaped draping for this year's star-studded National Television Awards (NTAs) held at the O2 Arena, Wednesday 25 January 2012.

Broadcast live on ITV1, the annual event was hosted by Dermot O'Leary and saw stars from across the TV world commended in 14 categories.

This year's set design was the brainchild of Nicoline Refsing of Rockart Design and featured a stunning giant heart framing the stage and surrounding a projection screen for the show's graphics.

Blackout were contracted by NTA Producers Indigo Television and have provided extensive draping for the NTAs for the last five years. This year the five-strong team installed a custom made black wool serge drape 60m wide with a 24m drop , with a heart shape cut out to perfectly fit the set's design and allow flawless rear projection.

Chris Brain, Blackout's installation director led a t

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Kazakhstan - The country marked its 20th year of independence on 1 December and President Nazarbayev chose the day to celebrate the inauguration of the fully renovated Republic Palace, the biggest concert hall in Almaty.

Begun only six months earlier, the renovation features a completely new design that includes the latest in Martin Professional lighting technology, a refurbishment that has raised the venue's profile to a "must visit" stop in central Asia.

Lighting designer for the anniversary show was François Guillet of Lumières Utiles who travelled from France to give life to the beautiful auditorium via the Martin rig.

Lighting and sound equipment was entrusted to APM Group, Martin Professional's distributor in Kazakhstan. Head of APM, CEO Maxim Vostrov, chose a large Martin package of 14 MAC III Profiles, 24 MAC 2000 Wash XBs, 110 MAC 700 Profiles, 80 MAC 70

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) 's specialist Audio division has been selected as one of the primary UK sub-distributors for RCF.

As part of the agreement, A.C. Audio will become a 'one stop shop' for all RCF equipment including the TT High Definition Touring and Theatre Professional Speaker System and Commercial/Public Address ranges.

The sales division has taken immediate stock of some of RCF's most popular ranges, including the TT Line Array, Point Source, NX series and ART series.

A.C. Audio sales manager, Peter Butler comments, "We are delighted to officially represent RCF, whose products have a strong reputation and presence throughout the production industry. We are very enthusiastic about bringing RCF products to our diverse customer base and developing the brand."

(Jim Evans)

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Europe - LED lighting fixture manufacturer Prism Projection has appointed UK-based entertainment lighting specialist White Light as its exclusive distributor for all of Europe.

The agreement, reached following discussions at last year's LDI Show, expands White Light's involvement with Prism Projection; White Light has served as Prism's exclusive UK distributor for the last few years, during which time Prism's RevEAL range - CW washlight, Studio washlight and Profile spotlight - have been chosen for a number of new UK lighting installations.

"We're thrilled that Prism have entrusted us with looking after their products across Europe," comments White Light's sales director, Peter Threadgold. "We knew their products were something special from the first moment we saw them at LDI 2009; more importantly we knew the people behind the products were special, with a diff

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Russia - "The important factor is to analyse exactly what is required, identify the correct tools to achieve this then implement it." Alexander Fetisov talking about a complete refit of RIA Novosty, Russia's largest and most significant news agency. A comparison to the BBC World Service might give a fair insight, RIA Novosty broadcasts in Russian and five European languages, producing programmes focussed upon political, social, economic, scientific and financial information.

"The tasks of the agency also include distribution of official messages of the Russian government, ministries, agencies and social organisations," continued Fetisov. "The offices of RIA Novosty are a complex of multi-storied buildings including a large multipurpose hall the Big Universal (BUH), several conference halls, apparatus rooms, operational halls, all located in the centre of

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The Netherlands - Barco is adding a new unit to its HDX range of three-chip DLP projectors. The HDX-W18 is the latest addition to the successful HDX family, sharing the on-board image processing, compact design, easy servicing, and preview mode features with its W12 and W14 cousins, but clocking in at 17,500 lumens. Barco will unveil the HDX-W18 at ISE 2012 this week.

"After our very successful introduction of the HDX-W14 last year, we are excited to expand our HDX range with a 17,500 lumens unit. This new model supports the customer requirements of getting more brightness out of compact projector systems," says Chris Colpaert, director of strategic marketing ProAV at Barco. "The HDX is equipped with Xenon lamps and contains a high contrast optical engine. This results in stunning colour reproductions, presenting audiences with crisp and vivid images on every occa

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World - Katy Perry's engineering team relies on DPA Microphones' 4088 cardioid headsets for all the pop superstar's live performances, including her current California Dreams world tour. With the fast-paced, high-action set mechanics of the tour, Perry's front-of-house engineer Peter Keppler needed a mic that could adapt to any situation.

"When selecting a microphone, I wanted something that would provide a well-balanced, open and airy sound for Katy," says Keppler. "She's a strong singer with a great voice and I thought finding a good headset mic would be a challenge. From the moment we tried the DPA 4088, I knew the sound was no longer going to be a problem."

During Thinking of You, Perry stands atop a pink cloud that allows her to fly out over the audience playing an acoustic guitar. During this performance, Perry is in front of the main PA

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UK - Monacor has introduced a new range of column loudspeakers - the ETS-240TW/WS, ETS-220TW/WS and ETS-210TW/WS. These slim design, weather-proof speakers feature extruded aluminium cabinets with an aluminium front grille. All of which are completely hose-proof and weather proof with an IP66 rating.

Each model offers five power taps from the two-way speakers with additional integrated tweeters for a clear and crisp sound. The range topping ETS-240TW features eight speakers and four tweeters and can be tapped at 40/30/20/10/5 W, resulting in an impressive 90dB.

Adam Garner, sales manager, Monacor UK comments, "The new ETS-240TW/WS, ETS-220TW/WS and ETS-210TW/WS combine all the advantages of a column speaker with an excellent sound quality and particularly high stability level."

Each model is supplied with mounting brackets and a connection cable.

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - In the Autostadt Wolfsburg, the communication platform of the Volkswagen operation, everything revolves around mobility. Over 23m people have visited the theme park and out-of-school learning centre since its opening in the year 2000, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Germany.

The Autostadt is the world's largest automobile distribution centre and its automobile museum - the ZeitHaus - is the world's largest. With a multitude of cultural events staged there each year, the Autostadt is also an attractive venue for cultural pursuits, offering an ambience in which art, architecture and design combine to superlative effect in a 25-hectare landscaped park.

Work began on a technical upgrade to the Autostadt's sound reinforcement system around a year ago. The planning, project management and supervision were undertaken by the bureau of engineers Taub

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UK - Airing live last Wednesday The National Television Awards was as glitzy and glamorous as ever before. For the third year running, Le Mark's StudioTak studio flooring played a key part in its lighting setup and set design. Le Mark's high gloss black StudioTak studio floor was the base of the stage design, decorated with a second gloss red layer to give a visually stunning set.

Constructed by London based Blackfriars Scenery, the set uses the latest technology combined with StudioTak flooring to make a stage bigger and better than ever before. Project manager Perry Judge says, "We've used Studiotak for the last three NTA's and a host of other awards shows over the past few years, it's a great floor and works really well with the studio lighting."

Le Mark's Leanne Baker says, "It's always a great feeling to see our floors on TV, especially when they're used on

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