UK - The Stagehand COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund, launched in September 2020, achieved its target of raising £1m by the end of 2020 and now looks to building on the £1.17m raised in order to continue supporting live events industry workers experiencing hardship in 2021. As a result, a third round of grant applications will be open until 12pm on 12 February. The grants of £500 help crew facing financial crisis and experiencing food poverty. Donations to the COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund have been received from PPL, BPI / BRIT Awards, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, The Co-Op, SJM Concerts, artists, artist managers and many individuals including some by anonymous donors. Prints for Music, the photography sale created by Ed Robinson who, together with 39 other photographers, donated images depicting musical heroes throughout the ages. The campaign saw significant f
Pay Freeze - Backstage theatre workers across the UK will have their pay frozen until April next year, under temporary contract changes aimed at helping the industry reopen following the pandemic. UK Theatre and BECTU have concluded a temporary COVID-19 Variation Agreement, which came into effect on 18 January and replaces the current UK Theatre/BECTU agreement until 2022. Although BECTU members voted in favour of the amendments, the union said they were not happy with the changes. The changes will not impact separately negotiated house agreements with individual venues, but local negotiations can take place to vary house agreements in line with the temporary COVID-19 Variation Agreement. The UK Theatre/BECTU agreement covers pay and working conditions for offstage roles in theatres across the UK in areas including box office, administration, technical, front of house,
UK - Source Distribution, exclusive distributor in the UK & Ireland of Arturia products, has been presented with the award of Arturia Best Distributor for 2020. This award, given by Arturia company directors, recognises efforts across a multitude of activities, from sales and fulfilment, to marketing, communications and support. Commenting on the award, Arturia area sales manager Patrice Martin-Coulibaly said: "2020 was a year of unpredictable challenges and enormous shifts in the way that our industry operates, further amplified by the fact that it was one of our most ambitious as a company. Our partners in distribution play a crucial role in communicating this ambition, our passion, and our message to musicians worldwide - and none more so than Source Distribution. Once again, they've not just risen to the challenges that 2020 presented, but proven themselves to be ins
Singapore - Audio conversion specialist Prism Sound has appointed SSL Asia Pte as its new distributor for Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar, with responsibility for its entire product range including the recently launched ADA-128 modular audio conversion system and its range of audio interfaces such as Lyra, Titan and Atlas. Covering the South East Asia region, SSL Asia was originally established to represent console manufacturer SSL but now handles distribution for many other well know pro audio brands including Quested Speakers, Warm Audio, JoeCo, Antelope Audio, Konig&Meyer, AEA Ribbon Microphones and Chandler Limited. Its client base covers all section of the audio industry, from recording and broadcast through to live sound and the home studio market. The company’s headquarters in Singapore has a fully equipped demo facility where customers can try out variou
UK - The Media Production & Technology Show, scheduled for May 2021, has been postponed until next year. The event will now take place from 11-12 May 2022 back at Olympia and for the first time will be held in the National Hall. The decision to move the show a full 12-months and reschedule into May 2022 has not been taken lightly, say the organisers. It has been made because of continued questions about the rest of 2021 and the possibility of hosting large scale events, as well as the availability of venues and other industry events already booked into the latter part of this year. Additionally, with some form of social distancing and limitations on public gatherings likely to be in place for some time to come, organisers decided that its customers and partners would need time to reasonably plan and invest in the event to maximise their attendance at the sho
UK - Artists including Sir Elton John and Radiohead are putting pressure on the government to resolve the problems around post-Brexit EU touring. UK artists will face red tape and fees for visas to play in some EU countries. Sir Elton John told The Guardian: "Either the Brexit negotiators didn't care about musicians, or didn't think about them, or weren't prepared." But Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage said the government had "pushed" for a solution and the door was still "open". She told MPs on Monday that the government had put forward a "very straightforward" plan to allow musicians to travel without work permits, drafted "in consultation with experts from the UK to creative sectors". She added: "Quite simply the EU rejected this proposal." Brussels has previously argued the opposite, saying it was in fact the UK that turned down its offer. Mean
USA - Shoreline City Church (SCC) held a fully social distanced and masked Covid-safe Christmas Eve service and celebration at the American Airlines Center (AAC) in Dallas which featured a diversity of performances by multiple artists and a flurry of different vocalists from the church, all backed by their house band. The church asked Josh Beard and Jacob Vanvlymen from Houston, Texas-based production design specialist Visual Edge to create a memorable production design. They chose Robe BMFL moving lights – a mix of BMFL Blades, BMFL WashBeams and BMFL FollowSpots – to be at the core of the lighting rig. Visual Edge was initially asked to present some design ideas which would incorporate lighting and video by SCC’s technical director Jeremy Hix. Three concepts were presented and one selected in which automation was also central to the design. Taki
UK - SLX, specialist technical supplier to theatres, touring productions, broadcast and live events, worked alongside young artist, Cameron Flynn - a member of New Adventures dance company on tour with Matthew Bourne’s production of The Red Shoes until the pandemic hit – as he created a digital performance that would speak to the challenges faced by artists nationwide. The performance, titled Unskilled, is available to watch online. Cameron says: “I was determined to use this time to do something meaningful. I didn’t want to moan about it but I wanted to convey a world where dance, performance and theatre didn’t exist yet all around were individuals trying to fit uncomfortably into other jobs, with their performative skill invisible and dreams to perform bursting to get out of them. It certainly has parallels
UK - On 21 April 2007, The Grove Theatre in Dunstable held its opening gala hosted by actor Brian Blessed. The following day, its first show, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, began a one-week run. From that point on, the 750-seat venue looked like it would never slow down, staging over 5,000 shows and events in a 13-year period. Then the COVID-19 pandemic brought its busy schedule to an abrupt halt. Although the theatre had to close its doors to the public during the lockdown, activity within its walls didn’t stop. With the popular venue empty, its technical director Richard Shrubb and his team were more readily able to upgrade its lighting rig by adding 16 of the new Chauvet Professional Force series fixtures supplied by its long-time vendor 10 out of 10 Productions. “Grove Theatre was opened well over a decade ago, and was still using a sizeab
Europe - Genelec has confirmed the appointment of Audio-Technica France to handle the French distribution of its studio and AV loudspeaker ranges, with Gilles Pétrotey joining the Audio-Technica team to spearhead Genelec sales in the region. This new distribution partnership is effective from 1 March 2021. With Audio-Technica already handling the distribution of Genelec products in the Netherlands and Spain, this move further strengthens the relationship between both companies, which will also benefit from the three decades of pro audio experience that the highly regarded Pétrotey brings, says the company. Having held senior positions at Yamaha, Beyer, Lexicon and the TC Group, Pétrotey joined the Music Tribe organisation to oversee Western European sales - with particular responsibility for the TC Electronic, Tannoy, Lab Gruppen and Midas brands. His appointmen
UK - Guildhall School of Music & Drama has announced 15 new online courses that will run from April – July 2021. The school has transferred its most popular short courses online and created a range of new ones, working with tutors to ensure that they are “just as enriching and memorable as they would be within the building”. The courses cover music, drama, music production for young women and girls, sound design for theatre, video mapping and an introduction to game audio. Participants will have the opportunity to learn with Guildhall School staff members, as well as guest tutors, in a range of workshops all held on Zoom. In addition to these courses, Guildhall School is hoping to run several in-person Summer Schools from July - August. For a full list of in-person courses and to register your interest, you can go to the website
World - Following the postponement of Showlight 2021 which had been set to take place this May in Fontainebleau, France, its organisers have announced that a one-day Virtual Showlight will be held in its place “as a temporary interlude”. The live online event will take place on Tuesday 25 May 2021 between the hours of 15.00 – 23.00 BST. The date coincides with the final day of the original event and the time has been chosen to best accommodate a global audience. Virtual Showlight will host an online presentation of papers, each up to 30 minutes in length, from international keynote speakers, plus a live Panel Discussion. Q&A sessions will follow each paper with delegates able to message their questions via the chairperson. The remainder of the time will stay true to the spirit of Showlight with scheduled breaks between sessions providing opportunities for d
UK - On Tuesday 2 February, #WeMakeEvents gave evidence during the DCMS select committee inquiry into the future of UK festivals. The campaign’s political group leader Duncan Bell detailed the ongoing challenges faced by the live events and entertainment industry. When asked if there is a problem with people leaving the industry due to COVID-19, he stated: "Freelancers have been forced to find work elsewhere. In a recent survey of 2,800 people over 30% of freelancers said they have had to leave the industry, and 20% say they hope to come back but are very unsure whether they are able to because of the lack of certainty." #WeMakeEvents is currently verifying the data from this survey and will be publishing the full report in the coming weeks. One of the central aims of #WeMakeEvents is to get government-backed cancellation insurance for events, and follo
Europe - The organisers of Integrated Systems Europe 2021, scheduled for June in Barcelona, have set a 1 March deadline for making a decision as to whether the physical event will go head. ISE managing director Mike Blackman remains hopeful that the show will go on. However, in his most recent statement, in view of the unpredictable nature of the pandemic and continuing travel restrictions, he remains guarded. “Following the announcement that the InfoComm 2021 show will now take place in Orlando in October 2021, we want to confirm that Integrated Systems Europe, remains scheduled to open live and online on 1-4 June in its new home at the Fira, Barcelona,” says Blackman. “Whilst we recognise there continue to be challenges ahead, we are in touch with government and the relevant health authorities to constantly monitor the situation. None of us can predict
UK - Leading trade associations have backed a campaign to keep UK’s VAT rate on ticket sales at 5% to aid the live events sector’s recovery. Last July, the government temporarily slashed the VAT rate to 5% from the standard rate of 20% to support businesses severely affected by the pandemic. The cut currently applies until 31 March 2021. #KeepVATat5, initiated by LIVE (Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment), aims to convince the Treasury to extend the VAT rate cut for the next three years and comes ahead of chancellor Rishi Sunak’s hotly-anticipated budget announcement on 3 March. “With the budget approaching, we must act now to convince the chancellor to #KeepVATat5,” says LIVE in a statement. “Of all the industry’s asks from government currently, keeping the VAT rate on tickets at 5% for the next three years will make the single biggest i
Taiwan - J.studio, a commercial recording studio in the centre of Taipei, has made a Neve 8424 console the centrepiece of its main control room because it gives the facility the routing flexibility, modularity and freedom it needs to combine a modern, digital workflow with its extensive collection of analogue outboard equipment. and is now offering recording, mixing and mastering facilities to all types of musical genres including classical, jazz, EDM, and pop. “We especially love working with Taiwanese indie bands as many of the bands we have worked with have had their full creative potentAudio engineer Zhu Chiao Chen opened J.studio in 2019 ial realized in our studio space,” Zhu Chiao Chen explains. “Our approach is to bridge old school gear and apply modern techniques to achieve sonically unique results. The studio is equipped with Urei 813C main monitors and
USA - Nautilus Entertainment Design, Inc. (NED) has announced that after 30 years in business, the company founders Laura and Jim Tetlow, are selling their stock to the company ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan.) With this sale, the company will become 100% employee-owned. Jim Tetlow will continue in a consultancy role as principal consultant and lighting designer for select shows and projects in an effort to provide NED’s clients with a multi-year seamless transition. Jim Tetlow comments, “When we started the business 30 years ago, our focus was on lighting design for TV and live events. At that time, it never occurred to us that we would expand into so many more disciplines including architectural lighting design, A/V system design, and theatre consulting. One of our proudest achievements is the fact that we have built a team of professionals that excel in their wor
USA/Denmark - DPA Microphones co-founder Jens-Jørn Stokholm and R&D manager Ole Moesmann will soon be bestowed with an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Technical Achievement Award for the innovative development of the brand’s high-performance, miniature lavalier microphone technology. The pair’s accomplishment is among 17 scientific and technical achievements to be honoured by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in a virtual Scientific and Technical Awards presentation on Saturday, 13 February. The ceremony will be available on the Oscars website starting at 1pm PT. The Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards honour those whose discoveries and innovations have contributed in significant and lasting ways to motion pictures. First developed by Stokholm in 1996, DPA’s 4060 Omnidirectional Miniature Microphone continues to be a popu
UK - If you’ve ever fancied owning an industry-relevant personalised number plate, now’s your chance! The plate, which reads A1 DMX is currently owned by a prominent lighting director, who would prefer to remain anonymous. It has been kindly donated to LSi to be auctioned in order to raise funds for the #WeMakeEvents campaign. The LD says: “Some of us working in TV and film studios are fortunate enough to have kept some of our work since the COVID pandemic closed the majority of our industry last March. So many of our friends and colleagues, particularly in music, events and theatre, haven’t had any work at all during that time and have had little or no support from the government.” “I would like to try to help out in a small way. I know many reading this in LSi will have homes and offices cluttered with old equipment and industry memorabilia. Some
No Coachella - Another major music festival, Coachella, has been cancelled due to the pandemic. The annual event in the southern Californian desert was scheduled over two weekends in April but the region's public health officer Dr Cameron Kaiser says it will not go ahead. The Stagecoach country music festival, on the same site as Coachella but later in April, has also been cancelled, Dr Kaiser said, blaming the dire COVID-19 situation in the state. He said in a public health order: "If COVID-19 were detected at these festivals, the scope and number of attendees and the nature of the venue would make it infeasible, if not impossible, to track those who may be placed at risk." The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival takes place in the Indio desert near Palm Springs and attracted about 250,000 attendees in 2019, while Stagecoach draws more than 70,000 country
USA/China - The World Championship (Worlds) is the crowning event of Riot Games’ League of Legends. Last year, like many other productions, the world’s most watched esports event migrated to the virtual realm and was broadcast live for over 240 hours using the most advanced and pioneering XR (Extended Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality) technologies, relying heavily on Brompton’s Tessera 4K SX40 LED processors to ensure quality image reproduction on its LED video set. League of Legends tournaments have traditionally featured a host country, with teams touring different cities for each round of the games. However, with the challenges posed for both travel and live audiences, Possible Productions, a creative developer agency that has been working with Riot Games since 2016, looked for a solution that would give a sense of evolution to the tournament while broadcasting the e
Belgium - Countries worldwide welcomed 2021 in many different, creative and Covid-safe ways, recognising the highly symbolic temporal roll-over from a year where everyone everywhere has been impacted dramatically by the pandemic. Brussels’ Laser Lights – which featured Robe moving lights among others and 12 custom lasers – was designed to be enjoyed from the comfort and safety of people’s homes, uniting everyone in spirit, feeling and determination during these extraordinary and restricted times. Fundamental to the project was that, while being a streamed event, Laser Lights should contain some core human elements relating to real life and not just be in a virtual digital environment. This special light art event at the Heysel Plateau in Brussels was instigated by the Mayor of Brussels, Brussels Major Events (the city’s public events organisati
Finland - Sirkus Finlandia, Finland’s biggest touring circus, completed a successful tour of the country late last year with a lighting rig composed almost entirely of Ayrton fixtures. The Ayrton products were supplied and supported by Ayrton’s exclusive distributor for Finland, Oy Lafoy Ltd of Helsinki. Established in 1976, Sirkus Finlandia is a family run business with an international reputation. Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Sirkus Finlandia had planned a 250-date tour across 115 cities from April to November, with audience capacities of 1600. The pandemic may have delayed its plans but it certainly didn’t stop them. Determined to keep the show on the road, the company still managed to bring its colourful, uplifting show to the Finnish people over the summer, performing 108 shows in 23 cities to reduced audiences from the beginning of June until the st
South Korea - Arthur, Robert Juliat’s new 800W LED followspot, made its global debut at Big Eoul Madang (Yongin Cultural Foundation) in Seoul, which became the world’s first venue to receive the new followspot. Arthur is an 800W LED followspot with a 5.5° - 15° zoom that has been designed for long throw applications in larger venues. Complete with all the ergonomic, optical and maintenance benefits expected from Robert Juliat products, Arthur is already becoming a firm favourite with opera houses and theatres around the world. The first two Arthur followspots were shipped to Big Eoul Madang in late summer 2020, having been supplied by Robert Juliat’s exclusive Korean distributor, C&C Lightway. The pair were specified by the venue’s lighting designer, Mrs So-Jin Kang, who chose them as the perfect match for Big Eoul Madang after seeing them at LDI 2019 in
![Mike Blackman: ‘If circumstances impact our ability to host an in-person event [...], we will make this decision by 1 March’](/images/122007/mike-blackman-tn.jpg "Mike Blackman: ‘If circumstances impact our ability to host an in-person event [...], we will make this decision by 1 March’")
