Germany - Since its establishment in 1917, ARRI’s historical location in Munich's Tuerkenstrasse has been the main hub of activity for the business. Now, the globally active film technology company is relocating its headquarters and the entire Camera Systems division to Munich’s Parkstadt Schwabing. On 6 October, 2020, Judith Gerlach, Bavarian State Minister for Digital Affairs and also responsible for the state’s film industry, commemorated the opening with a visit to the new building. She was welcomed by ARRI executive board members Dr. Michael Neuhaeuser and Markus Zeiler, the two managing directors of ARRI Cine Technik Stephan Schenk and Walter Trauninger, as well as by the members of the supervisory board and representatives of the owner family Dr. Carolin Stahl and Christoph Stahl. ARRIAL is the new production and office building, offering over 600 workspac
USA - Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) has announced DirectLink Marketing as its manufacturer’s representative serving Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and the El Paso, Texas area. “With over three decades of industry experience, DirectLink Marketing has a reputation for representing only top tier brands - we are honoured to have EAW as part of its esteemed line card,” comments TJ Smith, president for EAW. “Principal Dave Larsen has a deep understanding of his customer base and the market, and we look forward to better serving this expansive territory.” Based in the Salt Lake Valley, UT, DirectLink is a manufacturers rep firm that focuses on audio, video and lighting brands with a primary focus on resellers. Larsen founded DirectLink Marketing in 2007 and today, the company has become a leading rep firm in the Rocky Mountain states. “W
USA - Brompton Technology reports that ROE Visual US has received its anticipated purchase of Brompton Technology’s Hydra system for their West Coast office in Chatsworth, Los Angeles. Hydra can perform recalibrations on all LED panels equipped with Brompton’s R2 controller cards. This means that the panels, once measured, will benefit from Version 3 of Brompton’s Tessera Processor software and be fully compatible with Brompton’s Dynamic Calibration technology, to allow greater brightness, improved colour gamut and, crucially, the ability to display HDR imagery. “When we saw the Brompton Dynamic Calibration system in prototype form at LDI last year, we knew it was going to be a game changer, so we immediately placed orders to ensure that we would benefit from this technology as soon as it became available to the market,” says Frank Montero, general manager
UK - JHS has been appointed distributor for Powerwerks sound reinforcement products in the UK, ROI, France, Benelux and Germany. Powerwerks offers a comprehensive range of sound reinforcement products, designed in the USA and based on the knowledge and manufacturing expertise of the Hanser Music Group founded in1924. New lines distributed by JHS include, 50, 200 and 300w, lightweight and highly portable, full-range, active Powered Towers, with built-in powered mixer, Bluetooth facilities and 24-bit digital processing. Facilities included within the Powered Tower’s rear control panel, include a ‘Powerlink’ circuit to create a multi-Power Tower system and outputs for Powerwerks 400watt sub-woofer cabinets, loaded with an optional 10” or 12" speaker format. Sonic flexibility is also a specialty of the Powerwerks PW Series of high-powered active 1000watt c
UK - Stagehand, the PSA live event production industry’s welfare and benevolent fund, has received £100,000 from PPL to boost the charity's new COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund. Launched by Stagehand trustees in September, the fund was deemed a necessary move by the charity as a means to support crew, technicians and live events industry workers that have fallen through the cracks in state aid. Open from mid-October, the fund will help those struggling to meet the cost of basic living - a roof over their head or food on the table. Mike Lowe, chair of trustees, comments: “We are extremely thankful to PPL for coming on board so generously at the beginning of our campaign. As a sector-specific charity, we’ve already seen devastating effects suffered by some of our workforce caused by the lack of work and financial support. The relief of having rent paid and mouths fed wi
Recovery Fund - Theatres expecting to receive news of whether they will receive Culture Recovery Fund grants have been told they must wait a week longer, due to the "volume and complexity of the applications". Arts organisations that have bid for grants of £1m million or less as part of the £500m fund were due to be notified about Arts Council England’s decision no later than 5pm on 5 October. However, 72 hours before the original deadline, organisations were contacted by ACE to say that the announcement would be delayed by a week and decisions would be confirmed on 12 October instead. ACE is administering the part of the fund for arts organisations, with the British Film Institute and Historic England also responsible for distributing parts of the funding. The body said: "We understand this is an anxious time for many people and many organisations up and down the count
UK - As part of Qdos Event Hire’s ongoing plans for growth and national expansion, it has opened an office in Glasgow with Jonathan Reid appointed regional manager. Reid, an event professional with 28 years’ experience in delivering temporary accommodation and welfare facilities, will be developing the business throughout Scotland and the north of England. Vice-chair of NOEA Scotland with strong links to Portable Sanitation Europe (PSE) and regular involvement with the Event Industry Forum, Reid brings with a wide knowledge of events in the region. Commenting on his appointment, James Thomas, managing director of Qdos Event Hire said: “Extending our reach nationally has been part of our long-term ambitions for the business for some time now. Jonathan’s reputation and dedication are very much aligned with Qdos’ commitment to delivering high quality products a
USA - The BTS Boutique is offering a range of festive decorations. Add some unique holiday decorations to your home this year and support your colleagues who are seriously ill or injured as well as Behind the Scenes’ new Mental Health and Suicide Prevention initiative. These ornaments have been generously made and donated to Behind the Scenes by Mike and Sue Wood, so every penny goes directly to helping your colleagues in need. Have cut-outs of your favourite tools hanging on your tree this Christmas by choosing from a crescent wrench, shackle, paintbrush or scissors as well as holiday designs. Available in 3” round acrylic disks in red (in keeping with the #WeMakeEvents theme) or clear. There’s a BTS ghostlight etched on clear acrylic. Ghostlight Tree, a garlanded Christmas tree features a ghostlight star that’s available in three styles: etched on clear acry
UK - Started in Newcastle last Saturday, 3 October and finishing in London on Sunday, 18 October, five industry stalwarts (plus one driving the bus) will cycle between 80 and 125km per day, representing the UK tour season that never happened this year. Stopping off at over 50 of the most iconic festival, tour and performance venues that have all been standing empty, dark and silent, since the start of lockdown, all in all the tour will cover over 1,500km. The tour aims to raise awareness of the plight of the million-plus workers in the UK events industry, a sector regarded as the best in the world, to raise funds for Backup #WeMakeEvents’ chosen charity that provides help to employees, freelancers and their families suffering in the entertainment sector, and to kick off Restart, the next phase of the #WeMakeEvents campaign. The five riders and driver of the sup
UK - JHS has announced its appointment as exclusive distributor for Kustom amplification, offering new lines from the amplifier brand with a legacy dating back to the early ‘60s, when company founder Bud Ross introduced first Kustom amps and cabs. Today, Kustom caters for a diverse range of musical styles including the new KMOD20 1 x 8" combo, packed with a host of cab sims/24 on-board presets and believed to be the world’s easiest-to-operate modelling guitar combo. New lines also include the Sienna Pro Series of acoustic guitar combos. JHS managing director Dennis Drumm comments: “JHS are delighted to rekindle their decades old partnership with Hanser Music Group, the owners of the Kustom brand since the mid-eighties. Kustom’s reputation is legendary, always recognised for an innovative, feature rich and value led approach to product design, backed up by a ve
UK/Israel - Loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion-One has joined forces with Ko Team as its distributor for Israel. Following a meeting at ISE in early February, the conversation between Funktion-One’s director of business development Bill Woods and Ko Team’s Keynan Oz continued, with the partnership being finalised remotely due to travel restrictions. “After the show, we all agreed that Ko Team are the right company to work with in Israel and take the brand forward,” recalls Bill. “I was scheduled to visit Tel Aviv in early March but as the Coronavirus began to inexorably spread, I cancelled my flight and my appointments. After about a month, it became clear that trying to plan a visit was pointless, so the handshakes and onboarding had to be done virtually.” Though the distribution partnership is new, Keynan’s connection with Funktion-One goes back
UK - As part of the Let Music Live initiative, 400 freelance professional musicians from all parts of the industry will perform in Parliament Square and Centenary Square, Birmingham today, shining a light on the need for targeted support for freelance musicians and all those who work in the arts and entertainment sector. They are also joined in solidarity by the Musicians’ Union, The Incorporated Society of Musicians, The Musicians’ Answering Service, Emily Eavis, Jools Holland, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Dan Smith of Bastille and more. Conducted by renowned director David Hill in Parliament Square, the freelance musicians will perform a short section of Mars from Holst’s The Planets before standing in silence for two minutes. The 20% of the piece that they will perform represents the maximum 20% support that freelancers receive from the government throug
UK - The Backup Pumpkin Challenge is back again and it’s an excuse to unleash your creativity in aid of Backup. The challenge is a competition to help raise awareness of the charity in a fun and creative way. Individuals, companies or teams are encouraged to take part. All you need is a pumpkin, your design and any props or tech you want to incorporate to bring your design to life. Participants are asked to promote this competition on social media channels. The Backup Pumpkin Challenge consists of five categories: Best overall design (judged by panel); Best use of tech (judged by panel); Best Design by Future Creative* (judged by panel); Most overall likes (on Instagram); Cutest Fur Baby Pumpkin Pic (most overall likes on Instagram). Due to competition being open to anyone and anywhere, we will not be giving away any big prizes, but we will contact winners to s
UK - Britannia Row Productions director Bryan Grant has written an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the live events industry faces critical point. “During the past 40 years, Britannia Row Productions has been privileged to have provided equipment and technicians to many major concert artistes including Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Robbie Williams, Simply Red, Mumford and Sons and Harry Styles,” writes Grant. “And, live events such as Her Majesty’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees, Live 8, the Barcelona and London Olympics, the Rugby World Cup and FA cup finals. “We currently employ around 70 staff and 100 freelance people, with most of our staff currently on furlough. “As well as providing the most state-of-the-art equipment, we supply audio engineers and technicians, and over the years, both our company and many o
UK - Prominent live events industry campaigns and trade bodies have formed a taskforce to better communicate the demands of the UK events industry to the government. Three campaigns have aligned to form the new body: the PLASA-initiated We Make Events along with Let the Music Play and We Create Experiences. They are joined by three trade organisations - the Business Visits and Events Partnerships (BVEP) which represents the conference, exhibition and outdoor events sector and is hoped to liaise directly with government; the UK Live Music Group which represents the UK’s live music industry, and PLASA. Simon Hughes, chair of the BVEP comments: “Many different industry sectors will be looking to government for additional help and assistance in the next few weeks, alongside the more public/corporate targeting with the narrative of confidence and expertise. So it will be
China - ROE Visual has announced a series of short online ROE Academy training sessions to offer its clients and AV technicians easy and quick ways to update their LED knowledge. The so called crash courses will be held in both EU and US time zones and feature training on processing technology as well as interactive Q&A sessions. These online sessions will allow you to ask anything you need to know about LED technology, processing technology and types, bug fixing or your specific project requirements, says the company. Lecturers Victor Kortekaas (pictured), Tim Hamberg, Mike Smith and Neil Abel are all seasoned AV technicians who will explain and clarify all the critical aspects and pitfalls of LED and processing technology. Continuing its ROE Academy events online, ROE Visual has looked into ways to transform the ROE Academy training and other knowledge ses
Germany - Symetrix has appointed Eckersdorf-based MediasPro as its exclusive distributor for Germany. “We are pleased to partner with one of the top audio DSP manufacturers. Symetrix´s renowned DSP technology complements our current products and will certainly increase our power of impact in the commercial integration market. Symetrix products are known for excellent audio and reliability which suits our current product portfolio and mode of operation,” comments MediasPro CEO Joachim Schwarz. For over 20 years, MediasPro has been a leading supplier of modern, intelligent audio systems. Led by CEOs Joachim Schwarz and Michael Voessing, the company specialises in paging and evacuation systems, room acoustics, conference solutions, processing and networking of control signals, to rack assembly, training courses and technical seminars, and research and development. M
Japan - Adamson Systems Engineering, together with its exclusive Japanese distributor, ReWire, has announced Osaka Onken as its latest S-Series partner in Japan. With its substantial investment, Osaka Onken now boasts the largest S-Series inventory in the country. “Wanting to significantly boost our offerings with an investment in a high-end, sub-compact loudspeaker system, we invited several very reputable loudspeaker manufacturers to demo their products in late 2019,” says Tatsuo Yamamoto, President and CEO of Osaka Onken. “It was immediately clear that Adamson’s S-Series was the top choice in terms of performance, and we’ve only grown more confident in that decision based on the support we’ve received from Adamson and their colleagues at ReWire in the time since.” The new system comprises 48 sub-compact S10 two-way, full range array enclosures, 16 comp
UK/Ireland - Audiologic has announced that it has signed up to a wider exclusive distribution partnership with Ecler that will now include Ireland and Northern Ireland, alongside its existing territory in the rest of the UK from 1 October. The new extension of this partnership will bring about an even closer and more dynamic relationship from two leading organisations that have worked together, sharing the same values, for more than a decade. It also closely follows the successful appointment of Andrew Matthews as business manager for Ireland (and Scotland) back in August. “Audiologic have proven to be a very strong industry and customer-focused partner, becoming a key ally for the successful development of Ecler in mainland UK,” says Jan Pages, area manager for Ecler. It has a great team of amazing people that have a highly detailed and practical understanding o
Europe - General Device Type Format (GDTF) founders MA Lighting, Vectorworks, Inc and Robe lighting have transitioned the GDTF website to VPLT - the German Entertainment Technology Association. This migration will ensure a compliant platform for the exchange and future development of GDTF, which offers manufacturers and users a better way of planning and controlling complex productions from design to implementation for an event. “On behalf of the three founding companies, we are all more than pleased to move the GDTF website under the roof of the VPLT, an independent association,” said Gerhard Krude, managing director of MA Lighting Technology. “This step is actually underlining what was always the intention of the original website, which is a barrier-free entity for serving the entire ligh
UK - In response to this COVID-19 crisis, WOMAD and the WOMAD Foundation have announced a new funding opportunity, The Training and Professional Development Bursary Scheme aimed at festival production crew and artists. The foundation has also launched a fundraising appeal to raise more funds for people who need help. For further details, eligibility criteria and on how to apply for a bursary or to donate to the WOMAD Foundation and help the people who make events, visit www.womadfoundation.org WOMAD and the WOMAD Foundation are concerned by the devastating impact the pandemic has had on the arts sector in the UK and the thousands of people who have lost a year’s work and are without income for the foreseeable future.Very few have benefited from government support packages, WOMAD notes. The foundation says in a statement: “At WOMAD, we know as well as a
World - In a collective show of solidarity, live events professionals from all corners of the world held peaceful demonstrations to once again raise awareness of the dire effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector and its workforce. The #WeMakeEvents #StandAsOne Global Day of Action held yesterday, 30 September, was the single largest coordinated global event to take place since the campaign launched in the summer. Just as with the regional events that preceded it, the demo saw thousands of cultural buildings being lit up in red, whilst the #WeMakeEvents and #LightItInRed hashtags trended on social media. Campaigners have continued to push for state support for an industry that’s been unable to resume sustainably due to COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings. After more than six months of uncertainty, the future of a once-thriving sector and its workforce has
UK - Event industry professionals are taking part in a 1,500km bike ride across England to raise awareness of the issues faced by the sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dubbed The Survival Tour, the ride will take place 3-18 October and take a circuitous route from Newcastle to London, passing more than 50 UK venues and festival sites along the way. Money raised will go to the charity Backup, supporting entertainment technology professionals in need of support - find out how to donate via JustGiving. Respectful of the UK government’s ‘rule of six’, the ride bubble is comprised of Steve Reynolds and Mike Trasmundi, who work at Loudsound, along with Mark Ward, Harry Ford and Tyler Cole-Homes of Proper Productions. They are inviting other indust
Spain - Arista Corporation, manufacturer of AV extenders, matrix switchers, AV MultiViewers, and related products for the AV installation and professional audio markets, has announced the appointment of Zero DBS of Cabra, Spain as the company’s first European sales representative. Zero DBS commenced representation of Arista products in September 2020. Zero DBS is well entrenched in the concert sound / event productions market segment, as well as both the mobile and fixed recording markets, and the Pro AV installation business. Sales, consultation, and training are important areas for the company to ensure customers get the best possible value for their investments. Juan Antonio Cuevas is the company principal. Reflecting on the new arrangement, Cuevas says: “We are delighted to be representing Arista in our country. Arista’s E-Vocal Dante products offer a compreh
