Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - ABTT (27 May - 5 June)

Events

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UK/France - Showlight 2021, scheduled to take place May 2021 in Fontainebleau, France, has been postponed until further notice due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. First held in 1981 at London’s Barbican Centre and usually taking place every four years, the enduringly popular lighting event is renowned for its industry-leading programme of papers presented by the great and good of the lighting industry, along with its often unique setting and many networking opportunities.
A statement from Showlight reads: “This has been an extremely difficult decision, which has been made in view of both the immediate effects and anticipated recovery period that will be needed by companies and individuals across the industry in the coming months.
“The state of the lighting industry, the probable extension of restrictions on gatherings and the effect that this is having on the

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The Audio Engineering Society has begun to announce programme details for the upcoming Virtual Vienna Convention, including three keynote lectures and the Heyser Presentation.
As a result of circumstances dictating the move of the convention to an online format, the Audio Engineering Society is bringing the AES Europe Convention directly to virtual attendees around the globe, with keynotes from AES Fellow Jamie Angus (University of Salford), Marisa Hoeschele (Acoustics Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences) and Franz Zotter (Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Arts and Music, Graz), as well as this year’s Heyser Presentation by AES Fellow Francis Rumsey (technical consultant, author).
Additional details on the AES Virtual Vienna Convention Technical Programme, including topics and events, paper presentations, workshops, tutorials, posters,
Renkus-Heinz - Banner - May 2025

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USA - Demonstrating creativity and resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stampede is turning its Cleveland, Ohio Big Book of AV tour stop into a live virtual event on 14 May that will feature pre-arranged one-to-one manufacturer-reseller focused virtual sessions on Stampede’s new COVID-19 business engagement platform.
“Nothing is going to get in the way of Stampede helping its resellers to succeed in this challenging business environment,” Stampede president & CEO Kevin Kelly says. “Resellers all across North America rely upon Stampede to provide them with the latest new products, business development programs and training that will enable them to take their businesses to a higher level of success. In the current environment, we are pivoting to virtual events to meet our resellers’ needs.”
Cleveland will be the first of several virtua

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UK - Le Mark Group has switched its production focus from its well-known Road Case and Cable Label labels to a new range of tapes and heavy-duty floor stickers aimed at helping shops and places of work adjust to new social distancing requirements brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
From hazard tapes reminding people to keep a safe 2m distance apart, to floor stickers directing people where to stand and wait whilst shopping, the full range can be found online HERE.
Meanwhile, the popular Dirty Rigger line has been reconfigured and is now producing PPE equipment including PVC face masks and aprons. 
MD Stuart Gibbons comments: "We wanted to be able to support the NHS and care workers as much as possible. We'

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USA - Following the success of ADJ’s first run of Stay Connected educational live video broadcasts, the company has announced that more have been planned. Covering a wide variety of lighting-related topics, and including panel sessions with industry leaders, the next wave of broadcasts will take place twice each week throughout May and into June.
Each new instalment of Stay Connected will have a particular focus and provide an opportunity for lighting and event professionals to upskill from the safety and comfort of their own homes or offices. Some will take a deep dive into a specific piece of software or technology, while others will cover a more general topic. All the sessions are designed “to teach, equip and inspire”.
Broadcast via Facebook Live, the videos will also feature interactive elements allowing viewers to ask questions directly to the

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USA/Europe - A group of industry manufacturers, including Audio Ltd., Ambient, dB Audio, DPA Microphones, Lectrosonics, K-Tek, Sonosax, Sound Devices, Bubblebee Industries, Schoeps, Ursa Straps, and Viviana Straps are offering a new-product based virtual event.
Virtual Sound Summit 2020 is a two-day virtual event featuring a number of new product and technology announcements that would have taken place at the 2020 NAB Show.
Say the organisers, “Presentations will be of interest to location sound and production professionals, chief engineers, news technicians, ENG crews, camera operators, network executives and other audio professionals in the field. This marks the first virtual Sound Summit, a series of educational presentations aimed at joining audio professionals together to collaborate and discuss audio production tools and techniques.”
The summit is sched

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UK - A group of associations have launched the #EventsForTheFuture initiative in a bid to amplify the calls for better government support for the hard-hit events sector during the COVID-19 crisis.
#EventsForTheFuture is a collaboration between the Association for British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA), Production Services Association (PSA), the Society Of London Theatres (SOLT), and UK Theatre. The bodies, which together represent over 3,000 businesses and individuals, have issued a joint call to events and entertainment industry professionals asking them to write to their MPs to highlight the government support needed in order to safeguard the future of the sector.
“The overall aim is to ensure events and entertainment are protected in the long term," says a statement. "Providing consistent messaging to government

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Europe - As much of the world follows safe-at-home and social distancing guidelines and mandates, the Audio Engineering Society is bringing the AES Europe Convention directly to attendees.
Originally scheduled to take place in Vienna, Austria, the AES Virtual Vienna Convention in now set for 2-5 June 2020, with an online format.
The event is billed as “a front-row-seat to the AES event experience, utilising live streaming, on-demand audio/video/multimedia presentations, interactive Q&A and forum dialogues to realise the personal connection and emotional feedback that is at the heart of AES live events”.
The AES Virtual Vienna Convention will explore “a gamut of audio engineering science, application and technology with presentations from some of the leading minds in the industry”.
Further details on the AES Virtual Vienna Convention, which will

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UK - Martin Audio plans to host ‘a dedicated virtual tradeshow’, putting the spotlight on the new additions to its portfolio.
Like the company’s Open Days, the virtual event will offer an overview of the portfolio suitable for end users, distributors, rental companies and integrators. The event will be webinar-based across a number of time slots on Wednesday 20 May to ensure that people in different time zones can come together for the show.
“These are unprecedented times for the pro audio industry, and we want to play our role in helping industry professionals to stay active, connected and informed,” says Dom Harter, managing director at Martin Audio. “The webinars will last for about 90 minutes, and I will be joined by colleagues to talk people through our portfolio and to help attendees find the right product for different applications and budgets.”

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UK - Fairport Convention’s annual Cropredy Convention in Oxfordshire and The Eden Sessions in Cornwall are the latest major music events to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic. Both are being rescheduled for 2021.
Since its first staging in 1980, the Cropredy festival has taken place annually since on farmland near Banbury, Oxfordshire.
This year’s three-day event had been scheduled to take place on 13-15 August. It will now be staged over 12, 13 and 14 August 2021 (the equivalent weekend) on its usual site.
The line-up of acts will be carried forward: artists booked to appear this year have agreed to switch to 2021. Highlights include Trevor Horn Band, Clannad, Steve Hackett – Genesis Revisited, Richard Thompson, Matthews Southern Comfort and host band Fairport Convention.
Tickets purchased for Cropredy 2020 remain valid for the rescheduled fest

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South Africa - Days before lockdown, thousands of fans gathered at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria to celebrate the 2020 edition of RAMfest, South Africa’s music festival for all things alternative.
This years’ line up included some of South Africa’s most popular alternative bands, including Facing the Gallows, Peasant, Man as Machine, Newtown Knife Gang, The Valley, Stoker, and Truth & It’s Burden. Highlights of the event included a much-anticipated reunion show by South African rock legends, The Van Coke Kartel and USA-based death metal giants, The Black Dahlia Murder, who headlined the one-day festival.
Festival organisers Real Alternative Music (RAM) once again contracted Stage Effects and Blue Array Productions to provide technical services for the event. Stage Effects’ Erik de Bruin has been working with RAM on the festival for several years a

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UK - The 2020 edition of Edinburgh Festival Fringe - the world's largest arts festival - has been cancelled due to public safety concerns arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also cancelled are the Edinburgh Art Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Festival and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
"Just a few months ago, the idea of Edinburgh without the Fringe and our sister festivals would have been totally unthinkable; now, like so many other aspects of our day-to-day lives, we must pause and take stock in the face of something far bigger," said Shona McCarthy, the chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.
"Our hearts go out to the doctors, nurses, health and social care professionals on the front line, to everyone working to keep the country going, and to those who have

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Europe - With the health and safety of our attendees, membership, exhibitors, and staff being of utmost concern during the global Covid-19 pandemic, and following weeks of discussions with the host Austria Centre Vienna, the Audio Engineering Society has officially cancelled the live, in-person components of the AES Vienna 2020 Convention scheduled for May.
AES leadership, the convention organising committee and headquarters staff members are working to organise the logistics of a virtualisation of the convention technical programme into “an engaging, compelling, educational and productive online experience”.
“Details on the virtual convention, which are being developed to include video presentations of papers, workshops, tutorials, tech tours and other technical programme content along with live- and forum-based dialog with presenters, will be shared as they b

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USA - Pro AV tradeshow InfoComm 2020 has been cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The event was due to take place on 12-18 June at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
AVIXA, InfoComm's organiser, says in a statement: "Like many, we had remained optimistic that the show would go on and we continued to monitor recommendations from the local health authorities, the WHO and CDC, but the extreme circumstances of today’s reality have led to a different path forward. While we explored the option to postpone the event until later in the year, this was not realistic given InfoComm’s size and the lack of possible venues. Both the current and likely future environment of economic hardships, travel, spending freezes, and uncertainty with the Covid-19 virus made it clear to us and our partners that not proceeding with InfoComm 2020 was the best decision

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UK - The Isle of Wight and Download, due to take place in mid-June, have become the latest music festivals to be cancelled due to the coronavirus.
Duran Duran and Lionel Richie were due to appear alongside Supergrass and Kaiser Chiefs at Seaclose Park, Newport on the Isle of Wight. At Download, Kiss, Iron Maiden and System of a Down were the headliners due at Donnington Park. These cancellations follow the earlier news that Glastonbury 2020, also scheduled for June, will not happen.
“The Isle of Wight Festival will no longer be taking place this year,” says the event’s website. “This decision hasn't been taken lightly and we have tried our hardest to make it work, but it was unavoidable given the current status. The whole team was excited to welcome everyone to the island for another fantastic festival and we extend our sincere apologies to everyone who was lo

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UK - The Knight of Illumination (KOI) executive committee has come to the decision to postpone the 13th annual awards ceremony and gala dinner due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis and the enormous implications it is having on the entertainment industry.
A statement from co-founders Durham and Jennie Marenghi on behalf of the KOI committee reads as follows:
"The Knight of Illumination committee has taken the considered decision that this year's KOI Awards ceremony will not be held on 6 September as planned, due to the uncertainty of the times in which we now live. The event will be held as a celebration of our industry and to bring people together, once the current situation has been resolved and it is safe to do so.
"Meanwhile, we will continue to appraise the work already submitted and we ask designers to please continue to nominate via the KOI website.

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World - Industry professionals looking to make use of any downtime caused by the coronavirus disruption across the events industry can now access various web workshops and seminars for free.
Lighting professionals can look to the Avolites website for upcoming online tutorials, webinars and support on the company’s Titan and Ai platforms.
Ambersphere has added ‘free for freelancers’ grandMA2 user training and network introduction classes, details of which can be found at training@ambersphere.co.uk. The grandMA2 user course will be 24-26 March and the grandMA2 Network course will be the 27 March.
Meanwhile, ETC has made its Learning

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UK - PLASA has announced the cancellation of its popular PLASA Focus Leeds tradeshow, which was scheduled to take place on 12-13 May 2020 at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds.
The Association said in a statement: "Following the concerning developments of the Covid-19 outbreak over the past week, PLASA has come to the disappointing yet inevitable decision that we must cancel PLASA Focus Leeds. This decision was made in order to ensure the health and safety of both our exhibitors and visitors, as without all of your continued support, the show wouldn’t be the success it is today.
"We regret that we cannot now share the incredible programme we had planned, as well as two sold-out show floors full of industry figureheads. However, we are pleased to announce that PLASA Focus Leeds will return next year, taking place from 11-12 May 2021, bringing with it the usual vibran

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Europe The latest major events cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak include Glastonbury Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest. In the UK, Brighton’s annual arts festival will not take place for the first time in 53 years, while organisers of major festivals such as Reading, the Isle of Wight and Cropredy are monitoring the situation closely.
Taylor Swift, Sir Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar were due to appear, alongside Diana Ross and Dua Lipa at Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary gathering at Worthy Farm in Somerset in June. "We're so sorry the decision to cancel has been made," a statement said. "It was not through choice." Just six days ago, organiser Emily Eavis said she had "fingers firmly crossed" the event would go ahead. But after the government advised people to avoid mass gatherings on Monday, cancellation became increasingly likely.
Fans who h

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UK - A petition has been launched urging the UK government to offer economic assistance to the events industry during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Instigated by Matt Rakowski of DBpixelhouse, the petition’s aim is: “For the UK government to provide economic assistance to businesses and staff employed in the events industry, who are suffering unforeseen financial challenges that could have a profound effect on hundreds of thousands of people employed in the sector.”
To-date, the petition has been signed over 131,000 times – surpassing the 100,000-signature threshold required for the issue to be considered for debate in parliament.
Rakowski comments: “The response has been phenomenal so far, we’re at just over 131,000 – whic

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World - Huntly Christie, CEO of Christie Lites, has released the following statement in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic: “Like every other company in our business, Christie Lites is not immune and at the end of last week I enacted some difficult measures to counter the effects of the ‘shock-stop’ the industry has endured as a result of the COVID-19 virus. Sadly, this included laying off approximately 200 staff globally. This has definitely been the most difficult situation I have experienced in the company’s 35yr history. We’ve worked extremely hard to build and assemble a great global team and it was a really painful process to see some of our people lose their jobs.”
He continues: “As such, I feel it is important to speak about this publicly and this past week have taken several interviews with mainstream media outlets in North America. I have given an

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UK - ISCEx 2020 (Coombe Abbey Hotel, 17-18 March) is to take place as scheduled this week, with certain modifications to the event schedule and social programme.
“Following the government’s recent announcement, we have made some updates to our coronavirus (Covid-19) statement in relation to ISCEx 2020 and the additional steps we are taking, which is published on our website,” says show organiser ISCE. “As a further measure, and in consultation with the catering team at Coombe Abbey, we have amended the networking dinner arrangements to allow for guests to enjoy a fine meal with drinks with an option to either stay at the dining tables or return to a more private area if they prefer. We will also be changing the usual self-serve buffet to serving a selection of individual hot food bowls for the lunch during the exhibition.
“As we write, there are currently mo

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Germany - Prolight+Sound will not be held in 2020. A statement from Messe Frankfurt, the show’s organisers reads: “On 12 March, the Hessian Ministry for Social Affairs and Integration issued general decrees prohibiting large-scale events expected to attract more than 1,000 visitors. At the present time, it cannot be assumed that the current situation will have changed by the time the postponed event was to have been held. Therefore, Messe Frankfurt has decided to cancel the event.”
The event was originally scheduled to take place 31 March - 3 April but was postponed to May due to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Detlef Braun, a member of the executive board of Messe Frankfurt, comments: “We did everything we could to hold Prolight+Sound 2020 as soon as possible after the original dates and would like to extend our thanks to the response and support from n

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Europe - ACME Lighting and Highlite International are the latest companies to announce that they will no longer be exhibiting at the postponed Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt this May, due to the health risks posed by Coronavirus (COVID-19).
“At this moment, the entire entertainment industry is experiencing huge challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the response to the virus,” says Marco Galli, EMEA sales director at ACME Lighting. “We take the health of our staff and customers very seriously. Well-being and containment of COVID-19 is our duty and priority, and therefore, regretfully, we are forced to cancel plans to participate in Prolight+Sound 2020.”
Meanwhile, a statement from Highlite reads: “We have decided not to participate in Prolight+Sound 2020. The new dates after the postponement of the fair do not fit within our plans and vision of the industr
  1. InfoComm 2020 ‘proceeding as planned’
  2. USITT cancelled due to coronavirus
  3. Showlight 2021 announces first sponsors
  4. MDG postpones anniversary celebrations
  5. Prolight+Sound 2020 postponed until May
  6. The Week in Light & Sound
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Astera - June 2025
GLP - MPU - Feb, Apr 2025

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