USA - The Budweiser Made in America Festival returned to Philadelphia for its fifth season this Labour Day weekend with a star-studded lineup including the Syncrolite XL and SyncroMITE Beam. Rihanna and Coldplay headlined the weekend.

Patrick Dierson, principle designer for The-Activity and LD for the festival, explains how the Syncrolite products were used. "The XL's were an absolute workhorse for the festival's main stage as they became the main source of wash light for the rig.

"Originally specified by Rihanna's LD, Jesse Blevins, for her performance we had decided that due to load-in constraints that it might be best if we simply bought these in at the start of the build and made them the overall festival wash light. I was slightly hesitant at first but the end result was fantastic. They not only looked great both live and on camera for the festival's broadcast but the

USA - From its origins as a single wine store, San Francisco's PlumpJack Group has grown into a multi-faceted hospitality and lifestyle business. In late 2015, it opened Verso, a premier event space and night club where exceptional sound quality had to be guaranteed for all events.

PlumpJack Group's business now includes award-winning wineries, luxury resorts, restaurants and clubs, as well as retail outlets. Established in a former printing works in San Francisco's Mission Street, Verso is a high quality space designed to switch quickly and seamlessly from hosting events to a nightclub.

Bradley S. Katz of the city's JK Sound had previously worked with PlumpJack on another venue, MatrixFillmore, and was asked to look at Verso as a result of that venue's success. "Verso was to be a more 'serious' venue and the AV design had to reflect their vision of a truly unique experien

UK - Hawthorn invited guests to step into virtual Battersea Evolution at the Smart Group's relaunch of London's most unique and versatile event space.

The successful showcase event relaunched Battersea Evolution to the event industry; demonstrating its flexibility and unveiling its new brand. As technical partner to the venue, Hawthorn delivered the full technical production for the event, which included creating and delivering a virtual reality experience for 280 guests.

Hawthorn teamed up with the Smart Group to create a high impact set-up within the venue - designed to demonstrate the size and flexibility of the space whilst retaining an intimate atmosphere.

The production included an elegant lighting design that packed a punch for the 40m kabuki reveal with pyrotechnics and supported the slick on-screen footage which was shown across 8 x 16ft HD projected screens.

Germany - One hundred and fifty years ago the opera Roméo et Juliette was first performed by Charles Gounod on 27 April 1867. It is with this event in mind that an assignment will be given to the contestants of the newly created Weltenbauer.Youngsters.Awards 2017, an international prize to be jointly presented by Messe Berlin and Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft (DTHG).

Trainees, students (ranging from schools to vocational and higher education) from any country specialising in the theatre, films and event technology are invited to submit their designs and works on the subject of Romeo and Juliet. These may be individual or team works focusing on stage design, the theatre stage, costumes, decoration, set design, make-up, lighting concepts, videos or audio installations.

Papers describing the works or designs must be submitted via internet no lat

UK - GoboPlus.com turned out in force on its fully recyclable cardboard stand at PLASA 2016. The whole stand, with graphics designed by GoboPlus.com's Vicky Fairall, was made entirely of cardboard, including the lectern, seats and tables. It succeeded in drawing large numbers of visitors with its unique and colourful appearance that guided customers through the process of custom gobo production.

GoboPlus.com is a one-stop online shop that specialises in the supply of custom and standard metal gobos, glass gobos and all projection images. Goboplus.com's online shop now features colour filter which is available from stock, by the sheet or roll, for shipping the same day.

Its sister company, CutColourPlus, provides bespoke cutting and complete scroll-making services, and supplies lighting filters in sheets and rolls from leading manufacturers that include Lee, Rosco and GAM.<

UK - Showlight 2017, which takes place in Florence, Italy, 20-23 May 2017, exhibited for the first time in four years at the newly relocated PLASA Show, with great success.

Showlight is one of the few international events organised specifically for lighting professionals by lighting professionals across the theatre, television, film, performance, architectural and event worlds. A mix of conference, tradeshow and sociability, Showlight is an opportunity to mix with others in the lighting industry in an informal and informative atmosphere.

"PLASA was the right forum to have a stand for Showlight," says lighting designer and Showlight technical support, Rudi Benz. "It is a show that puts a lot of effort into networking and education which is right in line with Showlight's own philosophy.

"We had a lot of interest from visitors as prospective exhibitors, speakers and deleg

UK - The decision to relocate the PLASA Show back to Olympia proved to be a great move, securing the show's continued future as a key event on the industry's calendar. The quality of the audience was strong across all three days, with 60% being final decision makers and specifiers. Exhibitors also reported an increase in international visitors, further validating the decision to move the event back to West London.

Once again, PLASA's high quality free to attend seminar programme was a key element of the show and featured extremely well attended presentations by Durham Marenghi on lighting the Olympic ceremonies in Rio as well as a Production Masterclass from Ola Melzig and Fredrik Jönsson on Eurovision 2016.

This year's content-rich show also featured the seventh edition of the Rigging Conference, hands-on console training opportunities, the Innovation Gallery, and an exp

USA - With an output greater than that of a 750-watt HPL ellipsoidal, the Ovation E-260WW IP is bright enough to work effectively at outdoor events, theatrical performances and concerts. The new LED fixture from Chauvet Professional will also keep working without issue if the weather at those outdoor projects turns bad, because it is fully IP65 rated, says the company.

In addition to its IP65 rating, the new indoor/outdoor fixture, which will be showcased at the Ovation LDI booth (1515), is endowed with all of the performance features of the popular Ovation E-260WW. This includes a 50,000-hour LED source life as well as an intense output (6,910 lux at 5m with a 26? lens). The latter feature makes it, along with its sister fixture, the brightest LED ellipsoidal on the market.

"The response to the Ovation E-260WW has been overwhelming since we introduced it earlier this year

UK - After a highly successful year with their new product portfolio - notably on the London West End stage - GLP's inventive solutions continue to evolve, as was evidenced at this year's PLASA Show at Olympia.

Visitors to their booth saw the new GT-1 hybrid, which has been causing such a stir on the international circuit in 2016.

GLP marked the PLASA Show's 39th edition with the first presentation that the German manufacturer has fronted under its new UK operation.

Led by head of operations (UK & Ireland), Noel 'Roly Smith, with full support from senior international representatives, GLP could not have been more effusive about the response to their new LED fixtures, expertly integrated into a centrepiece lightshow by KOI award-winning LD Tom Campbell.

Campbell, who was accoladed last year by the Knights of Illumination for his touring work with Anna Calvi, again d

Canada - From 6-8 October, Montreal will host its first festival dedicated to video mapping. With the support of numerous internationally acclaimed creative studios from Montreal, the first edition of MAPP_MTL will emerge at the convergence points of Montreal's renowned Mile End and Mile-Ex neighbourhoods, proposing circuits of both exterior and interior installations, exploring as an open laboratory - -a vision of the future of video mapping.

Thien Vu Dang, the co-founder and artistic director of MAPP_MTL, explains, "Mapping is a fascinating medium that uses video projection to reinvent spaces. It's a form of art that is gaining more and more notoriety, but still has plenty of untapped potential.

"The festival brings life to a number of structures throughout Mile End and allows the public to reclaim their neighbourhoods, see the environment through new eyes and completely

USA - In its continuing support of arts education, ETC is once again giving six students who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the fields of lighting design and stage technology an exclusive opportunity for professional development.

As recipients of ETC's annual LDI Student Sponsorship, the students will enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip to the LDI tradeshow, a full conference pass to experience the newest technology and benefit from LDI seminars and trainings, and the chance to network with professionals throughout the industry at special events.

ETC will match the Student Sponsorship recipients with industry luminaries who serve as mentors - giving advice, inspiration and support to the students as they embark on their careers. The 2016 ETC LDI students are:

Ben Clark - Currently a graduate student studying technical design and production at the Yale School

UK - It was all about sound at the 2016 PLASA show, held at London's Olympia. There was a distinct air of enthusiasm among the audio community as they were presented with an increased choice of manufacturers, distributors, and seminar sessions, including the newly appointed d&b sales partner SFL, and long-term partner SSE/Wigwam. At their respective stands, the d&b dealers were joined by members of the d&b GB team, putting some friendly faces to the UK and Ireland supplier network.

While the d&b DS10 Audio network bridge and new QSC Q-SYS plug-in attracted plenty of attention, it was the far field noise immission modelling software, NoizCalc, that ultimately stole the show with a PLASA Award for Innovation.

Hans Metger presented the game changing technology to the judges: "With NoizCalc d&b hopes to raise awareness of how important the subject of offsite noise 'immisions'

UK - AC-ET's latest brand, Tourflex Cabling, launched at the recent PLASA Show at London Olympia with a dedicated area, display stands and literature. Tourflex Cabling builds on the estab-lished success of Tourmate connectors and Tourflex Datasafe.

"Some of our customers don't even know about the service we offer; but last year we made over 100,000 bespoke assemblies, using half a million metres of cable, for the professional entertainment industry," said Jonathan Walters, UK sales and purchasing director for distributor A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd (AC-ET). "This included power, signal and multicore for lighting, video and audio. If we get an emergency call we often turn orders around in 24 hours, so the show can go on."

"We've got a great manufacturing facility in High Wycombe, skilled technicians, and we are keen to promote and grow this part of our business - we

USA - DTS will showcase its latest products at LDI 2016, booth 2359. The focus of the display will be on three innovative fixtures - Core, the true hybrid moving head; Katana, an advanced LED bar for the entertainment market, and NRG 1401, the LED beam / wash projector designed for the most creative applications.

George Tellos, the lighting director who lit the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, designed the DTS booth and the light show of the fixtures on display.

(Jim Evans)

USA - With an impressive variety of new products on hand to satisfy even the most discerning lighting professional, and with the added impression that an LDI Show and LDI Live Outside sponsorship makes, Elation is gearing up for an unprecedented LDI.

Join Elation 20-22 October at Booth 2515 at the Las Vegas Convention Centre for a look at a broad line-up of new cutting-edge lighting innovations then head out to the Silver Parking Lot and the LDI Live Outside stages where visitors will get a first look at an all-new product series that is set to be the talk of the show.

Designed to showcase the latest technology available as more and more events make their way outdoors, LDI Live Outside will feature demos, educational sessions and live entertainment in a festival-like set-up that will feature with some of Elation's latest lighting solutions.

Inside, Elation will debut t

USA - What happens in Vegas will not be staying in Vegas, at least not as far as the Chauvet Professional and Ovation LDI booths (1315 and 1515 respectively) are concerned. The company is introducing an impressive collection of new fixtures.

In the Ovation line, there is the new Ovation E-260WW IP, the first IP65 rated LED ellipsoidal. The new indoor/ outdoor fixture, which has the same familiar form factor as standard ERS style fixtures, joins the Ovation E-260WW, which was introduced earlier this year. The two Ovation LED ellipsoidals have an output that surpasses that of a 750-watt HPL ellipsoidal (6,910 lux at 5M with a 26° lens).

Chauvet Professional is also showcasing the first batten fixtures ever in the company's Ovation line. The new Ovation B-565FC and B-2805FC are the first batten style fixtures anywhere to utilize the extended colour rendering capacity of t

USA - Console and automated lighting manufacturer High End Systems will once again be exhibiting their products at the 2016 LDI trade show (Booth #2215) in Las Vegas, held 21-23 October.

Key personnel from the company's executive, sales and engineering departments will be on hand at the show to meet with customers, LDs and programmers. In addition to displaying their Hog 4 range of lighting consoles, the company is introducing several new products in their SolaRange and FX lines of LED based automated luminaires.

Unveiled at the recent PLASA show, the SolaWash FX 2000 is the latest addition to the SolaRange family, joining the revolutionary SolaWash FX 1000 and SolaSpot 1000 launched earlier this year. High End is also introducing SolaSpot Frame 2000 to compliment the 2000 Wash and Spot range.

High End will also be displaying their full line of Hog lighting consoles -

USA - The LDI tradeshow has played a major part in ETC's history, being the site of countless product launches that have propelled the company forward.

In a nod to that tradition, the company will mark its 40th anniversary at this year's LDI show by introducing a host of new products and giving attendees sneak peeks at upcoming gear. With so much to celebrate, ETC will have three stands - 2773, 2872 and 2972 - and a demo room - N115 - at the show, 21-23 October, in Las Vegas.

ETC will show the full ColorSource family, including the ColorSource and ColorSource AV lighting control desks and the brand new ColorSource Linear batten-style fixture. LDI show attendees can also get demos of the Irideon FPZ architectural luminaire and Prodigy hoists.

And ETC's stands will feature never-before-seen fixture, control, rigging and networking products, along with a big surprise that

USA - Robe is ready to rock the LDI 2016 expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center October 21-23 on Booth 1715 where the featured product will be the new Spiider LED wash beam luminaire - the next big thing - from Robe, which has just been launched worldwide.

Much anticipated, the Spiider will be the visual centrepiece of the large booth with a special lightshow running at the top of each hour.

Bob Schacherl, CEO of Robe America comments, "We are extremely pleased with how well the North American market continues to embrace our brand. Lighting designers have been very complementary on the performance of our luminaires and the rental companies are thrilled with their reliability. It doesn't get much better than that! We look forward to introducing our clients to the latest Robe innovations at LDI 2016."

Robe lighting s.r.o CEO Josef Valchar confirms, "Spiider is really so

UAE - The countdown has begun to the inaugural edition of Prolight + Sound Middle East, with scores of product launches, industry seminars, and a live demo area setting the stage for three days of networking at the region's dedicated trade show for the pro audio-visual and entertainment market.

Taking place from 31 October - 2 November at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Prolight + Sound Middle East 2016 has attracted some the biggest names in the business, with the likes of Bose Professional, Sennheiser, Martin Professional, Adam Hall, and Monacor International rubbing shoulders with top regional distributors such as GSL Professional, Echo Beats, and AVISS.

"They will line-up alongside 40 exhibitors from 12 countries, all of which will target a burgeoning regional market that is home to spectacular live events, festivals, concerts, hotels, and ret

USA - Prolyte Group will exhibit at the LDI show from 21-23 October in Las Vegas (booth 2053), premiering the new Verto truss on the North American continent.

The new Verto truss will be shown in action or you may give it a try in the Verto challenge. Pop by, request for a demonstration and get your limited edition Verto T-shirt at the stand!

Prolyte will further highlight the Verto truss during the New Technology Breakfast on Saturday 22 October - another opportunity to learn all the technical details of this truss.

(Jim Evans)

USA - When the 2016 LDI Conference and Tradeshow opens its doors on 21 October 2016, Altman Lighting will be showcasing its award-winning line of lighting innovations inside the Las Vegas Convention Centre. Altman Lighting will feature the PHX LED ellipsoidal family, the Gallery series, Pegasus, and the Chalice LED series of luminaires in Booth 1359.

"We are very excited about exhibiting at LDI 2016 as this is a very exciting time for Altman Lighting," began Julie Smith, general manager. "Understanding the vision at Altman has always been to develop the most innovative and cost-effective lighting solutions, we are eager to have the opportunity to demonstrate our passion and latest product solutions to the lighting designers, engineers, specifiers and dealers in attendance at the show."

New and innovative options are what make the award-winning PHX LED ellipsoidals suitable

USA - At LDI this year (booth 1787), TMB will once again feature new technology in a laid back setting. The welcome mat is out!

One of the most exciting innovations from TMB this year is new Q+ Technology, now available in the Solaris Flare. This LED driver technology maximizes LED output for unprecedented brightness, while also optimizing LED temperatures for long term reliability.

The new Flare Q+ fixture has all the features of its renowned predecessor, while Q+ Technology increases the brightness by over 40% with practically no fan noise. Its Theatre Mode is effectively silent, yet still brighter than the original Flare. Also introduced at LDI, the new Flare LR Q+ offers Q+ Technology performance in a linear format. Flare IP outdoor fixtures will also be on hand, as will other Solaris LED fixtures such as Mozart and the SoLED strobe.

Central to this year's TMB LDI

Serious Impacts - Theatre figures have condemned the "catastrophic" reduction of arts education in schools, claiming it is having serious impacts on the diversity of the theatre industry. Curve artistic director Nikolai Foster led criticisms of the shrinking emphasis on creative education, claiming that "pathways" in place several decades ago have now disappeared. "Twenty-five or 30 years ago . . . in schools there were teachers who were encouraged, because of a curriculum, to share these great plays, these great stories. There were drama clubs, dance classes. Drama GCSEs and A Levels, theatre studies - these were subjects that the teachers were able to teach freely and speak about passionately, and have value for the students," Foster said. He was speaking as part of a panel on training opportunities at a diversity conference held in Leicester, at Curve. Foster continued, "It s

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