UK - The team behind the immersive installation Blackout are calling for more participants to join its industry research into mental health.
The research, which was initiated during the PLASA Show, is seeking to provide the first evaluation on mental health awareness within the UK technical backstage entertainment industry.
To collect the required research data, Dr Paul Hanna, research director in clinical psychology at the University of Surrey, has devised a short (5-10 minutes) questionnaire. The results of the study will then be used in panel discussions, conferences and health and safety reviews with industry organisations to promote a discussion on industry issues such as working hours, overnight shift work and touring shift patterns.
Mig Burgess, Guildford School of Acting tutor and creator of the Blackout immersive event, says: “This is an extremely impo

UK - Industry electrical expert and LSi columnist James Eade has announced the October dates for his recently-launched accredited training programme, BS 7909 Temporary Power for the Events Industry.
The course has been fully updated to align it with current industry guidance and standards. It is the only course James Eade is associated with and not offered by any other provider.
BS 7909 is taking place across three days on 21-23 October at the Whatlington Village Hall, East Sussex TN33 0NE. There are still a couple of spaces left to book for this sesion, with further events scheduled by the end of the year - more details are available on  www.eade.uk.com/training.
Pearce Hire is also hosting a series of standards update courses at its HQ in Peterborough. This course is an acc

UK - Robert Juliat has emerged from an “extremely successful” PLASA 2019 with its exclusive UK distributor, Ambersphere Solutions, where it continued to celebrate its Centenary Year with new products.
The French manufacturer presented the Maestro server for SpotMe, developed in collaboration with tracking specialists, zactrack, extends the capabilities of RJ’s award-winning SpotMe, the bespoke 3D position-tracking system for followspots, by enabling it to operate with any DMX lighting control console. SpotMe has functioned with the PosiStageNet open protocol which is run by only a limited number of consoles, but with the Maestro extension, a designer can take control from any DMX console. The lighting console, even the simplest DMX model, retains the pan and tilt control and gets, in return, additional DMX channels to modulate the tracking parameters calculated and man

UK - ArKaos, realtime visual processing technology provider for live performance and displays, enjoyed a busy PLASA 2019 expo in London Olympia (15-17 September) on the stand of its UK and Irish Republic distributor, Entedi.
ArKaos highlighted the latest version of its flagship MediaMaster Pro 5.6 realtime video control software, which is also now available with a License Rental service that enables weekly rental periods of MediaMaster Pro usage. This greatly increases flexibility and affordability for anyone involved in specific projects or events on which they want to use this award-winning platform, says the company.
ArKaos CEO Agnes Wojewoda comments: “PLASA was great! A lot of buzz and activity at the show and a lot of interest in MediaMaster Pro in particular and in the new Licence Rental options for this as well as some other ArKaos products. It’s

UK - With less than a month to go until The Showman’s Show 2019 returns to Newbury Showground on 16-17 October, organiser Lance Show & Publications has announced that this year’s event is promising a strong contingent of international exhibitors who’ll be launching products that are new to the UK market.
From a welfare perspective there’s the innovative new Lapee, it’s been created specifically for the female market, the new design, utilises the same manufacturing process as the traditional grey kros urinal, ensuring that it can be transported, maintained and cleaned in the same way. It is also stackable, to reduce carbon emissions due to transportation. In its first season, Lapee has been adopted by all largest festivals in Denmark, including Roskilde and made inroads into the French and Norwigian markets.
From a production perspective, Kultour, the Ge

UK - Entertainment technology charity Backup is launching The Backup Pumpkin Challenge, a competition to help raise awareness of the charity in a fun and creative way.
To participate, you need a pumpkin, your design, and any props or tech you want to incorporate to bring your design to life. Fundraisers are also welcome but not required.
The Backup Pumpkin Challenge consists of four categories: Best Overall Design; Best Use of Tech; Most Money Raised (via the Backup Pumpkin Challenge Fundraising Page); Most Overall Likes (on Instagram).
To enter a design, participants need to upload up to three photos and/or a video no longer than 15 seconds to Instagram using #BackupPumpkinChallenge along with your name or team name. All entries must be posted by 31 October. Winn

UK - The 2019 PLASA Show was “the busiest in years” thanks to a six per cent increase in attendance, PLASA has reported. The event’s global status was also strengthened, with delegates from over 63 countries flocking to the London-based tradeshow.
This was the last edition of the event that was held at Olympia’s National Hall, with the 2020 PLASA Show set to move to London Olympia’s Grand Hall to accommodate a greater number of stands and show features.
“PLASA Show has clearly been improving year on year with 2019 being the best one yet,” comments Johan Gunsing, international sales manager for Adam Hall Group. “We have started to see a wider geographic audience attend the show which brings with it new opportunities, new business and increased brand awareness.”
“Once again PLASA did not disappoint,” comments Gareth Collyer, Nexo’s UK sales m

UK - Following on from last year’s successful event, Christie is once again opening the doors of its Wokingham office to visitors from the UK and further afield. Held over two days, Christie Connect UK will showcase new projectors for enterprise and cinema, LED displays, as well as content management and processing equipment, all of which highlight the powerful end-to-end nature of the Christie offering. The event coincides with Christie’s 90th anniversary and offers a special seminar programme designed to demonstrate Christie thought leadership on current and future technology developments.
One of the event’s main attractions will be the award-winning Christie MicroTiles LED. For many this will be the first opportunity since its launch at ISE 2019 to see a live demo of the MicroTiles LED. Another attraction will be the Christie D4K40-RGB pure laser projector which wi

UK - The PLASA Awards for Innovation, organised in collaboration with LSi magazine, took place at the end of a vibrant Monday at the PLASA Show 2019. The Awards recognise and reward pioneering product designs and the people behind them and are widely respected as they are independently judged by a team of industry experts with a variety of specialist backgrounds.
This year saw 36 entries for the Awards, with the judges selecting seven winners and one Gold Award winner.

The winners, along with the judges comments, are:
Nexo for the P12 Point-source loudspeaker
“This is the ‘loudspeaker version of a source 4’ having interchangeable horns with tool-less interchangeability.”
Robe for Esprite
“This advances technical practice by increasing the potential lifespan of LED fixtures, hopefully

UK - More than 500 entertainment industry professionals celebrated the best in lighting and video design on Sunday night as The Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards announced this year's winners at a glittering ceremony at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith.
The annual industry awards honour the achievements of lighting and video designers working across the sectors of Theatre, Television, and Concert Touring & Events, and are chosen by a panel of independent judges.
The 2019 KOI Award winners are:
Theatre
The PRG Award for Projection Design: Jack Phelan for The Second Violinist, Landmark Productions & Irish National Opera
The ADB Award for Plays: Jessica Hung Han Yun for Equus, English Touring Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford
The Robert Juliat Award for Opera: Mark Jonathan for Vanessa, Glyndebourne
The

The doors have opened for day two of PLASA Show 2019 at London Olympia, with Platinum Sponsor Robe, Silver Sponsor d&b audiotechnik and Technical Sponsor Hawthorn. The show floor is already brimming with business as visitors explore the latest products and solutions from 220+ brands from across audio, AV, lighting, rigging and staging.

The show’s platinum sponsor Robe have unveiled an expansive theatrical stand based on the classic 80s movie, Back To The Future. Live performances run every 90 minutes, with a viewing area on the show’s gallery level for visitors to watch from above. The creative duo behind the stand, Nathan Wan and Andy Webb, comment:

“Robe’s stand this year features a fully time coded show called ‘Return to the Future’ which is centred around a time travelling DeLorean car. During th

UK - The team behind the six-minute immersive mental health installation Blackout will be running a pioneering industry evaluation alongside their exhibition experience at this year’s PLASA Show at London Olympia from 15-17 September 2019.
Bringing academic analysis to the exhibition, research director in clinical psychology at the University of Surrey Dr Paul Hanna has devised a questionnaire to undertake the first evaluation on mental health awareness specifically within the UK technical backstage entertainment industry. Dr Hanna has worked closely with the Blackout creative team since the project launched at Guildford School of Acting (GSA) in May.
Mig Burgess, GSA tutor and creator of Blackout, said: “This is an extremely important first step to address mental health awareness in the UK technical backstage entertainment industry and we are delighted th

UK - Martin by Harman UK distributor Sound Technology has announced UK shipping of the new Martin MAC Allure Wash PC, with its first UK appearance being at PLASA 2019 (Stand U75).
This washlight variant of the MAC Allure Profile features a solid-state RGBW light engine with unique 7-segmented beam control. With instant colour control and pixelated beam, the MAC Allure Wash PC enables dynamic diffused projection and mid-air effects, previously not possible.
The light and colour engine are divided into seven full colour pixels. Pixels can be focused on projection or in the beam for aerial effects. You have full colour and intensity control over each pixel via DMX or create effects via the fixture’s effects engine.
On top of DMX, Art-Net and sACN, MAC Allure fixtures can be controlled via P3. This allows a rig of multiple fixtures to deliver cohesive content that

UK - Triple E is making final preparations for their exhibition presence at this year’s PLASA Show. The expertise of the UK based stage-engineering manufacturer will be demonstrated on stand B38 where Triple E will showcase the new 2Way Points System and the first product in their new Grip Equipment range. They will also have their new brochure hot off the press.
The stand will feature other key products including Triple E’s extensive range of track systems, and plug and play track mounted motors, all of which benefit from Triple E’s renowned superior performance and reliability.
Triple E’s stand will also demonstrate the flexible ModTruss system which has recently been seen in the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts’ summer show as well as forming the base of the Greenpeace tree at Glastonbury Festival. ModTruss is a highly efficient, re-usable, re-configu

UK - ADJ will use this year’s show to demonstrate the latest additions to its range of professional moving head luminaires, including beam, wash and hybrid fixtures as well as the much-anticipated Hydro Series of IP65-rated models. Visit ADJ at stand H38 during PLASA 2019 (15-17 September, London Olympia).
ADJ’s Hydro Series brings the advantages of weatherproof IP65-rated enclosures to the broad mid-market of the entertainment technology industry. Designed for rental houses, tours and production companies, as well as permanent installation, the Hydro Series fixtures can be used outside in any weather. Their sealed casing design also means that, even if the fixtures are used indoors, their optics are protected from dust, dirt and humidity, resulting in an extended operational life and reduced maintenance requirement.
The flagship of the Hydro Series is the Hydro Be

Poland - Glastonbury 2019 headliner Stormzy thrilled audiences at Open’er , one of Poland’s largest annual music festival.
Held in Gdynia on the north coast of Poland, this popular event has attracted a host of names over the years including The Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Bruno Mars and Radiohead.
This year’s headline acts were Kylie Minogue and Stormzy. Concept for the main stage was undertaken by lighting collective Green Beam Design.
The main stage rig, supplied by Transcolor, included a whole host of Prolights Sunblast fixtures. The external design team requested colour strobes on floor to complete the desired ‘colourful punch’ aesthetic and Prolights Sunblast3000FC were used. The fixtures have a track-record of providing the punch that this performance required, but also the flexibility of the 48 individually controllable groups of RGBW LEDs all

UK - The Zero 88 team fully embraced the buzz and excitement of the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival where they were - again - on the ground with training and technical support for a range of their lighting consoles and control solutions.
They also introduced #behindthefringe - a ‘fun and informative forum’ for anyone into fringe performance and involved with a show using Zero 88 products.
Building on this success, #behindthefringe will be launched as a website later in the year as a hub and platform for comments, experiences and opinions, sharing information and connecting people through various Fringe projects linked via Zero 88.
Over 100 different Zero 88 consoles were in action site-wide at this year’s Edinburgh event, which is the largest arts festival in the world, producing nearly 60,000 new performances in over 300 venues across 25 hectic and vibrant

UK - PLASA Show 2020 is moving to London Olympia's Grand Hall, PLASA has announced. A scheduling change has also been made, with the 2020 event taking place on 6-8 September 2020.
The Grand Hall is the largest exhibition space at Olympia and the Show's move highlights its return to form since returning to west London in 2016. PLASA reports that the event has grown year-on-year both in terms of exhibitor and visitor numbers, and this latest decision has been taken to ensure the ability for future expansion of the show.
Sophie Atkinson, PLASA head of events, comments: “With the exciting redevelopment happening at Olympia over the next few years the opportunity has arisen for us to move the PLASA Show to the Grand Hall from 2020 onwards. This is a great oppor

The Netherlands - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) will exhibit an array of specialist TV, broadcast and film lighting solutions from leading brands including Chroma-Q, Vista by Chroma-Q, Quasar Science and RatPac on stand 12.D39 at IBC this week.
Chroma-Q will continue to celebrate its 15th year in LED lighting innovation. Drawing upon this expertise, its latest generation of award-winning solutions utilise proprietary homogenised optics, colour management and dimming technologies to deliver a superior quality of light output and colour consistency.
The new Chroma-Q Space Force onebytwo variable white LED soft light panel will make its IBC debut. Recipient of a Lighting Product of the Year Award at NAB, the unit is a modern replacement for traditional soft sources and is the ideal fit for creating a huge volume of light in standard room ceiling height studios

UK - Avolites will showcase the Q4 media server, the latest development in the Q server range. Q4 boasts four full 4K outputs, which will be able to drive three layers of visually lossless, 4K content to every output simultaneously.
It also features Avolites’ Ai software, built on the Salvation node engine, which provides the tools needed to create effective shows, whatever the requirements. The new server will ship with Modular Flex Inputs, allowing video inputs to be swapped in and out to suit every situation.
In addition, Avolites will demo Synergy with its latest integration between Titan and Ai. The software, which won a PLASA Award for Innovation in 2018, integrates lighting and video seamlessly, allowing users to turn their stages into one visual canvas. It has been used on shows and installations around the world, including the Temple Stage at Glastonbury th

USA - Distributor Stampede is hosting eight Big Book of AV Tour & Conference Series stops in the United States and Canada, one US national sales meeting, and three summits for its United States, Canadian and Latin American vendor partners.
The Fall 2019 Stampede Big Book of AV Tour & Conference Series will make stops in San Diego, California, 19 September; Montreal, 17 October; Chicago, 24 October; Toronto, 13 November; Houston, 21 November; Miami, 5 December and Vancouver,11 December. Complete details on the fall tour can be found at www.bigbookofavtour.com.
The United States Vendor Summit will take place on 7-8 October at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Centre in New York, following on the heels of its United States national sales meeting on 5-6 October. The Canadian Vendor Summit will take place on 12 November at the Holiday Inn Toronto International Airport

Australia - Expressions of Interest (EOI) are open for Vivid Sydney’s Ideas programme, encouraging innovative and thought-provoking individuals and businesses around the world to submit their ideas and concepts to be part of Vivid Sydney 2020.
Attended by over 2m people each year, Vivid Sydney is the largest festival of light, music and ideas in the Southern Hemisphere. Vivid Ideas brings together leading thinkers, creators and innovators to share their insights across technology, design, entertainment and culture to explore how they are tackling some of the biggest global issues in front of a live festival audience.
Minister for Tourism, Stuart Ayres, comments: “Vivid Ideas is a truly significant part of the Vivid Sydney programme and for the creative industries, it places Sydney and New South Wales as the creative industries hub of Asia Pacific.
“Vivid

UK - Unusual Rigging's Tom Harper will lead a session hosted by SiPA at PLASA 2019 which aims to explore how 'circular' the live production industry really is.
The session which takes place on 15 September at 14.00 will look at how the industry needs to decouple 'show business' from the highly wasteful, energy intensive and inefficient consumption of finite resources.
Tom, a director at Unusual Rigging as well as the company's circular economy lead, recently completed his MBA in circular economy innovation and is passionate to drive forward system shifts to ensure an effective transition towards an economic model that is regenerative by design.
"This isn't just about what we at Unusual Rigging can do – although we are very much trying to lead by example. It's about working with the entire industry in order to radically reduce consumption levels. We are locked i

UK - Taking place today, Tuesday 10 September, World Suicide Prevention Day hopes to raise awareness for the cause. Each year, death by suicide is listed in the top 20 causes of loss of life globally for people of all ages and is responsible for over 800,000 deaths. That’s a lost life every 40 seconds - and the impact can be catastrophic.
According to World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) research, “For each suicide, approximately 135 people suffer intense grief or are otherwise affected. This amounts to 108 million people per year who are profoundly impacted by suicidal behaviour.”
People working within the music industry are three times more likely to experience a mental health problem, at a rate of approximately 36,000 people per year, putting both musicians, road crew, artist managers and multiple occupations in between at risk.
Road crew worldwide exp

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