Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Renkus-Heinz - Banner - May 2025

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Night Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight has accepted an invitation to perform the Star Spangled Banner at this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, which is being held in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia on 3 February. It was confirmed this week that the halftime show will be performed by Maroon 5, with rappers Travis Scott and Big Boi supporting.
There has been criticism directed at some black artists for failing to show solidarity with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kapaernick, who has been without a club since 2016 after “taking a knee” during the performance of the anthem in protest against racial injustices. Artists including Rihanna and Cardi B reportedly turned down the show, traditionally seen as a massive opportunity for artists to be seen by a TV audience of hundreds of millions.
Gladys is now facing similar criticism but, in a statement

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The Netherlands - ELC Lighting has announced that Production Resource Group (PRG) has made a significant investment in ELC's GBX Distribution System.
Specifically tailored for live entertainment applications, the GBX Distribution System transforms how DMX can be distributed from an ethernet network. Recognising this, PRG has purchased multiple units, including ELC’s switchGBx10 and switchGBx18 switches, nodeGBx8 nodes, and the innovative new nodeGBx8 Slave node.
Bob Walpot, director of operations and asset strategy at PRG Europe, says, “With this investment, we evaluated various brands and involved our technical teams from our various markets and segments. ELC was the preferred choice because of the technical and financial efficiency of the products. The Slave node is the perfect example of this. It has been really well thought through. Without losing any technical
Renkus-Heinz - Banner - May 2025

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UK - Penn Elcom, manufacturer of 19-inch racking and flight case hardware, has expanded the latch producing line its Washington, Tyne & Wear UK base, adding three new jobs, and 10 new machines as part of a £50,000 investment to update and expand its production of latching mechanisms.
Nearly everything needs a latch of some sort, and multiple types and styles of Penn latches are made here - for a range of flightcase and 19-inch racking products used in all sectors of the entertainment, professional AV and IT industries. This includes anything from technical rental company equipment flight cases to installed racking systems housing amplifiers, servers and other devices.
The investment and reorganisation of the latch line took just five months and will boost capacity by 30% to over 2m latching parts per year. It has been overseen by Penn Washington production manage

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UK - Devon-based specialists for LED visual effects, drapes and starcloths S+H Technical supplied 550sq.m of its LED starcloth product to help realise designer Joshua Grace’s set for ITV’s Best Christmas Ever.
The show, a Christmas special, was hosted by Alexander Armstrong with a live audience on D Stage at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, and was produced by Remarkable, part of the Endemol Shine Group.
Armstrong invited celebrity guests to his winter lodge to discuss their favourite elements of the season, and a member of the audience had the chance to win a Best Christmas Ever hamper. A house band played popular Christmas tunes, with some of guests joining in for a sing-along.
Josh wanted a twinkly festive feel for the show and to suit the environment - a cosy fireside chat scenario with a wintry forest scene visible through the windows of t

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The Netherlands - Peerless-AV has announced its new, outdoor Smart City Kiosk. The Smart City Kiosk combines functionality and aesthetics and can endure the rigours of everyday use when unattended, says the company.
Four models are available in the new Smart City Kiosk line - 49" or 55" with Peerless-AV’s Xtreme High Bright Outdoor Display included (KOP2549-XHB-EUK, KOP2555-XHB-EUK), or as a kiosk enclosure only, designed for 46" or 55" Samsung OHF Displays (KOP2546-OHF-EUK, KOP2555-OHF-EUK). The new all-weather rated solution is suitable for sharing corporate or community information, travel and weather details, as well as wayfinding, advertising, entertainment and more.
“Our new Smart City Kiosk opens up many new opportunities in the outdoor AV market,” says Keith Dutch, managing director - EMEA, Peerless-AV. “We’ve received positive feedback from partners

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Singapore - Serapid Group, a supplier of lifts, quick die change and horizontal transfer systems, has announced that as part of its international growth strategy Serapid has opened a new company in Singapore, with Robert Degenkolb, formerly of J.R. Clancy, joining the organisation as managing director.
Degenkolb has 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry in project management and sales and most recently as managing director of J.R. Clancy‘s Singapore operation. He will remain based in Singapore where he has been residing since 2011. Prior to Singapore, Robert worked as a project manager for J.R. Clancy and oversaw the successful completion of numerous entertainment projects in both domestic and international markets.
As part of the opening of the Singapore office, Ivan Seigneur has transferred from Serapid France

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UK - PLASA has announced the latest changes to its Board, with Koy Neminathan appointed as the Manufacturer’s Representative and Matt Lloyd moving in to the role of Vice-Chair. These changes were voted for by PLASA manufacturer members and Board members respectively, and the terms began at the start of 2019. 
Koy Neminathan, sales director for Avolites, will represent the best interests of manufacturers from all sectors. His experience of working at all levels within a major brand provides him with the practical skills and in-depth knowledge to ensure that manufacturers are supported and understood on a wide range of issues. Former Manufacturer’s Representative and well-known industry figure, Matt Lloyd has moved to the role of Vice-Chair. Lloyd’s expertise come from his vast experience within the industry which includes being the co-founder of GDS. Meanwhi

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Vital Statistics - Almost a quarter of young adults never go to the theatre, preferring to stay at home to watch TV or use social media, according to new research. A study of 2,000 18 to 30-year-olds found that 24% of respondents said they never attend theatre performances, with this figure higher among men than women. And 20% of respondents said they go once a year, with 27% attending two to three times a year.
Of those surveyed, 51% said they most enjoyed watching TV in their spare time, compared to 11% who chose going to the theatre. More respondents chose using social media (36%) over a trip to a theatre production. The survey found that ticket prices was the top factor which, if improved, would encourage young adults to attend the theatre more regularly.
Respondents also said they would welcome interactive technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, if th

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Europe/Asia - Two teams will take part in the 2019 Mongol Rally to raise money for technical entertainment charity Backup.
The rally, which takes place in July and spans 10,000 miles from the Czech Republic to Ulan Ude in Russia, requires participants to ride a very small vehicle, with no support or set route to the finish line, which must be crossed in four to eight weeks.
Team Backup, comprising Salvador Avila, Ethan Forde and Duncan McLean, are aiming to raise £50,000 for the charity, with team The Nomadic Numpties of ‘Turbo’ Anthony Hall and ‘Henri’ Abby Cooper targeting

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USA - With holiday shows, tours and our personal circumstances to balance, the holiday season can pass in a blur. Each year at Bandit Lites, team members are provided funds and encouraged to take an afternoon to come together to serve their communities and children in need.
“I look forward to this event every year because it brings us all together and provides Christmas wish for children in need,” says Bandit Lites HR coordinator Cori Link.
Link and office manager Lisa Fodge spearheaded this year’s efforts to give back, gathering Christmas lists and dropping off the bundles to the charities.
In Nashville, Erich Hudgens, Bandit Lites shop foreman spent the afternoon shuttling multiple groups out to shop for children, participating in the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree programme. After choosing a child themselves, team members fulfill the wishes as seasoned

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UK - The Northern School of Art is one step closer to realising its vision of establishing a major film and TV production facility in the North East.
A planning application has been submitted for The Northern Studios - a Hartlepool-based, 30,000sq.ft film and TV studio and production facility designed in partnership with Logic Architecture.
The new development would provide the North East with its first dedicated production facility capable of housing large-scale film and TV production. It will support specialist technical and skills training for undergraduates on a range of creative degree programmes available at The Northern School of Art, but will also be available for commercial studio use, allowing business users to take advantage of the specialised technical equipment for stage, screen and events production.
Pat Chapman, vice-principal (employability and

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Hall Of Fame - Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, The Cure, Def Leppard and Radiohead are among the acts announced as the latest members of The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. The artists will be officially inducted next year alongside Roxy Music and The Zombies as the official class of 2019. It means Jackson joins brother Michael among the alumni, while Stevie Nicks enters for the second time as a solo artist, having previously been inducted as a member of Fleetwood Mac.
Creative Capital - The mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced the capital’s first six creative enterprise zones, which will be awarded £11m in funding to support artists and businesses. Spread across seven boroughs, the aim of the zones is to support artists to establish themselves in local areas and to develop skills and job opportunities for local people.
The six zones to be announced include Br

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Canada - Solotech has named Daniel Méjean as vice-president (strategic sourcing) effective 14 January 2019.
In this new position under the direction of Nicolas Lavoie, chief financial officer, Méjean will actively contribute to the performance of the rapidly growing sourcing department as a key player in strategic planning, as well as long and short-term alliance building with suppliers and partner.
Méjean has over 20 years of experience in strategic sourcing management and direction in large-scale companies.
(Jim Evans)

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UK - The festive season is well underway and Triple E has gone underwater to provide a magical window display in the centre of the West End.
You wouldn’t usually associate Shaftesbury Avenue with a yacht-chandler, but Arthur Beale has been situated here for over 400 years. Traditionally known for manufacturing ropes for ships, climbers and explorers the company often takes advantage of their central London location to supply the local West End theatres with specialist rigging.
Under the leadership of Alasdair Flint, a theatrical chandler who also has a passion for sailing, the company has revived itself in recent years to provide rigging and ropes to the theatre sector alongside their more traditional sailing business. And each Christmas the company draws on this theatrical side and puts on a window display to rival any other shop in Bloomsbury or the West End!

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Rising Stars - Flamenco singer Rosalía, R&B star Ella Mai and pop artist King Princess are among the rising stars who have made it onto the BBC's Sound of 2019 longlist. Now in its 17th year, the list showcases 2019's hottest new artists. Past winners include Adele, Sam Smith, Years & Years and Sigrid. This year's selection focuses on solo acts, with only one band in the top 10. It was voted for by 136 critics, broadcasters and DJs, including former nominees Ellie Goulding and Stormzy.
Grammy Awards - Kendrick Lamar and Drake lead the nominations for next year's Grammy Awards, with seven nods each. Cardi B, Lady Gaga, HER, Maren Morris, Childish Gambino, producer Sounwave and engineer Mike Bozzi all have five nominations each.
While male acts dominated the nominations in the main categories last year, five of this year's best album nominees are w

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UK - Design and technical theatre consultancy Theatreplan has been chosen to work alongside architects Bennetts Associates on the major redevelopment of the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh.
The designs from Bennetts Associates for the redeveloped theatre have been recently unveiled and show a design that respects the original building but reimagines it for the 21st century. The scheme will see an overhaul of the theatre’s interior and exterior and will cost in the region of £20m.
Mathew Smethurst-Evans, executive director UK for Theatreplan, comments: “Theatreplan is thrilled to be part of the team rejuvenating this historic theatre and modernising its facilities to meet the needs of the 21st century.”
Duncan Hendry, chief executive of

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USA - ESTA has announced that A. Scott Hoyt will receive the 2018 Swan Award. This award is only given when an individual has served the association above and beyond the call of duty.
Scott’s service on the ESTA board of directors began in 2007. In 2012 Scott was elected to the office of treasurer and served as the treasurer of the PLASA Governing Body as well. As treasurer, he was a member of the executive committee as well as an ex-officio member of the Technical Standards and ETCP councils. His second and final term as ESTA’s treasurer comes to an end 31 December, 2018.
Though he has completed his service as Treasurer, Scott continues to chair the oversight committee of the business peer group and serves on the member advisory group.
(Jim Evans)

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Stream On - Dua Lipa is the most-streamed female artist in the UK so far this year, according to figures from both Spotify and Apple Music. Her song One Kiss, with Calvin Harris, was the second most-streamed track on both services, behind Drake's One Plan. Lipa's self-titled album was the third most-streamed record in the UK, and the fourth globally, on Spotify. The star, who won best female at this year's Brits, has just been announced as Vogue's January cover star.
Creative Call - Schools should only be awarded an “outstanding” rating by Ofsted if they can demonstrate excellence in teaching creative subjects alongside academic ones, a leading education charity has claimed. The report is produced by the Edge Foundation, which aims to shape the future of education in the UK, and its calls echo those of bodies such as Arts Council England, whic

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USA - Flex Rental Solutions has announced that Flex5 Phone - its newly designed phone app - has been released to all customers.
Flex5 is the company’s new HTML5 user interface and features a complete rewrite of Flex’s user interface and backend architecture. Flex5 will eventually replace Flex’s current Flash UI by adding a new desktop environment.
Flex5 Phone is already available for download in the Apple App Store for iPhones and in the Google Play store for Android devices. Flex5 Phone replaces Flex Mobile, which is no longer available in the App store.
In August of this year, Flex Rental Solutions announced that it had released Flex5 Tablet.
“We’re really excited about the progress we’ve made bringing new ways for our users to track and manage their inventory in the warehouse and on the go,” says Chris Stein, CEO of Flex Rental Solutions

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Forever Young - Bob Dylan and Neil Young have been announced as joint headliners at London's Hyde Park as part of British Summer Time on 12 July though it's not yet clear in which order they will play.
Lip-Syncing - Rita Ora has been accused of lip-syncing during her performance at America's most famous Thanksgiving Day event. Organisers apologised to millions of viewers watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for "technical difficulties" during the holiday feature. Rita Ora appeared to be out of sync with the vocals viewers heard during her televised performance.
Macy's, the American department store chain that throws the parade, released a public apology. The company said "several recording artists experienced technical difficulties that negatively impacted their performance." It added: "We apologise and want fans to know these issues were out of the artis

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UK - Technical entertainment charity Backup received donations in excess of £25,500 during September alone, thanks to the generosity of Ambersphere, Claypaky, DiGiCo, Lightpower Collection, PLASA and LSi.
The month started with PLASA’s on-going collaboration with the PSA, which saw a group cycle from Chippenham in Wiltshire to London Olympia on the Saturday before the PLASA Show to increase awareness of mental health within the entertainment and events industries. Not only did they achieve their awareness raising goal, they also raised £1,615 for Backup.
Next to show their support was the Lightpower Collection, which exhibits its impresive collection of rock‘n’roll art - of which legendary rock photographer Neal Preston’s work is the core - around the world, with proceeds from the sale of its original prints donated to Backup and US charity, Behind the

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UK - SXS Events recently used Current RMS’ Open API to create a number of integrations to streamline workflow. The Open API is available for any of their software users to access and build with, for them to develop exciting and useful integrations that utilise their data within Current RMS.
Established in 1998, UK-based SXS Events specialises in event production and dry hire, and has grown to be a multi-million pound event production company. Using the Current RMS Open API, they created X Hire, a platform for their clients to view products directly on their website and hire them. Built to work alongside their normal website, this space allows them to pull across products and key information from Current RMS and onto a platform their new and existing clients can easily access and view.
“The website is a great tool for both the office team and clients. Instead of t

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Sustainable Art - An environmental programme designed to help arts organisations become more sustainable has helped its participants reduce their energy consumption by almost a quarter in the past six years, saving £16.5m as a result. The group of 136 of Arts Council England’s national portfolio organisations have also decreased their carbon emissions by 35% in this time period, according to a report on the scheme by ACE and green arts charity Julie’s Bicycle.
These figures are the culmination of a partnership between Julie’s Bicycle and the Arts Council that began in 2012 with the aim of encouraging arts organisations to become more environmentally sustainable. As part of the six-year programme, the 136 participating organisations consistently reported data at regular intervals across the period. 47 of these were theatre organisations, including the Royal Court and t

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The Long Goodbye - Elton John has announced UK dates for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, saying they will be emotional and "incredibly special". The singer, who began his mammoth three-year goodbye tour in the US in September, will continue to play across the world until 2021, with more than 300 shows planned. Two UK dates had already been confirmed for next year, and there will now be more again in November 2020, kicking off at London's O2 Arena. Sir Elton will also play arena shows in Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Leeds in 2020.
"The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour will take us to many places that have meant a lot to me over the last 50 years, but these UK shows will be incredibly special," he said. "The UK is home, and where my heart will always be. To celebrate some of the incredible moments we've shared with my Britis
  1. HG Lighting Design supports Behind the Scenes
  2. ESTA announces 2018 election results
  3. Studiotech aids NEC Birmingham transition
  4. Ecodesign: consultation deadline looms
  5. The Week in Light & Sound
  6. Rose Bruford students support local charity
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GLP - MPU - Feb, Apr 2025

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