Russia - SES Entertainment Services has appointed the Moscow based company Skyfox as its sole distributor for the region. Following a very positive meeting at PLASA, in September, the deal was finally signed in the offices of Skyfox in Moscow, to the satisfaction of both companies.

Gordon Cooper from SES commented, "We are committed to finding quality distributors in several key areas around the globe, and having Skyfox in Moscow fits perfectly with our plans. The company have a very professional approach to the market and offered SES exactly what was required in order to use and distribute our products to a growing audience in this growing marketplace. Skyfox will be exhibiting at the forthcoming Prolight + Sound NAMM show in Moscow, and will be unveiling SES to the Russian marketplace."

SES are currently in early negotiations with companies in two other key areas,

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has announced that Peter Butler has been appointed to their board of directors as audio visual director.

Joining the company in 2003 as audio sales manager, Butler has been instrumental in driving forward and helping to establish the dedicated Audio Division, forging many new associations and relationships with manufacturers and customers along the way, says the company.

In 2011 Butler was appointed as acting video sales manager for AC-ET's Video Division, taking on a range of additional challenges and responsibilities.

Since then, he has played a key role in the expansion of the Video Division, bringing on-board many new video technologies and opening new business opportunities in the fast moving world of show and entertainment 'visuals'.

In his new appointment as audio visual director, Butler will continue to oversee the furth

USA - Three PLASA standards are now in public review. The public review materials for the standards are available at the web address below. The last day to comment for each of them is April 1.

BSR E1.44 - 201x, Common Show File Exchange Format For Entertainment Industry Automation Control Systems - Stage Machinery, defines a common show file format for the exchange of automation control data between control systems by different manufacturers of stage machinery.

BSR E1.45 - 201x, Unidirectional Transport of IEEE 802 data frames over ANSI E1.11 (DMX512-A), defines a minimal method to transport IEEE 802 data frames unidirectionally over ANSI E1.11 physical links using an Alternate START Code. The primary motivation is to allow communication of 802 data to luminaires over an ANSI E1.11 DMX512-A datalink for data transmission from those luminaires using Visible Light Communication,

World - PLASA, the global leader in developing technical standards for the entertainment industry, and the Event Safety Alliance, the emerging voice of event production best practices, are formally announcing their mutual endorsement in the ongoing efforts to raise awareness and use of industry best practices and technical standards throughout live entertainment production.

Lori Rubinstein, PLASA's North American executive director comments, "The ESA's Event Safety Guide will be an important and relevant tool for disseminating the vast array of industry best practices necessary in the successful and safe execution of live events."

Event Safety Alliance executive director Jim Digby comments, "The work of PLASA in the creation of wide reaching, industry technical standards is an absolute necessity in the rapidly changing sector of production protocols. The

USA - The Long Reach Long Riders and The ESTA Foundation will host their annual raffle to benefit Behind the Scenes at the USITT Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 21-23 March. This year's raffle will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Long Reach Long Riders annual charity motorcycle ride. The Riders have raised over $350,000 for charity in their 10 years of touring some of the country's most beautiful areas.

The Behind the Scenes Boutique will also be open for business during the show featuring the new USB LED Ghostlight, an assortment of great Behind the Scenes swag, and the famous Long Reach Long Rider T-shirts and kazoos.

Tickets for the raffle are an affordable $5 each or five for $20 and can be purchased at the Behind the Scenes booth #731 throughout the show. Winning tickets for nine regular prizes and one grand prize will be drawn at 1pm on Saturday, the final day

USA - PLASA has announced the members of the 2013 PERG Council who are responsible for overseeing the activities of the Production Equipment Rental Group which serves the needs of the film and digital community within PLASA. The PERG Council is made up of leading members of that community who donate significant time and resources to shine a light on the challenges and opportunities faced by professional rental companies and focus the collective experience and expertise of members to shape solutions and responses.

Mark Wofford, general manager of Production Consultants & Equipment in Atlanta, was elected chair of the council at their recent meeting in Dallas, TX. Mark commented, "It's important to PC&E to be a part of PERG and the important work that PERG does for the rental industry. The PERG Council is the driving force behind this and to be elected as chair of this group

Keeping Clean - London's National Theatre is one of four historic sites to receive funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for "wash and brush up" restoration work. It has been granted £2.5m to help enhance the 20th-Century modernist building on London's South Bank. Last year, Arts Council England gave the theatre £17.5m to aid its upgrades. The remaining sites include Rochester Cathedral in Kent, the Carnegie Library in Dunfermline and Victorian mansion house Insole Court in Cardiff. A total of £11m was awarded to the places of cultural interest in England, Scotland and Wales.

Open Air - An amphitheatre is being planned in north London on the site where a 16th century theatre that hosted the premiere of Henry V used to exist. The remains of the Curtain Theatre - which was the base for the Lord Chamberlain's Men before they moved to the G

Czech Republic - A.C. Entertainment Technologies has announced that Ales Grivac will be working with their international sales team as regional sales representative.

A well known figure within the entertainment technology industry, Grivac brings with him over 10 years experience in the business. Based in Czech Republic, he will be travelling extensively to further increase AC-ET's growing presence within the European market, as well as promoting the company's wide range of key and exclusive entertainment technology brands.

Grivac comments, "After taking a couple of years out, I am delighted to be back in the industry and working with such a long established and experienced company. I look forward to catching up with old friends, making new ones, and introducing the wide range of lighting, audio, video and rigging products that AC-ET offer."

AC-ET's Managing Directo

USA - Orlando-based Alcorn McBride is well positioned for growth in international markets. In the past year, Alcorn McBride has restructured distribution in Asia, partnering with Wincomn in China and Hong Kong, Electori in Japan, Sovico in Korea, and several companies in Singapore.

"We anticipate significant growth in the themed entertainment and family entertainment markets in Asia. Our products are uniquely engineered for the those markets so we sought to partner with the most aggressive and well respected distributors in each area," notes Alcorn McBride's sales manager Larry Howard. "We also expect an increase of projects in Europe, the Middle East and Russia and are ramping our presence in those areas as well."

Alcorn McBride's European office in Paris, France has been directed by Henry Corrado of Alcorn McBride s.a.r.l. In 2012 Mr. Corrado expanded his

UK - Star Events Group Ltd has signed a preferred supplier agreement with R.C Robinson Haulage Ltd. These two long standing Bedfordshire based companies have been working together over the past year and chose to formalise what has been a very successful relationship between them for some time. This agreement coincides with significant changes introduced by Cheryl Bowden the new logistics manager at Star Events Group.

After 25 years of running their own trucks, Star Events have made the switch to subcontracting all of their haulage in order to introduce cost savings and efficiencies. Bowden says, "I'm really pleased to have found a local supplier with a strong fleet of vehicles, which not only do the job but look the part too. Robinsons have proved themselves to be extremely professional offering consistently high standards of service over the past year and we're all looking

UK - Qdos Event Hire has been appointed to provide cabins, luxury toilets and waste tanks for this year's Brit Awards.

The contract was awarded by Brit Award Production Ltd and will see Qdos supply their cabins for use as production offices and hospitality areas for backstage and the after-show party. They will also supply a range of their luxury toilets to support the existing facilities in-house at the venue. In addition they will be installing tanks for catering waste.

The 2013 BRIT Awards, widely regarded as the biggest event in the British music industry's calendar, will be held on 20 February 2013. The award ceremony will be held at The O2 Arena in London, and will be presented by James Corden.

Neil Hickton, managing director, Qdos Event Hire said, "This is the second year that we have been involved with the Brit Awards and we are actually supplying more this time

Grammy Awards- The 55th Grammy Awards took place in Los Angeles, with Fun, Gotye and Mumford and Sons among the winners. Fun's anthem We Are Young, featuring Janelle Monae, was named song of the year, with the New York band going on to win the best new artist prize.

Gotye's international hit Somebody That I Used To Know received the record of the year, one of three prizes received by the Belgian-Australian artist. Mumford and Sons took home the album of the year prize for Babel. The English folk rockers received their honour from fellow-countrywoman Adele, who had earlier won best pop solo performance for her live version of Set Fire to the Rain.

Adele, who won six awards last year, said: "I just wanted to be part of the night, because I loved it last year, obviously. Thank you, I just wanted to say a massive thank you and send big love to all

UK - Dave Bellamy, Showforce's client relations manager, was awarded the accolade of 'Best Employee' at the Event Production Awards 2013.

With 20 awards presented in total, by comedian Tom Stade, Dave Bellamy and Kim Gavin, artistic director of the Olympic and Paralympic closing ceremonies were the only individuals to receive awards on the night.

Bellamy was nominated for the award by Showforce's chairman Ian Spendlove who said, "I really wanted to formally acknowledge the hard work, commitment and high standards demonstrated by Dave throughout, what was undoubtedly, the busiest time in our 20 year history. Dave oversaw projects that included Olympic overlay, the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and Paralympics, the Diamond Jubilee Concert and Sports Personality of the Year."

The judging panel for the awards included; Chris Salmon, event operations d

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd have announced their continued sponsorship of promising young UK racing driver, Jack Goff, who is taking his career to the next level this year by competing in the Dunlop MSA 2013 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season with Team HARD.

GOff's debut in the BTCC follows his triumph in 2012 AirAsia Renault UK Clio Cup, which saw him crowned Championship Winner after a gripping title fight down to the deciding last race of the season.

AC-ET have supported 21 year old Jack whilst he competed in three successive Renault Clio Cup seasons, helping him to attain the goal of winning the Championship last year.

(Jim Evans)

UK - PLASA's Technical Resource Office announces that the RDM and sACN Developers Conference and Plugfest returns for 2013 and will take place on the 25-27 April, in the UK, at Gatwick Manor, London Road at Lowfield Heath, just south of Gatwick Airport.

This Developers Conference aims to provide a European forum for manufacturers, designers, consultants and prospective users; and to ensure that the adoption of these new standards achieves desired levels of interoperability and reliability.

The conference includes presentations in understanding, implementing and using the published PLASA control protocols suites. Discussions will also embrace the current protocol developments that form part of the PLASA Technical Standards Programme. The past 12 months has seen considerable advancement in the development of RDMnet - with various drafts of BSR E1.33 being offered for public revi

UK - London-based theatre design consultancy Charcoalblue is a new sponsor of The Off West End Theatre Awards (Offies).

Creative thinkers Charcoalblue is sponsoring the Award for Most Welcoming Theatre (Central, North, South East, East, North West and South West). The award is one of the few public nominations awards, allowing theatre fans to vote via the OffWestEnd.com website.

"We're delighted that Charcoalblue, with such an impressive track record for transforming spaces, has thrown its weight behind helping us champion the most welcoming London theatres off the beaten track," says Sofie Mason, Director of Off West End. "Independent theatres, wonderfully scattered across London, can have strong personalities that are memorable in a way you would rarely find in the West End. Often theatregoers fall in love with the venue as much as the performance and return b

WarChild Benefit - Muse warmed up for their appearance at this week's Brit Awards by headlining an intimate benefit gig in aid of WarChild UK. The band performed for almost two hours in front of 2,000 fans at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire. Speaking from the stage, front man Matt Bellamy said: "This is a nice vibe, we should do a tour like this."

The concert - an intimate affair compared to Muse's usual stadium-headlining shows - saw them tone down their show to fit the theatre surroundings. Before the gig bass player Chris Wolstenholme told BBC's Newsbeat, "You don't want to be spending all the money on pyramids and flashing lights - that's money that could be going to charity."

Awards News - Opera magazine is to have its first annual international awards, presented at a ceremony in London on 22 April. The Operas, the brainchild of th

UK - Hawthorn celebrated their 25th Anniversary by welcoming over 500 clients, guests and staff to its Leicester Head Office, 16 February 2013.

Hawthorn applied its own event expertise to transform their facility into a swanky party venue, where guests enjoyed a night of food, drink, networking and revelry. Giant video screens, sizzling catering points, glitzy dancefloors created a vibrant ambience in the main event room; then if guests walked through a giant logo structure they entered a series of 'games rooms' with Karaoke, 'drive simulators', and familiar computer games.

Founder and Managing Director Martin Hawthorn cut the birthday cake and thanked all present:

"It's great to welcome everyone here as we celebrate our achievement bringing the company from the humble beginnings to where we are today supplying an incredible range of events. We have developed some great

UK - David Whitehead, founder and majority shareholder of Stage Electrics passed away suddenly on Monday 18 February after a courageous fight against cancer.

"David was diagnosed with cancer 15 months ago and met the challenge of his illness with the same blend of determination and optimism that was his hallmark in business. Since stepping down as managing director of Stage Electrics he has devoted time to ensuring a secure future for his company and its employees," says the company. "His majority ownership passes to his family, however David has made sure Stage Electrics is in safe hands with strong management in place led by managing director Dan Aldridge and chairman Trevor Smallwood."

David founded Stage Electrics in Exeter in 1979 and built the company into the nationwide multi-discipline organisation it is today. Leading the company as managing direct

UK - The beginning of AP Security's sixth year working at London's O2 Arena has seen the company as busy as ever. From television and music celebrities, basketball superstars and motorcycle madmen to children and dinosaurs, the company's staff ensured that exemplary charm and helpfulness were always top of the bill.

January was a particularly varied month for The O2. The high profile 18th National Television Awards and NBA London Live basketball match were both televised live, Arenacross featured high octane motorcycle racing and stunts, Ronan Keating lit the fires of passion in women of a certain age, Donnie and Marie Osmond produced plenty of Puppy Love and Walking with Dinosaurs produced much wonder for younger generations.

"We cover the main entrances, the floor of The O2 and the response teams on all the levels, so our staff are effectively working thro

Europe - Apollo Design Technology has announced a new partnership with Production Resource Group. PRG UK is now producing Apollo Standard patterns for distribution in the Europe Union countries.

Apollo president, Joel Nichols states, "Both companies have enjoyed a mutual partnership for years. I am looking forward to working with PRG and being able to service their client needs."

Milad Khouli, Sr. international account executive commented, "PRG is a well-established company dedicated to providing high quality, high resolution gobos using the latest technology. This venture provides Apollo with the opportunity to solidify their presence in the European market."

Kevin Blair, head of PRG Technical Services said, "The introduction of Apollo products into the UK and EU markets will offer our clients an extended range of designs coupled with our continued

In The Money - Madonna has beaten Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters to be named the highest-paid musician in 2012 by trade publication Billboard. The 54-year-old singer has topped the annual rundown of the top money-makers for the second time in five years. Her 88-date MDNA world tour, 2012's most successful, helped her take home $34.6m (£26.1m), Billboard said.

Concerts account for 68.9% of the total revenues for the 40 artists on the list, which estimates annual earnings. According to the figures, compiled using Boxscore concert data and Nielsen SoundScan sales information, Bruce Springsteen came a close second. He earned $33.4m (£25.3m) after touring to sold-out stadiums and arenas on the back of his number one album Wrecking Ball.

Strong merchandise sales helped with his earnings, with Springsteen's live shows making up 92% of

UK - Stage Electrics has appointed Alex Cann to the newly created role of technical project manager for professional theatre. Due to increased demand and a substantial order book for 2013, the company has taken the decision to create a role to oversee this work. Recent shows include the re-release of Hairspray (UK tour), the Dolly Parton themed musical 9-5, New Jersey Nights (UK tour), Brendan Cole's Licence to Thrill UK tour, Imperial Ice Stars international tour and the recent two month residency of Fuerzabruta Argentine Carnival extravaganza at The Roundhouse.

Cann previously worked in Stage Electrics' hire operations department working on a broad cross-section of hire and event work. Prior to joining Stage Electrics, he spent seven years working within the theatre industry, graduating from University of Essex- East 15 Acting School with a BA Hons

UK - Nestled at the foot of the Cairngorms national park, Pitlochry Festival Theatre is a delightfully spacious, airy venue that is responsible for a veritable list of productions as well as a range of workshops, tours, concerts and even a wine club.

Each winter it opens its doors for the Federation of Scottish Theatre's (FST) winter school, a sizeable programme of technical training and professional development courses aimed at those working in dance, music and theatre north of the border. The FST has over 120 members and strives to secure the creative future of Scottish Theatre at a national level while also helping its members share resources and expertise; one of the key aims of the winter school program. As in previous years, the Winter School has been heavily supported by Edinburgh based Black Light.

Courses included working and rigging at height, ETC product training, m

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