UK - Audio-Technica has announced the appointment of Alex Jann to the position of UK product and training specialist, with particular responsibility for DJ and recording-related products from Audio-Technica and Allen & Heath (distributed in the UK by Audio-Technica). The new role will see Jann working alongside Audio-Technica's dedicated team of sales managers, further strengthening the company's commitment to the highest standards of customer service.

Jann has worked in MI for more than a decade - with Andertons, Tascam and inMusic featuring on his CV - and has long experience as a techno and house music DJ and producer. As such he brings real understanding of the challenges facing MI retailers, as well as in-depth product knowledge.

"I'm very excited to be joining Audio-Technica," says Jann, "and I'm looking forward to supporting dealers with everything from s

UK - Chauvet Professional has announced it has become Corporate Supporter of the Theatres Trust. Chauvet Professional will also provide further support to the Trust as sponsor of the delegate lunch at this year's Theatre Trust Conference, scheduled for 28 April, at the City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds.

The Theatres Trust is the National Advisory Body for Theatres, protecting theatres for everyone. Operating nationally in England, Scotland and Wales, the Trust promotes the value of theatre buildings and champions their future.

General manager Michael Brooksbank commented, "As a manufacturer, we feel honoured to play a role. Theatre is the backbone of the entertainment technology industry and a natural symbiosis already exists. Having come to understand in greater detail and recognise the work of the Trust, allegiance and community support became a natural next step for C

UK - The International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference 2014 formally opened bookings for the June event this week.

ITEAC 2014: The Future of Performance Spaces - The People, The Places, The Technologies, has recorded its highest pre-registered delegate interest in the Conference's history and has been inundated with ideas for papers & content from those interested in contributing from around the world.

The opening delegate rate has been held at 2010 prices for those registering early for ITEAC 2014. Further discounts are available to members of OISTAT (International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians), the ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) membership and members of its Partner Organisations.

Developing themes for the fourth three-day quadrennial conference, being held at the University of London's Senate H

UK - Qdos Event Hire, was appointed to provide cabins, luxury toilets and waste tanks to the BRIT Awards for the third year in succession.

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

The 2014 BRIT Awards, widely regarded as the biggest event in the British music industry's calendar, was held on 19 February 2014, held at The O2 Arena in London, with James Corden presenting. Big winners on the night included the Arctic Monkeys and One Direction.

Nigel Brice, CEO, Qdos Event Hire said, "This is the third year that we have been involved with the BRIT Awards and I'm delighted to

Belgium - Glenn Roggeman (CEO AED group) cut the ribbon for the opening of the AED studios in the presence of numerous prominent guests from the political as well as corporate scene.

In August 2013, the Eurocam Media Centre - formerly known as the Alfacam Studios, changed ownership after the acquisition by the AED group.

On 1 October, Glenn Roggeman officially started phase 1 of his master plan, "the update" of the studios. During the last five months, neither cost nor effort was spared for this prestigious project. Today, many waste containers, renovations and innovations later, determined entrepreneurship already shows its result.

Sixteen studios, of which five have been fully fitted with the most recent lighting-, sound- and video equipment, having as target audience, the TV- and event industry.

Seven Studios were equipped with Technical ceilings (Trusses and

UK - A collaborative event industry skills initiative, formed in 2010 by Delta Sound and White Light, welcomes Metro Broadcast and The Royal Albert Hall to the 2014 undergraduate programme. The growing initiative is an educational programme for stage technicians at the UK's leading universities and theatre schools aiming for a career in live events. The initiative helps prepare students for work and provides an opportunity to gain valuable insights into the industry offering advice on production planning, project management, creating a CV and interview tips.

The initiative reaches out to students of RADA, Central School of Speech and Drama, Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Mountview Academy, Rose Bruford College and the Guildford School of Acting.

This project was originally created by Delta Sound's projects director Lee Dennison, and Head of Events at White Light, Stuart Cr

Welcome Home - The Liverpool Everyman theatre has re-opened after being rebuilt at a cost of £27m. The Everyman became famous in the 1970s for launching the careers of actors like Bill Nighy, Julie Walters, Pete Postlethwaite and Sir Anthony Sher. Its rebirth comes as Liverpool City Council plans to cut its culture budget by 50% by 2017, although the council said the Everyman would be protected. The first production on the new stage will be Shakespeare's Twelfth Night starring Matthew Kelly and Nicholas Woodeson, which opens on 8 March.

Kelly and Woodeson are returning 40 years after being part of the illustrious Everyman company of the mid-1970s. The talent at that time also included actors Bernard Hill, Jonathan Pryce, Alison Steadman and Trevor Eve, writers Alan Bleasdale and Willy Russell, singer Barbara Dickson and poets Roger McGough and Adrian Mitchell. The t

UK - PLASAtechnical announces that the RDM and sACN Developers Conference and Plugfest returns for 2014 and will take place on Thursday 24, Friday 25 and Saturday 26 April, in the UK, at Gatwick Manor, London Road at Lowfield Heath, just south of Gatwick Airport.

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

Conference sessions will cover the understanding, implementation and use of the published E1.20 and E1.37 RDM standards as well as the E1.31 sACN standard. Other projects in the current PLASA Technical Standards Program such as"E1.33 : RDMnet" will also feature.

In all, three new Control Protocol projects were proposed at the recent PLASA meetings, held in January in Dalla

UK - Leisuretec Distribution has announced a number of staff changes and additions. As of February 2014, Cliff Dounting has taken over the reins from Mike Henden as Managing Director. Dounting joined Leisuretec in November 2007 as Operations Manager and became Commercial Director in July 2008. He comments: "it genuinely is an honour to become Leisuretec's Managing Director, a position of great responsibility that I take very seriously. We have a fantastic team with a very positive outlook of providing excellent technical and commercial support with a great service with a smile. Of course this is all possible by having some wonderful suppliers who are like our friends and we have great strength of partnership providing some of the best brands in the world. I'm very proud to be part of it".

Mike Henden comments: "With Leisuretec's continued development over the last

USA - LightParts Inc. has appointed industry veteran Sean McCarter to fill the newly created position of sales manager. Sean previously held the title of repair coordinator at LightParts, after a long tenure with High End Systems. In his new role, Sean will be responsible for all inside and Internet sales activities at LightParts, including parts and equipment sales, both new and used. Sean can be reached at sean@lightparts.com

Robert Mokry of LightParts says, "Sean was a great hire from day one. He walked in the door knowing the gear, customers and manufacturers. Customers love dealing with Sean, he gives great phone! Seriously, we look forward to Sean heading up our expanded sales efforts."

McCarter adds, "After ten years of business, LightParts has a broad customer base and a terrific team of people in our shop. I look forward to expanding that customer base

Rich Pickings - Taylor Swift has returned to the top of Billboard's annual list of music money makers, a title she held in 2012 only to relinquish last year to Madonna. The 24-year-old earned $39.7m (£23.8m) in 2013 from a combination of music sales, royalties and touring, according to the trade publication. Country star Kenny Chesney rose three places to second place, while Justin Timberlake came third. Rock acts Bon Jovi and the Rolling Stones round out this year's top five.

Homecoming - Hit musical Book of Mormon is due to play Salt Lake City for the first time next year, near the location of the Mormon church's headquarters. It will run from July to August at The Capitol Theatre, less than half a mile from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' flagship temple. Written by South Park's Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the show pokes fun at two naive m

South Africa - Johnny Scholtz, has joined the DWR Distribution sales team. Johnny is a well known and respected lighting designer and has worked on various corporate events in Africa.

He initially joined the industry after completing a sound engineering course. "In fact, Peter Rieck, a friend of mine from high school, introduced me to the industry," recalls Johnny. Peter was working for MJ Event Gear at the time, and Johnny joined the company soon after. He stayed at MJ for 11 years, working himself up the corporate ladder and falling in love with lighting along the way. Johnny also freelanced for a couple of years thereafter.

"Now I'm on the other side," he says. "It's a new challenge in my life, and a time for moving and growing."

Says Duncan Riley from DWR, "I have always enjoyed Johnny's easy going nature. It has been great to see his t

UK - Push The Button Ltd (PTB), the specialist electrical contractor for the entertainment industry, has recently completed the creation of a new backstage artists lounge for the Barbican Concert Hall in London.

The Concert Hall, part of the Barbican Centre, is the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, and also hosts a wide range of other concerts, productions and events. "The existing backstage area that greeted those performing at the Hall was quite cold and uninviting," comments PTB's Nick Ewins. "It needed some TLC to provide the welcoming and relaxing atmosphere that the great artists who play here deserve before and after a concert."

PTB was selected by the Barbican to explore how lighting might be able to help transform the existing space. The company presented a number of options to the Barbican Centre, aiming to create a versatile lighting system

Stones Cancel - The Rolling Stones have cancelled the first date of their Australian tour after the death of Sir Mick Jagger's girlfriend L'Wren Scott. The celebrated US fashion designer was found dead in her New York flat on Monday, in an apparent suicide. The British band were due to play in Perth on Wednesday. Their promoter said no further information was available. They are scheduled to play five more concerts in Australia. The next is due to take place on 25 March in Sydney.

Monty's Off - The West End version of The Full Monty is to close after five weeks, two-and-a-half months earlier than planned, due to poor ticket sales. The play, which was adapted from the hit 1997 film about hard-up Sheffield steelworkers, opened on 20 February and was due to run until 14 June. But its last performance at the Noel Coward Theatre will now be on 29 March. Producers David

UK - With the programme for Theatres Trust Conference 14: Community Theatres in place, and a strong line-up of contributors confirmed, including Stephen Williams MP, Peter Stark OBE, Chairman of Voluntary Arts Network, and Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chairman of Arts Council England, momentum is building as delegates take advantage of the generous Early Bird delegate rates.

This year the annual conference is taking place on Monday 28 April 2014 in Leeds, at the famous Grade II* listed City Varieties Music Hall. Early Bird delegate rate runs to Friday 28 March. The community theatres conference is co-locating alongside PLASA Focus: Leeds, the popular regional entertainment technology trade show that runs the following day at the Royal Armouries on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April.

Mhora Samuel, Director of The Theatres Trust sa

USA - Wireless audio manufacturer RF Venue has released the RF Optix RF to fibre optic conversion system, a powerful new tool for mainstream wireless microphone users that expands the possibilities of antenna distribution and wireless audio design.

"RF Optix brings technology from the world of broadcast and IT into the reach of church, school, and theatre wireless users," says CEO Chris Regan. "Integrators, tour managers, and church technicians are now able to do things with fibre that would have been way out of budget, or downright impossible, with coaxial cable."

The RF Optix system leverages the low cost, lossless characteristics of fibre optic cable over the expensive, fragile, lossy characteristics of coaxial cables. Fibre cable runs thousands of feet long are possible with negligible in-line attenuation, so antennas can be remoted in venues far away f

USA - Backstage Apps has announced the release of its first app in an upcoming series of apps for entertainment professionals. SMBox is a "sleek and sophisticated iOS application" that allows stage managers to create a completely customizable show-timing experience.

SMBox is a feature-rich application that allows users to manage their show timing experience as best suits their show or project. With support for multiple projects, SMBox provides users with the ability to configure timestamps for show start/end times as well as an unlimited number of timers that can each count up, count down or both (to compare elapsed time to target time) and can individually be included/excluded from the total show time. After each recording session, the user's times can be emailed in an editable format.

"The lack of apps for entertainment professionals has been truly disappointi

UK - Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd. has named Damian Hawley director of global marketing and sales. Hawley will manage the merged Marketing and Sales departments for the Focusrite, Novation and RedNet brands worldwide including Focusrite Novation, Inc. (the US based wholly-owned subsidiary).

Both Phil Wagner (president of Focusrite Novation, Inc) and Giles Orford (marketing director) remain in their respective positions and will continue to serve on the Board of Directors while reporting to Damian Hawley.

Dave Froker (Managing Director) comments: "Following a period of strong company performance we have decided to bring Marketing and Sales together as a single organisation to position the business for its next phase of growth."

Damian Hawley, who joined Focusrite in 2004 and became Sales Director in 2009 states: "The Focusrite and Novation brands have seen s

UK - A new version of the Purple Guide, which aims to help organisers deliver successful events safely, has launched this week. The Guide, which was originally published in 1992, is expected by The Events Industry Forum (EIF) to be indispensable to regulators at local authorities, emergency service personnel, and the various contractors and sub-contractors who help make events happen. Like its predecessor, it is also expected to help keep Britain's expertise at events at the forefront on the world stage.

"The original Purple Guide, published by the HSE in the 1990s, had a huge impact in helping to bring a safer and more cohesive approach to event management," says Jim Winship, Secretary of the EIF and who has been co-ordinating the project. "It also helped to put the UK events industry on the map worldwide as the standards set in the Guide rapidly became adopted a

UK - Britannia Row Productions Training is introducing a new way of accessing its professional industry-based training in Live Sound Technology.

People who already work as live sound technicians and do not require a comprehensive training programme, are able to book individual topics as one-day sessions from Britannia Row Productions Training's 12-week Live Sound Technology course. This allows to selectively address gaps in knowledge and skills and provides the opportunity to gain confidence in all aspects of Live Sound Technology.

This new scheme will first be available on the April course offering a schedule of selected topics available between early April and the end of June. Participants booking individual days will join the Live Sound Technology class for those days and will attend sessions comprising of teaching and practical activities with access to relevant equipment

Qatar - The Gallowglass Group has opened a new overseas office - in Qatar. Heading up Gallowglass Middle East is general manager François Perron, previously deputy operations director with GL-Events for the 2012 London Olympics, and before that, general manager with Cirque du Soleil for over 20 years.

François Perron said, "We're delighted to be finally opening our doors in Doha. The Gallowglass Group's UK head office has been establishing commercial links in the Middle East for some time now, and had already delivered one major project in Qatar last year."

At the end of October 2013 Gallowglass supported the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE). Contracted directly by the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) over 40 technical staff, ranging from riggers and stage managers to translators worked on the summit, which was the largest event to be held at the

In Liquidation - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang producer Michael Rose has put his principal production company into liquidation, leaving venues and suppliers, including the Ambassador Theatre Group and the Belgrade Theatre, hundreds of thousands of pounds out of pocket.

The company, Michael Rose Limited, has debts totalling £1.12m owed to 21 creditors, with ATG due the largest sum of £247,500. Entertainment lighting company White Light is owed more than £31,000 and two venues, the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry and Malvern Theatres, have been left around £7,000 and £1,600 out of pocket respectively.

Other creditors include Arena Structures, which is yet to receive its payment of £57,000, PRG Europe, which has been left without £40,000, and Stage Technologies, owed nearly £12,000.

Before The Dawn - Kate Bush has announced s

Germany - Ayrton chose Prolight & Sound as the forum to launch three new products as it continues its mission to develop fixtures that provide lighting designers with different products to expand the possibilities of Light in Action.

The last in this trio of new launches is IntelliPix R which is a modular beam projection panel of 25 independently controllable 4.5° LED emitters, arranged in a 5 x 5 array, which are designed to project graphics and media far into the air.

As a result of combining revolutionary 67mm optics with 15W Osram Ostar RGBW LED emitters, IntelliPix is able to exhibit more power than has ever been imagined, projecting 100 candela per lumen - two and a half times more than that of a 45mm collimator.

Multiple panels can be connected together quickly into a semi-transparent wall to form a giant screen, or placed under glass to create a projection floor

UK - Leading facilities and rental company Presteigne Broadcast Hire has won a contract from BBC Sport to provide its on-location technical resources for its coverage of Formula One motorsport. The equipment, which includes the capabilities for live production and delivery as well as fast turnaround editing, packs into three containers for shipping in cargo aircraft.

The flyaway kit designed by Presteigne Broadcast Hire includes production control facilities to create the unilateral coverage, switching 15 feeds from the host broadcaster with three wireless cameras covering the presenters in the pits and paddock. Live production equipment also includes radio microphones and wireless in-ear monitoring for presenters.

Presteigne Broadcast Hire also provides a technical crew to support the team at each location.

"The big challenge for this project is that the kit has to be

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