South Africa - The Fugard Theatre, with performances by the Isango Portobello theatre company, opened in the District Six area in Cape Town on 12 February 2010. The theatre has been named in honour of Athol Fugard in a rare example of a theatre being named after someone in their lifetime. The Train Driver, written and directed by Athol Fugard, had its opening night at The Fugard on 24 March, and is being met by sell-out houses and standing ovations.

Mannie Manim, executive director at The Fugard and formerly the CEO at the Baxter Theatre, says that the building construction took just a week beyond six months to complete, where three buildings were made into one unit. "It was an enormous labour but we had a fantastic building team," said Mannie.

Thanks to UK-based producer Eric Abraham, who established Isango Portobello in 2006, The Fugard Theatre is equipped w

Ireland - Located in the 18th century Cornmarket House in central Wexford, in the south-east corner of the Republic of Ireland, Wexford Arts Centre has been providing a wide range of contemporary art and entertainment for locals and visitors since 1974. Recently, the 120-seat main auditorium had a major technical refit, at the heart of which is a Yamaha LS9-32 mixing console.

The new system was designed by Mick O'Gorman of Dublin-based Mosco Sound Design and Recording, working closely with the venue's technical and facilities manager Ollie Dempsey.

"The existing system we had was becoming unreliable, and I spent half my life patching up and adding on to meet the increasing demands of artists," says Dempsey. "It was also a bit of a nightmare for anyone who was not 100% familiar with sound. They could operate the old mixing console, but the slightest problem would

Estonia - An Allen & Heath iDR digital audio distribution system was recently installed in the new Nokia Concert Hall in the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Declared the most modern concert hall in Northern Europe, the venue has the facilities to host conferences for more than 1,800 international delegates, as well as high-profile concerts and shows.

Purchased through Allen & Heath's distributor, Music Center Pro, installer Eventech managed the complete sound and light installation project, selecting an iDR system to manage audio distribution, control and zoning across the venue's many areas surrounding the concert hall, including foyers, artist rooms, backstage and stage managers' area.

The system comprised an iDR-8 16x16 matrix mixer, an iDR-in and an iDR-out expander unit, and an iDR-switch to enable the connection of external equipment, such as room dividers and relays. In addi

USA - Charlotte's Knight Theatre has been outfitted with a sound system that includes Renkus-Heinz's PNX102LA line arrays, along with centre clusters of STX4-Series loudspeakers.

Part of the newly-completed Wells Fargo Cultural Campus that also houses the 55-story Duke Energy Centre, the Mint Museum and the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the 1200-seat Knight Theatre is home to the North Carolina Dance Theatre, the Charlotte Symphony, and a wide variety of music, comedy and touring productions.

The diverse roster of performances was one reason for the selection of the Renkus-Heinz systems, says project manager Robert Delaney of Raleigh-based Strategic Connections. "The Knight Theatre is a very well designed space, with diffusers that can be rearranged to adapt its acoustics to different types of program material," he explains. "To make the most of this flexibilit

USA - Founded in 1910, Radford University celebrates its centennial anniversary this year as one of the state's most vibrant and well-respected colleges. The school's Highlanders basketball team boasts an enviable Division I NCAA record, and the team's potential NBA first-round draft pick has sparked national and local attention, easily filling the 5,000-seat Dedmon Centre.

When it opened its doors in 1981, the Dedmon Center was among the first venues in the United States to boast a then-futuristic air-supported roof. The Centre recently underwent a major renovation that included a new steel-reinforced roof, new basketball court, new LED video scoreboards and broadcast capabilities, and an audio system utilising Community Professional Loudspeakers' Solutions Series loudspeakers.

"It's a great place to see a game, but the sound system was always something of an afterthough

Ireland - The Convention Centre Dublin (The CCD) has selected Martin Professional as its visual solutions provider. The CCD has purchased a selection of industry leading moving lights from Martin Professional's range, which will be installed throughout the new Dublin-based venue as it prepares to open for business in September 2010.

"As a world-class conference facility, we want to ensure that we use only the best products and services. So when it came to choosing a partner for our mobile lighting needs, we went straight to the best in the industry - Martin Professional - who have an outstanding track record in providing quality and reliable lighting to the entire events industry," said Lee Forde, head of technical at The Convention Centre Dublin.

"In keeping with our goal of running The CCD as a sustainable business, we are delighted to be able to use Martin Pr

UK - A multi-million pound community investment programme by Scotland's Perth and Kinross Council has seen the creation of several Community Campuses, each of which incorporates schools and a wide range of community facilities. A key aspect of each development is a high specification Yamaha audio system, which combines quality sound with ease of use.

At the heart of each Community Campus is a new school (in most cases more than one), but each also has facilities for much wider community use. Thus, the assembly hall of each school is also designed for use as a community cinema, theatre, live music venue and space for a range of other events. To facilitate this multi-purpose use, a Yamaha system has been installed at North Inch (Perth), Loch Leven (Kinross) and Strathearn (Crieff) Community Campuses, with Breadalbane (Aberfeldy) due for completion later this year.

Designed and s

UK - Blackburn-based lighting rental company HSL supplied moving lights, LED fixtures, follow spots and generics for Ant & Dec's new Push The Button family challenge games show.

The first six-part series, produced by independent company Gallowgate, has just finished and proved a prime time Saturday night hit for ITV. Lighting designer was Tom Kinane, with whom HSL has worked on many previous projects. The programme was directed by Nikki Parsons and recorded at Pinewood Studios' S-Stage. HSL's project manager was Sean McGlone.

McGlone comments, "It's always good to work with Tom. His shows are imaginative and interestingly lit, he chooses his lighting instruments judiciously and gets the very best out of all them."

The set was designed by Dominic Tolfts. It was very wide with a series of gently curved lycra fins which also served as light-boxes around the sid

UK Draping specialists Cover It Up was engaged by production company Partytechture to diligently black out 40 large windows at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre, a Grade 1 Listed Building that was utilised to stage one element of the 2010 SKOLL World Summit event.

The Sheldonian was built in 1664-68 for the University of Oxford, based on a design by Sir Christopher Wren. It is acknowledged as significantly important in terms of the classical influence it had upon other Oxford buildings, and as well as being a functional space for the University, it's also used for music recitals and other events and is available for private hires.

Cover It Up's Elliot Stennett says, "It's a great tribute to the skills and dexterity of our crew to be asked back for the third year to help prepare this very special building for the conference section of the event. It takes a good deal of patience

Satisfying Statistics - Music sales in the UK have grown for the first time in six years, according to music industry body the British Phonographic Institute (BPI). Revenue increased by 1.4%, bringing the total income for 2009 to £928.8m. Download sales provided the shot in the arm, rising by more than 50% to earn £154m, compared with £101.5m in 2008. "It's encouraging to see industry revenues stabilise and even show modest growth in 2009," said BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor. But he warned the market was still "constrained by competition from illegal downloads".

Sales of CD albums continued to fall in 2009, dropping by 6.1%. Digital income now represents over 20% of overall recorded music revenues, taking into account earnings from online downloads alongside mobile, subscriptions and advertising-supported services. An unprecedented 4.22 m

UK - PLASA Events confirms that PLASA 2010 is now over 75% sold - almost five months ahead of the show at Earls Court from 12-15 September. The latest figure coincides with the opening of its regional Northern show, PLASA Focus: Leeds 2010, taking place at the Royal Armouries today and tomorrow, which itself sold out last December and has over 2700 visitors registered to attend - some 20% increase on last year's show.

A key development for PLASA 2010 has been the enthusiastic return of major brands in both the pro audio and AV sectors, with a marked increase in the number of pro audio companies committing to stands.

One such company is Electro-Voice, exhibiting again after a one-year absence. Sean Maxwell, sales director at Shuttlesound, commented, "It's fantastic to be returning to the PLASA Show, a major international event where we see a huge number of our distributors

Poland - The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw has had its sixth floor theatre renovated with the help of ETC equipment. The building, which was a gift to the people of Poland from Russia 50 years ago, includes a number of theatres, museums and offices, and was for two years the tallest building in Europe.

ETC's Polish distributor Prolight installed a Congo jr control desk and 144 channels of SmartPack dimming in the theatre, which, according to its founder and director, Micha? ?ebrowski, promises to be a 'theatre without exclusion'. Unusually for Poland, the theatre is privately owned and run - in this case, its founder is also a famous Polish actor.

Prolight's sales director Rados?aw Zacheja says, "Congo is the most popular control desk in Poland, not just because it is easy to learn and use, but also because we translated the interface into Polish, making it the

Russia - Conventional and LED moving heads from PR Lighting have been installed in a restaurant / live entertainment venue in Siberia. Situated in Irkutsk city, Broadway has been equipped with 12 XL250M moving heads and six XLED590 wash lights.

The fixtures are truss mounted over the stage and dancefloor in this privately owned, 110-capacity venue to meet a design by Dmitri Volovik, Broadway's technical director.

PR Lighting heads were chosen for their reliability, since they would be operating seven days a week, and the fact that they met all the requirements to enrich a wide range of shows.

According to distributor Rostislav Serishev of Asia Trade Company the client liked their price/quality ratio and was impressed by the excellent flood effect of the XLED590 - which provides an extremely powerful wash under the command of a Martin Pro Light Jockey.

The distributors firs

UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors of Shure microphones and audio electronics in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman have supplied additional systems of the Shure UHF-R microphone system to Almoe Rentals based in Dubai.

To transmit feeds wirelessly during the weekly events taking place at the Meydan horse racetrack the company used the combination of receivers and transmitters from the UHF-R series. Together with additional directional paddle antennas, the technical team transmitted feeds over a range of 300m between the grand stand area and the makeshift towers that were housing the PA system beside the large LED screen.

"Almoe Rentals have been a regular user of Shure wireless systems over the years," commented Richie Hiranandani, marketing manager. "The additional UHF-R systems purchased together with the Wireless Wor

South Africa - Gearhouse South Africa supplied full technical production - including lighting, sound, rigging, AV, stage, set - and crew for the high profile 2010 KORA All Africa Music Awards staged at the Palais de Sport in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa.

KORA Awards is the manifestation of an all-encompassing vision for Africa of the executive producer for the event, Ernest Adjovi and his dedication to overcoming the logistical demands of bringing a show of this scale to Burkina Faso.

It was the first time that the colourful K event had been staged outside South Africa. The show was directed for TV by Clive Morris and distributed via CFI (Canal France International) across Africa, France and parts of the US via 100 TV channels, as well as being enjoyed live by 3000 guests. David Bloch was stage director.

The Gearhouse team of 28 was project managed by Eyal Y

Denmark - L-Acoustics' Danish distributor Moto Audio Sales has extended the system it installed into the Danmarks Radio Concert Hall in Copenhagen, adapting the venue for other uses including rock concerts.

Moto Audio Sales, which has worked with DR on sound design for the concert hall since 2004, initially delivered and installed an L-Acoustics announcement system of Kudo line source and 12XT and 115XT HiQ coaxial speakers, as the venue was designed first and foremost for acoustic classical music. After completion of the concert hall, it became clear that there was a requirement to stage other styles of musical events. Last autumn, Moto Audio Sales was asked to redesign and extend the PA system to make it suitable for amplified music.

The new speaker system consists of six Kudo large format and 32 Kiva ultra compact line source cabinets with 12 Kilo low frequency extension bo

UK - Manchester-based DBN Lighting supplied an innovative lighting artwork, equipment and control for the week long opening event of the redeveloped People's History Museum in the heart of the city.

The £12.5m project includes the refurbishment of the existing Pump House and the construction of a four storey extension alongside it, with old and new buildings joined together by a spectacular glass walkway.

Event producers Walk The Plank commissioned DBN's Stephen Page to produce the concept and the work, which involved more than 80 individual LED lighting fixtures. These were strategically positioned in various locations inside the building, to be viewed externally by the public via a patchwork of windows on the river side of the building.

Walk the Plank completed the launch week's visual picture with the installation of a flame jet system on top of the roof, which work

UK - Working closely with renowned lighting designer, Liz Berry, students from Rose Bruford College alongside Hawthorn, tested to their limits some new lighting fixtures and designs which proved to be very illuminating. Liz Berry advised and encouraged the BA Lighting Design students to create innovative lighting infrastructures using the GLP Impressions alongside Alpha Spot 300s controlled via an Avolites Pearl Tiger. The bands commented on how the lighting really supplemented their own performances and were stunned by the punchy effects, and the lighting students found the equipment to be flexible and fun to work with.

Liz Berry and the students were delighted with this new collaboration. "The students were very surprised at the brightness of both the fixtures and learned a lot from using them in their shows," says Berry. "They were especially impressed by the I

Australia - Sydney-based Dubology Studios has recently unveiled the DubMobile, a mobile facility featuring a 128 channel DiGiCo DS-00 digital console with two EX-00 fader expansion modules, DiGiRack and MiNi-DiGiRack, with up to 288 tracks of multitrack recording on to ProTools HD, Steinberg Nuendo and Motu Digital Performer.

Developed in conjunction with Sony Australia, Dubology owner Ivan Ordenes has created a comprehensive facility in a vehicle measuring just 5.8m long by 2.8m high, making it suitable to work in the most restricted of spaces.

"The DubMobile was the culmination of a long term plan to create a multi-purpose mobile control room and recording rig," says Ordenes who has worked with top bands including Oasis and Metallica. "We chose the DS-00 for its power and performance to handle complicated audio situations.

"Another advantage is that DiG

USA - A new Anolis LED landscape lighting project has been completed in the newly renovated Town Point Park in the heart of the city of Norfolk, Virginia.

The 2.8 acre waterfront park was recently regenerated by the City of Norfolk in a project aimed at enhancing the experience of visitors and residents choosing to spend their leisure time downtown. Norfolk is replete with a selection of restaurants, vibrant night life, aesthetically appealing residential and commercial buildings, historical landmarks and museums, with Town Point Park right at its core.

It is located right in Chesapeake Bay on the Elizabeth River with panoramic views of the surrounding cities, and is also the home of frequent festivals, events and concerts produced by the city's busy event planning organisation, Norfolk FestEvents.

The City of Norfolk called in Blue Steel Lighting Design from Virginia

UAE - The Ratsky in Dubai's Excelsior Creek recently installed a sound system from Dynacord.

Liberty Acoustics was entrusted with the task of performing the installation. Supported by Dynacord's's partners in the region, AVL, the team from Liberty Acoustics installed, for the first time in any Dubai club, a fully digital control platform. Its nerve centre is a P 64 Digital Audio Matrix Manager.

This network-capable and freely configurable audio system controller offers not only the live bands but also the DJs making guest appearances in the club a wide range of possibilities: the entire audio system is configurable, remote controlled and also supervised remotely by means of the IRIS-Net software. "It's the P 64 and IRIS-Net that does all the work in the club," says Liberty Acoustics MD Mark Legaspi. "The DSP system spares those responsible a great deal of time a

USA - When Just George's, the sports bar connected to the Captain George's Seafood Restaurant in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, needed a way to let each booth control its own A/V content, they turned to Virginia Beach-based Fidelity Sound Reinforcement. Fidelity selected solutions from Xantech Corporation.

Mike Phillips, project manager and audio engineer at Fidelity, which did the system design and integration at the sports bar, chose the Xantech LM110RP Smartpad3 Single Gang Keypad Controller to enable the system to allow patrons at each booth in the lounge to control their own A/V content. In addition, the Xantech CSPLCD64 Commercial Touchscreen Display was also integrated into the system.

Fidelity Sound Reinforcement installed a dozen LM110 push-button controllers in the lounge, one at every booth. The LM110 offers those seated in the booth the ability to call up any ch

USA - Nominations open 1 May 2010 for the third annual ESTA Rock Our World Awards, which recognise groundbreaking achievement by ESTA Members in new products, product applications, or projects. These awards were created to acknowledge the genius of both the creator of technology and the designer or integrator who applies the technology in a real world environment.

Contestants for the 2009 awards showcased a wide variety of new products and product applications from the simplest problem solver to complex uses of technology that extended the boundaries of the entertainment technology field. Project nominations showcased everything from the lighting of the Grand Mosque to the staging of the Democratic National Convention and highlighted the collaborative nature of our industry.

Nominations may be made by anyone in the industry, but an ESTA member must be involved as the de

UK - London post production house De Lane Lea has revealed details of its newly refurbished and redesigned facilities. The whole building has undergone a major refit following a devastating fire in July 2009 and re-opens soon.

Refurbished and modernised, the facility consists of Mixing Studios One, Two and Three, Studio Four an ADR studio, Studio Five, the TV Mixing Studio and Studio Six which is another ADR Studio.

At the heart of the facility is the flagship Studio One. Originally designed by Munro Acoustics, the Munro team as re-called after the fire to re-design and re-fit the facility.

Munro Acoustics director Andy Munro says, "Although the circumstances were unfortunate, this has been a great opportunity to bring the largest mixing theatre in Soho up to the highest standards with the acoustic modifications resulting in a tighter, more focused sound. This is one of

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