UK - Clay Paky has announce the nominations for the 'Knights of Illumination' Lighting Design Awards that are to be awarded in association with the ALD and the STLD at the annual ABTT dinner in London on 11 June 2008.

The awards are being suppored by Clay Paky to recognise the UK's outstanding contribution to live performance and television. The awards are unique in honouring work across such a wide range of music, theatre, opera, dance and television.

Theatre nominees (Dance)

• Lucy Carter for Chroma at the ROH and her work with Random Dance. Her work was remarkable for the quality of light that added so much to the staging.

• Tim Mitchell for Hamlet for the Northern Ballet Theatre. His work was cited for its taste and restraint when so much was going on in the piece.

• Katharine Williams for I am Falling at the Gate theatre fo

UK - Cirrus Research plc, which specialises in the design and development of noise measurement equipment for health and safety applications has launched its Noise in Action Photography Competition. Cirrus is looking for interesting, unusual or imaginative images of its noise measurement instruments in use, and the winner will receive a pair of Sennheiser PCX-350 Noise Cancelling Headphones. The closing date for entries is 29 August.

James Tingay of Cirrus Research explains, "Cirrus equipment is used in so many different sectors, from mining and industry, to clubs and bars, and we are looking to add colour to our promotional material and website with some really exciting images of our products in use."

The entries can include any Cirrus Sound Level Meter or the doseBadge Noise Dosemeter, and must include the product in use. Full competition rules can be found

Germany - The LED-Paneel C60 is the latest addition of Schnick-Schnack-Systems' range of LED Media Systems which is distributed worldwide by MA Lighting. The module features the latest RGB LEDs from leading manufacturer Nichia, combined with Schnick-Schnack-Systems' in-house modulation technology. With a pixel pitch of 50mm, it is design compatible with the LED-Paneel C100 and LED-Band and offers the same features in a more compact and lightweight housing, increasing the flexibility available to designers in the creation of LED features in set, stage and lighting designs.

Used as a backlight, the LED-Paneel C60 requires a distance of just 8cms from the diffusion material being lit, to produce a homogenously illuminated area. Alternatively, it can be used without diffusion, to create an LED matrix - the wide LED beam angle of 120° allowing camera shots to be taken from obliqu

USA - Steve Carson, general manager of Philips Lighting Controls - which includes Vari*Lite, Lightolier Controls, Entertainment Technology, and Strand Lighting - has announced the appointment of Tom Folsom as the general manager of the Strand Lighting division, worldwide. This includes the Strand Lighting operations in Cypress California as well as London and Hong Kong.

"Tom is uniquely qualified for this position. His diverse background and experience as well as his understanding of the entrepreneurial nature of this business make him an excellent choice for this key position," said Carson.

"We have been working quickly since our acquisition of Strand to create the right mix of products and services for the market the past two years. Strand is now positioned to move and establish its position as a world leader in lighting controls. With our recent partnership w

UK - It is thanks to lighting charity Light Relief that freelance production electrician Chris Luscombe was able to survive after a nasty accident left him with a fractured and dislocated ankle and unable to work for more than three months. Now having established an alternative career, as a health and safety trainer for the Safety Pass Alliance/PSA Safety Passport scheme, Luscombe felt it only right to give something back to the charity.

Luscombe has been working with White Light regularly this year, running health-and-safety training days for White Light's staff, freelance contractors used by White Light and anyone else interested. The course covers organising for safety, workplace safety, plant and machinery, noise and health, procedures (including risk assessments) and the environment. Each course concludes with a test that, if passed, leads to the awarding of a Safety Pass A

UK - An Avolites Pearl Expert has been specified and installed to control all lighting in the main room at The Regal, Oxford's new 1000 capacity multi purpose venue.

Technical director Kieran Hayes has been the driving force behind the Regal project over the last three years, which has seen the Grade II listed former cinema, opened in 1927, restored to its original Art-Deco splendour, and enjoying a new lease of life as an entertainment hub. Situated on Oxford's vibrant Cowley Road, the venue is already hosting a variety of dance nights, tours and live bands.

When it came to lighting, Hayes consulted Dave Parry of Most Technical and asked if he could help them with spec'ing and procuring a cost effective lighting rig that would give the requisite quality and dynamics.

Parry suggested that flexible control was a key element in accommodating the Regal's lighting production req

USA - LEDtronics has introduced a new Micro high-power LED flashlight. While continuing the durability of its predecessors, the new Micro FlashLED is more powerful than most LED flashlights on the market today, says the company. It has a one-watt, 80-lumen LED chip that emits over 4,300 end foot-candles (4300cd) of bright Cool White (8000 Kelvin) light.

Micro FlashLED operates on three standard, replaceable, AAA-cell-type alkaline batteries. Since LEDs are 80-90% more energy efficient than incandescent lamps, the unit operates 20 - 30 times longer than the comparable incandescent flashlight, providing up to 96 hours or four days of continuous illumination at a diminishing light output rate. It retains 50% of its light output after one hour of continuous use.

Micro FlashLED features a push-button switch in the back of the unit to operate the LED light. It measures 4.5 inches lo

Belgium / UK - ADB Lighting Motorised WARP automated zoom profile spotlights have been chosen for the £20m refurbishment of The Spa Bridlington in East Yorkshire, UK, which reopens this month. The refurbishment, designed to transform the 112-year building into a fully equipped multi-purpose live performance venue, includes completely new lighting and audio systems.

Alongside the Motorised WARP 12-30° 800W fixtures deployed in the Edwardian Spa Theatre is a large number of ADB F101 1.2kW fresnels, installed in both the Spa Theatre and the 1700 capacity (theatre style) 1930s Art Deco Royal Hall. All the fixtures were supplied by LSI Projects.

The historic venue will host its first show on May 31 with a sold-out gig by Yorkshire band The Pigeon Detectives, followed by a Raymond Gubbay Classical Gala on June 1, a Business Week Celebration Dinner on June 3 hosted by cele

UK - For the Dancing on Ice 2008 tour, LD Durham Marenghi used 46 Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1200 and 20 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300, the new moving light beam launched this year.

Marenghi comments: "The main spectacular element of the television show, and likewise the tour, is the projection of the light onto the ice, even if the surface of the ice is four times larger on tour. There are five television cameras which film the presenters, the judges, the skaters and the 10,000 spectators at the ice rink."

Marenghi says he used Alpha Beam 300 lights mainly to light the perimeter of the rink, as the 'VIP' skaters are not experts and need to be able to see the edge of the skating area clearly during their performance. "The Alpha Beam 300 are ACL type projectors and provide incredible light. Moreover, they proved to be totally reliable and very practical for intens

Another busy news week has seen Sound Technology plc confirming its acquisition of Harman Professional Group's distribution business in the UK and Ireland from Harman International Industries, Inc. The agreement transfers to Sound Technology a strong team of sales professionals and exclusive distribution rights for JBL Professional, Crown, Soundcraft, AKG, dbx, BSS Audio and Lexicon products in the UK and Ireland.

Clay Paky has announced the nominations for the 'Knights of Illumination' Lighting Design Awards that are to be awarded in association with the ALD and the STLD at the annual ABTT dinner in London on 11 June 2008. The awards are being supported by Clay Paky to recognise the UK's outstanding contribution to live performance and television. The awards are unique in honouring work across such a wide range of music, theatre, opera, dance and television.

On the personnel front,

UK - Lighting designer Mark Cunniffe utilised 24 of i-Pix brand new BB7 fixtures - a seven cell high power homogenized 10 degree RGB wash light using a custom Lamina light engine - to light the portico and columns of the main entrance to St Paul's Cathedral, London for the recent City Salute event.

With only six 13 Amp power outlets available to drive architectural lighting for the whole Cathedral exterior - due to cabling issues preventing the use of generators - Cunniffe's only option was to use LED lightsources. This BB7 fixture consumes just 210 Watts at 240 volts, and proved ideal for the task.

The 24 units were floor mounted, and illuminated the upper and lower Portico columns of the Cathedral's main façade. Cunniffe also used a variety of other LED fixtures for the project which involved highlighting St Paul's full entrance facade, commenting that the BB7 was &q

South Africa - Robe's StageQube 324 LED panels were a prominent visual feature onstage at the 2008 South African Music Awards (SAMAs), staged at the Sun City Superbowl and broadcast live on SABC1.

The event celebrates the best of South Africa's hugely diverse music culture, and this year, the 14th SAMAs featured 64 categories and was watched by over three million TV viewers.

The 24 StageQubes were supplied by Mark Gaylard of MGG, the first rental company in South Africa to invest in the medium resolution Robe LED panels. The lighting design - which also included Robe moving lights - was created by Robert Hoey, and the stage design featured additional low and high resolution LED surfaces and plasma screen columns. David Hossey of Strike Productions was production manager.

The StageQubes were placed centre stage beneath the main onstage hang of LED screen, mounted on two custo

The Netherlands - Highlite International BV and SGM technology for Lighting have signed an agreement for the exclusive distribution of SGM in the BeNeLux. (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg) regions.

SGM has a wide range of professional products, including moving head fixtures, scanners, follow spots, colour-changers, lighting control consoles, dimmers, strobe lights and smoke machines.

SGM's VP of sales Franco Natalisays: "The synergy between our two companies will result in an excellent partnership which offers the customers and users of SGM good and fast service as well fast deliveries."

Mr de la Haige, founder and president of Highlite International BV says: "Highlite will give full support to SGM and their products. We are convinced that together we can offer an excellent product range to the Benelux market.

(Jim Evans)

Hungary - Budapest's latest fashionable night hotspot, Tabu features a substantial Anolis LED installation and Robe moving lights on the dancefloor, which have been supplied directly to the club's owners by locally-based lighting design and supply company Colossal.

The eye-catching interior was designed by Szabolcs Kövesi who also took an active interest in the LED lighting scheme, on which he worked with Colossal's Csanadi Csaba. Csaba had been involved with the club since its early planning stages and the bespoke LED design was optimised to suit the interior.

22 pieces of Anolis ArcLine RGB (a combination of Arcline 12, 24 and 36 units) have been installed on the walls and in the bars to give the club a special look and feel. Frosted glass is used throughout Tabu to maximise the brightness and washing potential of the lighting. The bar fronts all have special patterns which

UK - Stagecraft Theatre Services (STS), one of the country's leading experts in stage, sound and lighting installers, has welcomed new project manager Kevin Hughes to its growing Salisbury-based team. Hughes, who has worked in the industry for 20 years, has project managed audio and visual installations at events and venues throughout the country, including commissioning the sound system at the much-talked-about O2.

"2008 has been an exceptionally busy year for STS so far and we are very pleased to welcome Kevin to our team," said sales director Martin Palmer. "Kevin brings with him a wide-range of experience and equipment knowledge, which will be of great benefit to schools, theatres and performance venues."

Originally an expert in sound system installation and commissioning, Kevin now has a breadth of expertise covering sound, video, lighting and stage ma

UK - Leeds-based High Technology Lighting is trialling new energy-saving eco-friendly lighting in partnership with supermarket group Asda.

The Middleton Grove lighting design specialist has installed one of the first pole-mounted external Symmetric luminaire LED lighting systems in the UK at Asda's Leeds city centre head office car park.

Results will be monitored closely and compared against Asda's energy usage and maintenance costs on its existing conventional lighting system. With output reduced from 460w to 257w, the estimated energy saving alone is 45%.

Graham Kemp, joint managing director of High Technology Lighting, said: "The system offers Asda the winning combination of reduced energy consumption, virtually maintenance-free ownership and high quality controlled light distribution.

"Our LED lighting solution also offers a user-friendly white light, which

USA - High End Systems has announced the release of version 2.5.0 software for Wholehog control systems including the Wholehog 3, Road Hog Full Boar, Hog iPC, Road Hog and Hog 3PC.

Version 2.5.0 provides Road Hog console owners with the ability to add a third monitor through the use of a Iogear brand USB to VGA adapter. The adapters are available worldwide from computer stores or directly from HES dealers.

"We are pleased to expand the functionality of the Road Hog console in a simple and low-cost manner," says Brad Schiller, HES director of control systems development. "The Iogear device allows users to easily add a single external monitor or Road Hog Playback Wing."

Also included in this release are Showpix libraries, several other features, an updated user manual and bug fixes. Users can download the software and further release information from www.fl

UK - Light Tape UK Ltd is the exclusive distributor, in the UK and Ireland, of Light Tape and associated products including, Light Tape Animated Sign, manufactured by Electro-LuminX Inc.

"The Light Tape, ground breaking electroluminescent lighting solution, is a unique wafer thin light bulb which is set to revolutionize the use of light in Entertainment, Display, Exhibition, Signage, Safety, Sport, Point of sale advertising and architecture, to name but a few areas of application," say the company.

Light Tape is similar to neon but its flat, uniform appearance gives an ultra modern twist to the more traditional form of decorative lighting solutions used in Night Clubs, Clubs and Bars. It offers versatility of application as it is not bulky and so can be fitted just about anywhere providing the right kind of lighting to compliment whatever mood is required, according

UK - Jands Vista T2 consoles helped worshippers celebrate Easter at Europe's largest all-night worship event, attended by 30,000 people at London's ExCel, and a separate event at Wembley Arena.

Worshippers packed out ExCel's main hall for Festival of Life, an event supported by over 150 churches in the UK.

Reading-based production company SFL Group provided the complete technical solution and production management for both events. This included over 120 speakers of d&b audiotechnic with Yamaha digital control surfaces, Barco projection and control systems, acoustic draping and stage lighting.

Brighton-based Tamplins Stage Lighting was engaged by SFL to provide the stage lighting element.

Lighting designer Sam Tamplin comments: "Last year I was looking for a more powerful desk to handle our growing show control needs and entered a competition to win a day's free

Belgium - Candela and Ampco Belgium, sister companies in the Ampco Flashlight Group, have completed a large-scale integrated lighting, video and audio installation at the Royal Bowl complex in the centre of Louvain-la-Neuve, southeast of Brussels.

Created by owner Phillippe Baeijens and Architects 4A, and with visual design by Luc Peumans' Painting With Light, the Royal Bowl was designed to combine a bowling alley with a restaurant and dance area. In the words of Candela project manager Geert Custers, "They created a bowling venue of a type never seen before in Belgium - a place where people could enjoy a complete night out."

The installation covers the venue's bowling lanes, restaurant, bars and dance floor with an integrated system that puts lighting, audio and video under the control of an E:cue system, commanded by a pair of ELO touch screens, programmed by Custe

USA - Four grandMA consoles comprise the heart of lighting and video control for the new Heart of the City tour co-headlined by Grammy Award winners Jay-Z and Mary J Blige and playing dates across North America.

"Flexibility and reliability are what make the grandMA control system perfect for us," reports Artfag, LLC's Patrick Dierson, the lighting director for both artists. "We have both main and full-tracking backup consoles for lighting and video.The lighting consoles are networked into a PRG Series 400 system, which provides both power and data distribution for the show. A laptop in the dimmer pit runs grandMA onPC software to help facilitate everyday system checks before the FOH consoles are brought online."

(Jim Evans)

USA - Pop-rock band The Jonas Brothers took grandMA along on their most recent tour. Band kicked off their Look Me In The Eyes tour in Tucson. They will be back in the spotlight with the Burning Up summer tour, which commences 4 July in Toronto.

"The Jonas Brothers' Look Me In The Eyes tour started as a theatre tour then blew up and became a sold-out arena tour," notes John LaBriola who served as the tour's lighting director and programmer as well as lighting, set and video designer. "Initially there was going to be a modest amount of video and LEDs and not many other lights, then the show got bigger and added movers and additional LED panels.

"The goal was to make it video-heavy with a big, industrial look. When you look at the stage the main thing you see are the LED walls." LaBriola tapped two grandMAs for lighting and video con

USA - The 2007 GE Edison Award was presented to Enrique Peiniger and Jean Sundin of Office for Visual Interaction (OVI), based in New York, for lighting the United States Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. The personalised Steuben crystal award was presented by GE Consumer & Industrial at a gala reception at Bellagio in Las Vegas.

The GE Edison Award competition, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, is open to those lighting professionals who creatively employ significant use of GE light sources (lamps and/or LEDs) in a lighting design project completed during the previous calendar year.

Situated on a promontory overlooking the Pentagon, the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, the Air Force Memorial takes its place among the capital city's key monuments. Lighting is critical in establishing the nighttime identity of each of these structures. Soaring t

UK - A safety passport scheme, aimed at reducing accidents in the live entertainment industry, has grown rapidly in its first year.

"The first few months of 2008 saw the Live Event safety passport grow from a good idea to a scheme that is gaining acceptance across the whole back-stage production area," said Andy Lenthall, general manager of the Production Services Association which represents companies and contractors in the live entertainment industry.

"With safety passport holders now numbering 1,000, and candidates spread across all disciplines at all levels, the PSA is confident that both the concept and course content deliver real benefits in terms of safety awareness."

Lenthall said that many major suppliers were now delivering safety passport courses to their in-house staff, with many insisting that sub-contractors should also hold safety passports

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