UK - Northern Light has recently placed a large order with entertainment lighting manufacturer ETC, totalling more than a quarter of a million pounds.

The £286K order incorporates a wide variety of equipment including Ion, Eos and Element control desks, Source Four Profile, Source Four Junior, PARnel, and PAR luminaires, control accessories and Sensor and Unison Paradigm dimming. These products will be deployed across several of Northern Light's ongoing installation projects.

Erik Larsen, ETC's market manager for Europe, comments, "ETC has worked with the Northern Light team on many high profile projects over the past 10 years and we look forward to the next 10. Receiving this most recent order is a positive indicator that working together will continue to bear fruit."

Colin Cuthbert, managing director of Northern Light, adds, "Taking into account the co

USA - POET Theatricals designs and produces the shows on the Celebrity Solstice class of vessels. Their creative director, Michael McPherson, features Martin LC Series LED panels in the show Edge on the cruise ship Celebrity Eclipse.

McPherson comments, "I like Martin products and I have used them for years. We use them in all of our shows actually. Martin panels are robust and built well, so for the guys who have to load them in and out, they hold up well."

The Eclipse is the third new vessel in this line of ships, following the Solstice and the Equinox. POET is designing and producing the next three shows on the new cruise ship, the Celebrity Silhouette, which is set to launch in 2011. McPherson says, "I'll use them on the next ship too because they worked out so well."

Martin's LC Series is a semi-transparent, modular system of LED panels, suita

USA - After five years of restoration, modernisation and seismic retrofitting, the historic Rotunda building of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum in July 2010 reopened with a new face and a whole new set of lighting - decorative LED bulbs supplied by Torrance, California-based LEDtronics.

Renovation of the 97-year-old Beaux Arts-inspired building was part of a multi-phase, $107m project that included the modernisation of the electrical system to support multimedia presentations and events, improve climate control and enhance exhibition lighting in an energy-efficient manner. Modernising of the lighting system involved a retrofit from incandescent light fixtures with custom-manufactured LED systems without compromising the historical integrity of the original fixtures, notably in the Rotunda.

LEDtronics provided 90 5-watt PAR38-180 Series bulbs and 160 1-watt DEC-G2

Europe - GLP 120 RZ impression zooms were the LED moving lights chosen by LD Andy Hurst for Faithless's European arena tour at the end of last year. They were selected specifically to deliver the fast moving impact of a digital club environment on stage. The concept was a fitting one, since the band's sixth album - celebrating 15 years of the Maxi Jazz / Sister Bliss collaboration - is called The Dance.

Hurst selected a mixture of conventional and LED washes - detailing 68 of the impression zooms, mounted both on the main V truss and custom made floor towers (at stage left and right), for the chase and movement elements.

"Over the last couple of years I've done a lot of dance shows with the likes of The Prodigy and the advantage of LED is the speed of it," says Hurst. "If you're doing fast shutter chases through lamps, with LED there's no stutter as there

USA - Barco has announced that its three-chip DLP projection technologies will be used throughout the expanded and renovated Museum of the Moving Image (Astoria, New York) when it reopens later this week. Seventeen Barco projectors will be used in high-profile spaces including a 50ft long seamless projection wall in the lobby, the new Video Screening Amphitheatre, a new 68-seat screening room, and in the inaugural exhibition Real Virtuality.

The exhibition's six experiments in art and technology, including a commissioned work by the Flemish collective Workspace Unlimited titled Realtime Unreal, utilise 10 RLM-W6 projectors in a variety of installations, two of which are stereoscopic. These installations employ video game engines, motion- and position-tracking, and sophisticated image processing to create simulated worlds that extend, augment, or disrupt the physica

UK - ETC dealer Northern Light has recently finished a technical installation at the newly refurbished and renamed K College in Tonbridge, Kent (formerly West Kent College).The college is undergoing an £86m regeneration project in which it is modernising its facilities and building a flagship college in the south east of England. One of the first new buildings to be built includes a multi-use performing arts facility, specified by Arup Theatre Consulting installed by Northern Light with loose equipment supplied by Stage Electrics.Steve Myers, project manager for Northern Light, says, "Northern Light has a long history of both working with Arup Theatre Consulting and of carrying out technical fit-outs in educational establishments - we completed more than 1,000 installations in schools, colleges and universities. ETC dimming and control systems work extremely well in a f

UK - Hundreds of children and their families enjoyed a spectacular light show and a beautifully lit sponsored walk around Edinburgh's West Princes Street gardens thanks to the imagination and ingenuity of Black Light's Events Team. The Glow in the Park event took place at the end of October 2010. As part of Light Relief Week 2010, it was organized to raise much-needed funds for the Royal Blind charity, whilst also highlighting some of the difficulties faced on a daily basis by blind and disabled people.

"We put up a full production rig at the park's Ross Bandstand for a 10-minute programmed light and music show," says Black Light's events manager, Stephen Reid, who explains that the whole system had previously been set up in Black Light's warehouse to do a full 'plot' of all lighting cues and to ensure a perfect show.

Reid also explains that, in order to turn

USA - On the heels of the retired Wybron Mobile Showroom's successful 15-month tour comes the launch of the Wybron Mobile Light Lab, which will begin its Visuality 2011 Tour in February with over 100 events in the US.

The Wybron Mobile Light Lab is a 48ft pop-out-equipped trailer that features all of Wybron's leading products. Wybron president Keny Whitright had it custom-built after proving the popularity of the company's Mobile Showroom, which travelled the country in a rental trailer from 2009 through 2010.

Whitright chose a larger vehicle and tailored it to the feedback collected from visitors to the Mobile Showroom. He also decided to allow visitors to take the helm of their Mobile Light Lab experience.

Upon arriving at a host dealer, visitors will enter the Mobile Light Lab's reception area. There they'll be able to view the day's schedule, which will include ed

California Calling - NAMM returns to Anaheim this week with the organisers and exhibitors in buoyant mood despite the continuing fragile nature of the world economy. Alongside the many musical instrument offerings will be a healthy quota of pro audio exhibitors, covering live sound, the fixed installation sector and recording. Some significant new product launches are promised, while the annual TEC Awards have been revamped and the educational programme extended.

The education session schedule for this year's Hands-On Training (H.O.T) Zone offers "the broadest educational experience for professionals in the recording, live sound, DJ, house of worship, commercial systems integrators, and stage and lighting industries in the history of the show".

The H.O.T. Zone will offer attendees free one-hour classes on more than 75 educational topics over four days, including topi

Saudi Arabia - The annual Eid Al-Fitr Festival is the three-day Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

In Riyadh, Samir El-Wesemy's company, EvenTech, staged a major outdoor event at the Regime Palace District, sponsored by the Supreme Authority for Riyadh Development and attended (and officially opened) by HRH Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz. The event on all three days featured traditional shows from Saudi teams that represented all the cities in the Kingdom - and included children's shows with puppets.

EvenTech conceived the initial designs and developed the technical infrastructure, installing and providing all the event equipment such as projectors, screens, moving head lighting, trusses, staging, decoration and cinematography.

They fielded three Christie HD12K 1080HD 12,000 ANSI lumens DLP three-chip projectors from their inventor

USA - The new Wybron Mobile Light Lab will kick off its Visuality 2011 Tour in February with events in Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Arizona.

The Mobile Light Lab's debut event will occur at Barbizon Light of the Rockies in Denver, Colo., on 7 February. It will then set up shop at PRG Denver on 8 February before heading west to Salt Lake City, Utah, for an 11 February event at Oasis Stage Werks.

Next, it's off to visit PRG Las Vegas, 4Wall Entertainment and Advanced Entertainment in Las Vegas, for events on 14, 15 and 16 February respectively. The Mobile Light Lab will then venture farther south to Arizona for events at AV Concepts in Tempe on 17 February and Clearwing Phoenix on 18 February.

The Wybron Mobile Light Lab will host events at dealers in Washington, Oregon and Northern California in March.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Rosco has expanded its UK Sales force with the appointment of Laurie Giraudeau as sales executive. Giraudeau has experience within the entertainment industry having previously worked as marketing manager for trussing and staging manufacturer Litestructures.

Paul de Ville, senior sales manager comments, "I am delighted that Laurie agreed to come and work with us and help take advantage of the opportunities at this exciting time for us at Rosco. With many new products and markets opening up the timing could not have been better, and I wish her well with her appointment."

(Jim Evans)

USA - Chauvet has added two members to the COLORado line of products, COLORado Range IP and COLORado Ridge IP.

Both indoor/outdoor wash lights feature RGBWA colour mixing. The use of red, green, blue, white and amber LEDs offer more colour mixing and better colour rendering. Additionally, both feature five distinct dimming curves, an ingress protection rating of IP66, a pressure-equalizing Gore valve, colour temperature presets from 3,200 K to 10,000 K, built-in automated programmes, and a durable, heat-dissipating housing. They are designedfor theatres, outdoor productions and festivals and cover anything from a cyc to an entire stage with just one fixture, says the company.

The products differ in the amount of LEDs and the lenses featured in each fixture. COLORado Range IP has a total of 180 5W, RGBWA LEDs, two independently adjustable panels, and 15- and 30-degree lenses in

USA - Lighting Programmer Seth Robinson selected the Martin M1 console to control the concert and television lighting for Farm Aid, the annual benefit that supports and educates people about the importance of family farm centered agriculture. Lighting design for the event was by Stan Crocker with Bandit Lites again supporting as lighting vendor.

"I started using Martin consoles in 2004 with Sting and have been using them ever since," Robinson commented. "I have programmed nearly every modern lighting console available and there are things I love and hate about all of them. I have found over the years that the Martin consoles consistently match my programming style. Naturally, I went with the M1 because I am familiar with it and because it is a terrific desk for television."

This year's Farm Aid took place at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

UK / USA - Navigator Systems, authors of HireTrack Eclipse rental software and Production Exchange of Los Angeles, the online exchange for AV, Lighting and Rental Staging market sub rentals have announced a technology partnership demonstrating a fully integrated link in the latest HireTrack Eclipse release.

The Production Exchange will be a third party application that integrates seamlessly with HireTrack Eclipse software's current version. As a result of this partnership, current authorised users of HireTrack Eclipse will be able to subscribe to Lite Exchange, Video Exchange or Audio Exchange individually or as a bundled solution.

David Rose, of Navigator Systems comments, "We see this technology agreement with Production Exchange as another layer of value to each of our software users. The integrated tools created by both HireTrack Eclipse and Production Exchange could

UK - Newly-formed company Light Emissions, which made its debut at the ARC Show 2011 in London yesterday, promises to introduce "new standards in large-scale LED video-based graphics to architects and interior designers".

With the technology already established in the entertainment sector, the new start-up, led by the highly experienced Peter Ed, has optimised its new low- and medium-resolution RGB tile system, known as Art, for the wider commercial markets, including museums, casinos, retail and cruise ships.

Ed, and former G-LEC colleague Sergej Mironov, who spearheads Light Emissions' R&D programme, will also display the new system at ISE 2011 in Amsterdam in early February.

Justifying the decision for targeting "best of breed" large LED display technology at top end fixed installation markets, Peter Ed states: "Our strengths lie in having worked

UK - Following one of their best ever years, lighting rental company HSL has invested another £2.5m in the last two months just to service its current work.

The purchases include 300 of the latest Robe moving lights, including the first 60 LED Wash 600s off the production line in the Czech Republic; 100 Robe 600 spots and 100 Robe 600 washes, plus an additional 40 Robin Beam 300 and Beam 700 units; 12 Robert Juliat Lancelot 4K Arena followspots, supplied by Robert Juliat's distributor in the UK, White Light, and 60 Liteware Chrome high output LED up lighters supplied by GDS.

Adding to an existing stock of Colourweb 250, 200 pieces of the ChromaQ Colourweb 125 LED surface have been bought from AC Lighting.

Over $1m has been invested in acquiring Vari*Lites this year, giving HSL a large stock of VL3500 and VL3000 Spots, VL3500 Washes, VL1000 Arc ERSs and VL1000 Tungsten

UK - The 33rd ABTT Theatre Show promises to deliver a packed showcase, whilst celebrating The Association of British Theatre Technicians 50th anniversary, say the organisers.

The Show will focus its marketing campaign online and again offer a simple and free pre-registration facility through its enhanced website. This will also boast easy to use facilities for exhibitors and visitors alike allowing fast upload and download features.

The ABTT Theatre Show is already well over 50% sold out for 2011 with exhibitors including XL Video, ETC, Stage Technologies, Martin Professional, Yamaha and Philips Entertainment booked to appear from 15-16 June, at the Royal Horticultural Halls, Vincent Square, London.

The Show will feature a two-day programme of seminars and meetings, which will reflect the achievements of the ABTT as it reaches its 50th birthday and look forward to the challe

USA - On November 11, 2010, the biggest night in Latin Music, the 11th annual Latin Grammy Awards, aired live to a worldwide audience from the Mandalay Bay Events Centre in Las Vegas. Behind the scenes, lighting designer Carlos Colina created his own technical and artistic achievement through a lighting design using 124 Vari*Lite luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite, all provided by Atomic Lighting.

"This was my fourth year as the lighting designer for the production and while each year we always try to do something a little different, this year presented a series of challenges," says Colina. "When I saw how wide and video-heavy the set would be, I knew competing with and complementing the video, while being able to hit all the areas needed, would be one of the main challenges. But then since the show would also be airing live worldwide in both a high-definition TV b

Denmark - Martin Professional's eShop has expanded its functionality and changed its name to myMartin. Accessible at my.martin.com to preapproved customers, myMartin is a convenient, online source for purchasing Martin Professional lighting, video and smoke products, as well as accessories, spare parts, swag and more, says the company.

The new, full-service eBusiness site features a new look, a user-friendly navigation process and all new features. Users also have access to a host of useful information including all manner of product info, pricing, product availability, special campaigns, ordering information, account management and more.

"Our mission is to be the most innovative and inspiring eBusiness partner in the industry with a vision to maintain and develop a full-service, global eBusiness environment that adds real value through dedicated cooperation with our cust

USA - Global Truss America LLC has filed suit against GLP German Light Products, a Delaware Corporation and Mark Ravenhill, president of GLP, alleging trademark infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair business practices and other violations of the Lanham Act.

Global Truss America LLC has accused GLP of falsely stating that it is "an authorized distributor of Global Truss products in the United States and falsely stating that Mr. George Lee is the CEO of Global Truss" and wrongfully "implying that Global Truss is the source of the products that GLP is advertising, distributing, offering for sale and/or selling."

In the suit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California on 6 January, 2011, Global Truss America LLC states that its established and federally registered trademarks identify "Global Truss stag

UK - EcoSense Lighting announced at this week's ARC Show that it has signed Architainment Lighting as an authorised distributor of its line of specifier-grade LED lighting solutions for commercial and residential applications. The agreement with Architainment will extend the availability of EcoSense products across architectural, retail and entertainment market segments throughout England and Wales.

To assure uniform colour temperature across fixtures, EcoSense has developed a highly stringent LED binning criteria resulting in a yield that exceeds the ANSI standards requirement by 400%, says the company. This ensures that project standards need not be compromised by inconsistent colour output from unit to unit.

"Architainment and EcoSense are a marvellous fit because, like our own team, the staff at Architainment brings in-depth industry experience and a technical underst

UK - Creative production agency Lodestar recently collaborated with Nissan to create the Nissan Innovation Station at the 02 Arena. The Innovation Station is staffed and managed by experiential agency RPM and features an advanced audio-visual infrastructure created by Feltech Electronics, which encourages interactivity and is built largely around GestureTek gesture-controlled technology.

As the O2's official automobile partner, the attraction is part of the brand's three year partnership with O2 owners, AEG. This entertainment experience showcases Nissan's new zero-emission, fully electric car LEAF, with a number of pods and kiosks designed to inform and entertain visitors, who are able to ride in driving simulators, design a car virtually and play interactive games aimed at boosting understanding of electric vehicles.

Feltech won a competitive bid to provide full multimedia i

China - Traxon Technologies has introduced the Shield AC XB lighting system, designed for wall washing and grazing applications where fixtures are located far from the control area, or where the structural construction is complicated and extensive cabling or mounting is limited.

Powered by line voltage, the Shield AC XB system can run up to 300m away from the nearest power source. It eliminates the need for separate driver units and is suited for large scale architectural installations, such as bridges and high-rise buildings, as it allows more flexible placement of fixtures in outdoor applications, says the company.

Based on the standard daisy-chain topology and using one cable for power and data, the Shield AC XB system simplifies wiring and helps save installation time and costs. The field-installable connectors provide wiring flexibility, allowing installers to optimize ca

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