UK - PLASA has revealed that Ruth Rossington, a former editor of LSi magazine and now Executive Director EU and COO at PLASA, is to leave the association at the end of 2011. Ruth joined the organisation in 1988, working initially as assistant editor on LSi, and becoming editor in June 1997.At the start of 2004, she left LSi to become a Director of PLASA, working alongside the events, media, membership, skills and technical teams. In the last 18 months, she has led the operational side of PLASA's merger with ESTA, working closely with Lori Rubinstein in North America to steer the first phase of operational integration and to put in place the new Governance systems for the organisation. PLASA's CEO Matthew Griffiths said: "Ruth is not just a colleague, but a good friend. During her time with the organisation she has made a significant contribution and PLASA has benefitted hugel

UK - PR Lighting has announced the release of the new PR-5000 Spot and PR-5000 Beam based around a 1500W Osram or Philips discharge lamp.

Commenting on the new series, PR Lighting chief R&D engineer, Steve Tulk, stated: "The PR-5000 Spot, Beam, and later the Wash [which is yet to be released] comprise the beginning of PR Lighting's third generation series of moving heads.

"We analysed the strengths and weaknesses of our mature product lines and designed the PR-5000 series with those in mind. Among the list of achievements in this new series are: a carefully chosen set of functions, very high light output, amazing zoom range, faster and quieter movement, improved cooling system and improved reliability. We feel this series fits the bill perfectly for lighting designers needing higher power units."

Other features of the PR 5000 Beam include a 6° beam angle,

China - Multiform will be releasing the latest addition to their range of Professional LED lighting fixtures on the booth of their international distributor Adelto at the China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing.

The new MultiWall Gll - HP5 light batten is designed for indoor or outdoor use with an IP20 / 65 rating. It incorporates 62 x 1W - R,G,B,A & W LEDs to provide the widest range of colours. Fitted with XLR and PowerCon connectors , a conversion kit is supplied to replace these with PG9 fittings for outdoor use.

The 62W - 3150lm MultiWall GII - HP5 provides 3 - 7 Ch. DMX control using RGBAW or advanced HSL colour mixing, plus 19 preset colours, 23 crossfades and Sound to Light.

The large, user friendly LCD display also allows control of White Balance, Dimmer Curve and Modulation Frequency. The DISSIMAX cooling system provides for the first time, extended life-t

UK - The Knight of Illumination Awards has extended the deadline for entries into its lighting design awards programme until June 30 2011.

Currently in its fourth year, the Knight of Illumination Awards was established to recognise the talents of lighting designers working across the creative arts in the UK. Past winners include Bernie Davis, Baz Halpin, Cate Carter, Dave Davey, Al Gurdon, Andi Watson and Paule Constable.

The Awards are the only programme dedicated exclusively to the stage lighting designer's craft in the UK, and, in all likelihood, the only competition in the world where winners receive an authentic medieval battle sword - crafted in Toledo, Spain.

Neil Austin, who received his 'knighthood' for work on the London-staged musical, Parade, said: "The Knight of Illumination Awards are the gold standard. They are the only awards to honour lighting de

UK - Artistic Licence Engineering Training Days have proved a hit with customers and more dates have been added to meet with demand.

Introduction to DMX & RDM (Wednesday 29 June) - This training day covers all the basics of the DMX and RDM protocols. Aimed at people who are new to the technology, it will start from the beginning of DMX, explain how it works, how it can be used and will highlight good working practices. The second half of the day will cover the new protocol RDM and show how this will benefit the industry.

Colour-Tramp (Thursday 7 July) - Artistic Licence Colour-Tramp control system is specifically designed to enable you to programme and control two and three dimensional lighting arrays.

DALI (Wednesday 5 October) - DALI training was the first of the Artistic Licence Engineering Training Days and has been so popular that extra dates have been added and an expl

UK - A powerful and versatile yet lightweight and energy-efficient new tool for those working in lighting for television, film and exhibitions is now available in the UK exclusively from White Light.

The Galaxia Softlight is a flat panel style softlight fixture that generates white light using an LED light source; the fixture has a colour temperature that is variable from 2700K to 6500K with a high colour rendering index of 90-95. The Galaxia is just 40mm thick (94mm including rigging yoke), and is available in two versions - the standard 60x60cmversion and a 'half panel' 60x30cm version. In both cases softlight output is emitted from the fixture's entire front face; beam control accessories such as barn doors are available if required.

The Galaxia can be controlled via DMX512 or using a compact hand-held controller which can be used to set up colour temperature and output lev

New Zealand - With the release of its latest addition to the Philips Selecon has released the Wing range of Wall Washers which deliver a homogenous, glare-free beam, which will evenly light walls of 3m+ high with no UV or Infrared radiation to cause damage to precious artworks or exhibits, says the company.

For the first time, Light Emitting Diodes can be used in 'real' lighting applications, providing "vast improvements in reliability, long-life and low maintenance". The Wing LED is available in two modules. The first is a Warm White (50,000hrs, 69lm/watt), dimmable via local touch switch (cycle up/down) control or via Dali control, which delivers a high quality white light.

The second is a RGB/Tuneable White (35,000hrs, 29lm/watt) controlled via DMX (RDM address) - 'tune' the colour temperature and intensity to meet the requirements of your space or dynamically mat

USA - Chauvet has announced the release of its latest addition to the COLORado series: the COLORado Batten 144 TOUR. This features 144 x 1W RGBWA LEDs with mixed 15 and 30° optics for an even wash of colour across backdrops of varying sizes. The linear wash light is one meter long and can be broken down into three LED blocks for more control to match the layout of existing lights or to create large runway effects.

Chauvet says the low profile and low heat emission of COLORado Batten 144 TOUR make it a versatile unit which can be placed in tight spaces. It also has an integrated shield which can be implemented when the fixture is placed in a direct line of sight to prevent unnecessary glare. Plus, the fixture's feet double as hanging brackets which can slide to the left or right for increased mounting flexibility. COLORado Batten 144 TOUR can easily be used for foot lights, t

The Netherlands - The Bevrijdingsfestival Overijssel kicked off in Zwolle, a municipality and the capital city of the province of Overijssel. Celebrating the liberation of the Netherlands, festival organizers were dedicated to maintaining an environment of energy-efficiency throughout the festival, including the lighting rigs that would be used in the performance areas. To achieve their energy-efficient initiatives, organizers turned to authorised Vari*Lite Dealer HA-Rental who supplied them with 10 VL1100CD ERS and four VLX Wash luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite.

"Understanding the desires of the festival organizers to have the best in energy-efficient and sustainable lighting, we approached the organization with a great lighting package that would allow them to meet all their requirements," said Hans Alders, HA-Rental.

As the organizers agreed to the offer from HA-

UK - Calibre UK's LEDView510 video wall processors offer excellent image quality to LED screens - with particular focus on the rental and staging markets, which use large video walls, often on location or in architecturally stunning settings, the company says. The LEDView510 offers "extremely high-quality, low latency image processing at a competitive price point".

The LEDView510 is a flexible routing switcher and interface for connecting LED screens to almost any HD and SD video source; it takes the feature set of that product and adds a number of key enhancements, most notably a multiple-unit mode with auto-zoom functionality. This allows several LEDView510s to be connected together, each powering its own LED screen. A wall of up to four screens high by four screens wide can be created, with a maximum screen resolution of 7680 x 4800. "With low latency and genlo

UK - Clay Paky is currently touring the UK with a revived production of the musical Chess, directed by Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood.

The musical, written by Tim Rice and ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson, tells the story of two Cold War chess masters whose battle for the title of world chess champion is outdone by an even greater contest for the heart of the female protagonist, Florence Vassey.

The modern staging brings together an impressive cast of West End actors and musicians, as well as the creative talents of lighting designer Ben Cracknell and video designer Jack James. UK theatrical supplier Stage Electrics was responsible for providing all the production's lighting and video equipment.

The innovative lighting design by Ben Cracknell features a significant number of Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500s, supplied by Stage Electrics. "M

Russia - Jands' exclusive Russian dealer, Show Atelier, recently held their first open day events to launch the new Jands Vista v2 software to their diverse customer base.

Show Atelier also took the opportunity to announce the winners of their online Get Your Own Vista competition, which Jands Europe sponsored with the donation of the first and second prizes - a Jands Vista M1 console with an 128 channel dongle and a Jands USB-DMX interface with 128 channel dongle respectively.

The two open day workshops took place in different venues, the first at Moscow's Fomenko Theatre and the second at the Theatre & Arts College # 60.

Each day started with an in-depth presentation by Jands Europe's Neil Vann on the Vista v2 software and its many possibilities, with an overview of the power and simplicity that this dynamic control system offers.

Areas covered included tracking b

Lebanon - The Whisky Mist in London enjoys a clientele that includes such luminaries as Prince William, Madonna, George Clooney and Christina Aguilera. Now, with the opening of a Whisky Mist in Beirut, the club's British operators have begun exporting the formula. Located in the five-star Hotel Intercontinental Phoenicia, this new haunt for night owls boasts space for 350 guests as well as two VIP lounges screened off from the main area .

The club's operators engaged the services of the Beirut-based sound specialists Hi Fi Service. The team led by managing director Oussama Mansour Abou Faraj has the experience of a large number of high-calibre installations upon which to draw, but the Whisky Mist represented a particularly high hurdle, primarily due to the elaborate interior architecture of the club with its numerous pillars.

Abou Faraj opted for a Dynacord-based systrem. &quo

Germany - Eurovision Song Contest lighting designer Jerry Appelt specified a serious arsenal of lighting for the massive Arena in Düsseldorf. More than 2,100 DMX controlled moving lights (5,638 fixtures total) with almost 42,000 parameters allowed 43 countries plus three interval acts and an over-the-top opening performance to have a completely unique look during the three-hour broadcast.

Total control for all lighting and video came from MA Lighting. Four grandMA2 full-size consoles, each with a full backup, as well as five grandMA2 faderwings ran all lighting and video, triggered via timecode. Eleven MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) devices handled all traffic in one session on the MA-Net2.

"It's not even practical to do a show like this without timecode and grandMA2 is the best," said Appelt, "Absolutely every millisecond is cued and then rehearsed again and

UK - Over 300 guests and sponsors were entertained to a spectacular gala dinner at Birmingham's Hippodrome Theatre on Saturday 14 May 2011. The event raised £40,000 towards the one million pound refurbishment cost to improve the weight loading capacity of the Hippodrome's stage, which will enable the theatre to host bigger and heavier touring productions.

The event brought together the well established working partnership of prolific UK lighting designer Adrian Barnes and Matt Clutterham of specialist lighting and event service provider MattLX. All under the careful control of the Hippodrome's technical manager and former MattLX project manager, Barry Hope.

The Theatre was turned on its head with the audience seated on the stage immersed in the performance technology, whilst the spectacular evening's entertainment performed over and around them. Hosted by the glittering

USA - Subaru of America launched its all-new fourth-generation 2012 Impreza models in 3D using 3D R4 LED Display as the medium.

The glitz and glamour were centred in the middle of Manhattan at the Jacob Javits Center from 22 April 2011 to 1 May at New York Auto Show, the last car show of the season.

This is the first time that 3D LED Display technology has been customised for automotive events, in this case specifically for the company's media conference. During the show, members of the international automotive media went along for the ride with 3D glasses, to watch a video presentation demonstrating the diverse, active lifestyles of Subaru owners, who are heralded as the most active consumers in the automobile market.

Earlier this year, Creative Technology introduced 3D R4 LED Display to their clients, with impressive results.

Subaru of America Inc. agreed to create a 3D

UK - Lighting designer Rob Mills used a grandMA2 light as his control platform for a recent production of Verdi's Aida at the Epsom Playhouse in Surrey. The week-long production by Riverside Opera was directed by James Hurley who is a regular client of Mills, a busy theatre and opera LD, who also lights corporate and live events.

It was the first time that the opportunity had arisen for him to specify and use a grandMA2 on one of his shows, a chance he had been waiting for since working on the Floating Finale section of the Lord Mayor of London's show, on the River Thames last year. It was here he saw a grandMA 'series 1' properly in action being programmed by David Miller.

"Once I'd mastered the fundamentals, I found it incredibly fast to move on to more advanced programming," states Mills. "Whilst it needs a bit of time at the beginning to set up and le

Recycling Sets - Theatre companies can now advertise and recycle old sets and costumes on a new Freecycle-style website specifically designed for the sector. With the tag line "giving your unwanted set a new home", Set-exchange.co.uk has been launched with the aim of encouraging production companies to share unwanted sets, costumes and props with other theatre organisations across the UK for free. Companies including the Royal Court, Glyndebourne and the Lyric Hammersmith have already pledged their support to the website.

Set-exchange was set up by lighting designer and production electrician Peter Harrison. He told The Stage, "The idea came from me working with some of the small companies as well as the big companies and seeing waste in one and scrimping and saving from the other, so it came out of trying to share resources."

Set-exchange is structu

World - PLASA has released a draft voluntary code of practice on Artificial Optical Radiation (AOR) for comments or observations from the global professional lighting industry.

The background to the document lies in the introduction of new EU Directive and national legislation regarding AOR, and the subsequent agreement, by manufacturers attending a presentation that PLASA's Ron Bonner and the Health Protection Agency gave at the PLASA 2010, that guidance should be created.

In short, the new legislation requires employers to assess the exposure to the workforce of AOR and if the exposure is believed to be above permitted levels, the employer will need to measure the levels and take action to reduce the exposure. Manufacturers will also have a duty to supply relevant safety information. In the UK this is enshrined in health and safety law, but will also be part of the conformit

Denmark - Martin Professional's headquarter building in Aarhus has taken on a life of its own thanks to a new media facade made up of Martin LED display panels with graphical content from Danish design office Kollision.

The 180m2 facade, mounted on the inside front of the building, is made up of Martin Professional LC Plus Series LED display panels and presents a wide variety of dynamic graphical content that reacts to visitor interaction in the form of activities and movement in and outside the building.

The dynamic graphics do more than mesmerize and entertain; the media facade can be affected by motion sensors and user input for a truly unique, personal experience. The media facade allows a static building to come alive through an ever-changing lighting design, a constantly evolving expression that engages visitors and passers-by.

Rune Nielsen of Kollision stated, "A

Africa - For the 4th consecutive season, Blond Productions were commissioned to cater for the sound, lighting and AV requirements of Big Brother Africa.

When their client, Endemol South Africa, wanted a new set for Big Brother Africa Amplified, aired on DSTV, Blond approached Sean Hoey of Dream Sets. Together they came up with fresh ideas that have "pleasantly surprised the client".

Lighting designer Peter Rieck (Blond) and Sean Hoey (Dream Sets) put their heads together from the inset with the assistance of Vector Works. Their aim was to create a set that would bring out as many technical and visual aspects as possible. "Robe fixtures added mood, beams of light and eye candy, while the real 'show stealer' were the graphics on screens and plasmas, all running via a grandMA Media Server," say Blond.

Christian Ballot, MD from Blond comments: "Five to t

Greece - Robe lighting was invited by the Czech Consulate in Athens to create a special lighting scheme for the official launch of La Grace, a replica of the 17th century corsair (pirate) ship captained by Czech seafarer Augustin He?man, which took place in the exclusive and picturesque harbour at Flisvos Marina, Athens.

The vessel has been recreated by a group of Czech enthusiasts in a shipyard in Suez, Egypt, which still uses historic and traditional building methods. The pre-planning and research for the project took three years and the actual construction process another two years. The new La Grace will serve a multi-functional international role as a sea cadet training facility and as a tourist attraction worldwide.

A team of enthusiastic individuals from Robe, all with an eye for design and aesthetics - Josef Valchar (MD) Petr Kolmaka (Anolis sales manager)

UK - Following in the footsteps of the PixelRange PixelPar, PixelRange has announced the launch of QPar, a fully-programmable, plug and play, high powered colour-mixing LED wash fixture.

QPar features 12 high-intensity, QUAD colour, RGBW CREE LED's. The unit offers "outstanding longevity (Lumen maintenance: 50,000 hours L70 at 50°C (full output)) with very low consumption (8W at standby, 112W at full intensity)".

QPar features a 10° beam angle as standard via a toughened glass front lens though further light-shaping diffusing lenses are available to provide variation. A choice of dimming curves include tungsten, television and fine - all controlled via DMX. External control requires DMX512 digital signal via 5-pin XLR.

IP20-rated, QPar can be floor or truss mounted using dual yokes - making it suitable for lighting stages, backdrops, sets, cycloramas, struc

UK - Tinie Tempah lighting director Dave Cohen recently made a big impact using Martin Professional's EC-20 LED panels as a backdrop video wall on Brit Award winner Tinie Tempah's latest UK tour. "A video screen doesn't need to be any more complicated than lighting fixtures. Yet time and time again I find other systems insanely complex, says Cohen. "The plug and play style of the EC system makes it so easy."

Cohen, who works as a freelance show designer for various acts and heads his own design company, SauceDesign, was looking for a transparent, uncomplicated video wall for the tour and found what he was looking for in the EC.

"Being a lighting engineer by trade, I was looking for a system that was more up to date as well as user friendly," he states.

On the Tinie Tempah tour, Cohen ran cinematic style content on a 16 x 9 format upstage EC screen th

Latest Issue. . .