Denmark - Martin Professional has announced the launch of the new VC-Strip family of narrow LED video strips. VC-Strips are suitable for integration into stage and set designs, as well as interiors like bars, ceilings and walls. Fully compatible with Martin's VC-Grid LED video module, they can be used together for more creative LED video designs.

VC-Strips are fully pixel-level calibrated on brightness and colours for optimal uniformity and quality and are driven by Martin's award-winning P3 System Controller family for smooth playback that outperforms any DMX-based system.

These flexible video strips feature a pixel pitch of 25 mm and are available in lengths up to 400 mm. They can even be cut to required length on-site.

VC-Strips are available in RGB, warm white, medium white and cool white variants. The RGB version has a calibrated brightness of 4000 nits while the warm/m

UK - Nick Gray of London, UK-based creative lighting design practice Renegade designed lighting for the main British Fashion Council (BFC) Courtyard Show Space at Somerset House for London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2013.

Offsite, he lit a variety of leading shows including Vivien Westwood, L'Wren Scott, Rocksander, Mark Fast, Kinder Aggugini and Pringle.

It's the seventh season that Gray has lit the BFC space, featuring up to five or six shows per day for a plethora of leading designers including Marios Schwab, Issa, Emilio de la Morena, Bora Aksu, Jasper Conran and numerous others.

Working for show producers Bacchus, Gray's lighting design featured a three truss format overhead - centre and two sides - running the full 25m of the catwalk.

The set this year featured a wider entranceway for the models and an elegant chevron-shaped wood / black carpet runway, all of which r

Germany - Win, design, share - connect and be the first to experience Martin's new RUSH range of affordable effect lights.

You could be the first worldwide to get your hands on Martin Professional's new range of affordable effect lights - RUSH by Martin.

Martin will be giving away some of the very first RUSH effect lights to a few lucky winners via a competition at the upcoming Prolight + Sound exhibition in Frankfurt, 10-13 April, Stand A93, Hall 9.

All visitors need to do is get a RUSH badge from the RUSH area of the Martin stand and wear it around the trade show floor. One lucky participant will be stopped and announced as the winner each day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Martin is also offering RUSH fans a chance at design stardom. Send Martin a unique design for a new RUSH t-shirt and if your design is a winner, Martin will splash it on a t-shirt for the world to se

USA - Rosco Laboratories, Inc has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Los Angeles-based GAM Products Inc. The addition of GAM's widely regarded products such as GAMColor, GAM Patterns, Blackwrap and TwinSpin, among others, will dramatically expand the creative solutions Rosco offers to designers, technicians and artists, the company says.

GAM has provided high quality lighting products to the theatre and film community for more than 35 years, and Rosco says it will continue to market and promote them worldwide through its extensive global distribution network. "For existing and loyal GAM customers, it will be business as usual with GAM's entire catalog of products available through Rosco. But we're especially looking forward to leveraging our world class dealer network to expose these excellent products to new clientele," said Mark Engel, CEO of Rosco.

GAM w

UK / Sweden - Working in collaboration with the production team at this year's Eurovision Song Contest, PLASA is pleased to announce plans for a unique event: PLASA Focus: Backstage Malmö, taking place on 7-8 May, one week prior to Eurovision's live broadcasts, in Malmö, Sweden.

As one of the world's most-watched live music productions, attracting in excess of 100m television viewers each year, the Eurovision Song Contest has become a major annual showcase for the technologies at the cutting edge of the show production industry.

This year's Eurovision Song Contest, produced by the European Broadcast Union (EBU) and SVT, the national broadcaster of last year's winning nation, Sweden, will be preceded by PLASA Focus: Backstage Malmö - an opportunity for industry professionals to take a first-hand look at these technologies in context.

The event will include a series of excl

USA - Country singer Luke Bryan's 20-city Dirt Road Diaries Tour may have a down-home name, but its lighting inventory includes some pretty cutting-edge equipment, including Clay Paky's new A.LEDA Wash K10 and K5 LED moving heads provided by Elite Multimedia Productions.

The tour is using 12 K10 and 36 K5 fixtures as part of its "big, powerful rock 'n roll rig," says lighting designer Justin Kitchenman of Fadeup Design Group. He was introduced to the A.LEDA Series at LDI 2012 where he was "looking for the next generation moving light." After seeing the A.LEDA fixtures, "We feel we found the best the industry has to offer," he says.

The A.LEDA Series is the first professional Clay Paky product line to use LEDs as light sources. An alternative to discharge lamp wash lights, it offers all the benefits of LED technology: low energy consumption,

Egypt - Clay Paky's powerful pure-beam Sharpy luminaires dazzled fans as they enjoyed top-selling Arab singer Amr Diab's sell-out concert in Cairo recently. Lighting designer Walid El Hariry specified 66 Sharpys for the show at the 75,000-capacity Cairo Stadium where Egyptian singer Amr Diab - known as 'the Father of Mediterranean Music' - performed.

"My entire rig comprised Clay Paky fixtures," says El Hariry, "The Sharpys performed brilliantly. The strong beam they deliver give a really contemporary feel to the show. Also, by playing around with the prism, we created a variety of very distinctive looks for Amr."

Clay Paky distributor for Egypt, Cairo-based Audio Technology, which is well respected for its service and product knowledge in the Egyptian market, supplied the Sharpys. Audio Technology managing director, Emad Adly comments, "At just 189W t

Canada - The CAST Group of Toronto, Canada and Rushworks of Dallas, Texas have announced the integration of the award-winning BlackTrax Solution realtime tracking technology with Rushworks' VDESK Integrated PTZ Production System, adding the extra dimension of robotic camera tracking control to the arsenal of BlackTrax tracking solutions. This integration creates a cost-effective, fully automated realtime video tracking solution for just about anything from live entertainment to houses of worship.

PTZ cameras (Pan, Tilt and Zoom) are typically controlled remotely by an operator using a joystick to "frame" a shot or follow the action ... although "following" is, in reality, more about reacting than truly tracking. Some controlling devices support the creation of presets associated with user-defined positions. Most hardware controllers allow the user to position

Germany - Clay Paky has a formidable line-up scheduled for ProLight+Sound 2013.

Sharpy Wash 330 is an extraordinarily compact, lightweight 330 W washlight, with the luminous efficiency, graphic and optical performance of a 1000W fixture. It is extremely silent and quick, and fitted with a complete CMY color system, special colors, 6.5°-48° zoom, mechanical dimmer, beam shaping filter and motorized top-hat. It is an eco-friendly light, allowing considerable running and consumption cost savings.

The Alpha Profile 800 ST is the most modern moving beam shaper in existence today for use in theatres and studios. Clay Paky used highly sophisticated micromechanics to obtain a compact, light, silent unit with an extremely bright light and a zoom capable of producing an extraordinarily sharp, perfectly uniform beam.

Exclusive Features: miniaturized four-blade framing system, 1

Germany - Czech Republic based moving light manufacturer Robe lighting is set to launch six new products at the 2013 Prolight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt.

Topping the list is The Pointe. This and four other innovations are from Robe's multi award-winning Robin range and also new is the latest in Robe's DigitalSpot series - the DigitalSpot 7100DT.

The Robin Pointe is a new dynamic beam, spot and wash fixture from Robe - a small, super-bright and very fast 'signature' unit with an intense and sharp parallel beam .... plus a host of features making it a truly unique and versatile lightsource.

These include a 5 - 20 degree zoom with full focus control, variable frost, two separate prism effects, a rotating and a static gobo wheel and inbuilt colour wheel.

The lightsource is a 280W Osram discharge lamp making the Pointe a dynamic, fixture for using to create WOW factors on a

USA - ETC has announced a new arrival in the Source Four family of lighting fixtures: the Source Four Mini.

At 23cm long and weighing just 740g, the Mini is the tiniest Source Four ever, but it still lives up to the family name. As Jim Uphoff, ETC Fixtures product manager, says, "Don't let the size of the Source Four Mini fool you. It may be cute, but it's a serious lighting tool. Its 50 watt lamp is brighter than you'd expect from an instrument of this size."

The Mini is designed with the DNA of the Source Four family, with crisp optics, crystal-clear image projection, a bright, even field, and user-friendly operation.

The size of the Source Four Mini means even more installations can have Source Four functionality. Joe Bokelman, ETC architectural market manager, explains, "The Source Four Mini is a perfect fit for small-scale installations, like low ceiling

USA - LA pop rock band Maroon 5 has begun its Overexposed world tour and grandMA2 is along for the ride. Maroon 5's new North American tour is in support of the band's eponymous studio album released last summer. Since its debut in 2002, Maroon 5 has sold over 10m albums in the US.

As always, noted production designer and artistic director Demfis Fyssicopulos took an innovative and forward thinking approach to his design philosophy for the tour, which entailed utilising the grandMA2 full-size. "It's the most advanced control surface in the market," he says. "In addition to the lighting for the show, a plethora of media servers and custom Control Freak System solutions are all controlled from the grandMA2 full-size. Centralised control ensures coherence and a show that looks well put together."

On the video side of the tour the grandMA2 full-size cont

UK - Artistic Licence, industry experts in architectural lighting control and data distribution, will be bringing their latest innovations to PLASA Focus 2013.

PLASA Focus will see the official launch of sunDial, the new range of smart modular dimmers that present a universal control solution.

General purpose lighting now comes in many guises, from halogen to LEDs. Taking a holistic, eco-friendly approach to dimming, Artistic Licence has developed sunDial to enable lighting fixtures to be controlled in a more intelligent manner. With DALI and DMX inputs, high channel counts and dimming to suit every fixture from incandescent to solid-state, sunDial is the embodiment of intelligent lighting control.

The stand (N-D13) will demonstrate sunDial's mix-and-match concept, combining DMX and DALI controllers to drive a range of sources, including mains-powered lighting and the latest

UK - The GLP Impression Spot One and Wash One are now available from PRG's rental stock. The Spot One was the first fixture of its kind to be released to the global market, closely followed by the Wash One and both incorporate ground breaking LED technology. By harnessing the raw power of numerous LED sources and running it through an advanced optical system GLP has created an even beam for RGB color mixing, and has produced two very versatile fixtures.

The Spot One offers bright RGB LED output; even light distribution; full, crisp colour palette; clean white range of 3000K-8000K with high CRI, Instant colour bumps and sharp image projections

The Impression Wash One boasts a 400W RGB LED light engine, and the same groundbreaking technology as the Spot One, the fully-featured luminaire is able to deliver delicate colour changes or instantaneous colour bumps over a wide, careful

UK - Following a deep strategic review in mid-2011 the ALD is changing and growing with greater focus on member benefits, public and industry engagement. A significant investment in resource has already been made consisting of a new office in central London and a permanent management post.

ALD chairman Peter Mumford said, "We had a clear mandate from the members at the last AGM to get on with developing the ALD through expanding and advising the professional membership, and promoting the art of lighting design more widely. The Executive came up with several key initiatives, which included marketing ourselves better, more help for recently graduated designers- we call them 'emerging LDs' - and increased levels of support for professionals working in lighting. It was obvious that we needed someone working full-time on this project, in an office that would be available to a la

USA - How do you control 28 four-foot lighted spheres suspended above award winners "fun" at the 2013 Grammy Awards? Easy - with LumenRadio Receiver Cards inside each sphere, and a LumenRadio Flex transmitter located backstage.

Conceived and produced by Moment Factory of Montreal, with content by Hubert Gagnon of Blackout Design, the fun. set was designed and built by Quebec-based Teksho. Featuring illuminated spheres rising from the stage floor like gigantic champagne bubbles in slow motion, the number climaxed with an actual on-stage rainstorm. LEDs inside each of the orbs were controlled by a grandMA2 at FOH, driving an NPU backstage, sending DMX to the LumenRadio Flex Transmitter. The Flex Transmitter sent wireless DMX to each of the frosted-white spheres, with continual control feedback of the entire wireless system.

"Our team imagined a story line for the

Brazil - In Southern Brazil, on the coast of Santa Catarina, sits one of the world's largest Art Deco statues. At the top of Morro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross), the statue of Jesus Christ stands overlooking the city of Balneário Camboriú, with one arm outstretched, welcoming visitors from near and far, and the other carrying a symbol of the sun.

Measuring 33m in height (including the pedestal) and 22m wide (from fingertip to fingertip), the task of lighting this majestic tourist attraction at first seemed less than straightforward. However, when Mario Luiz Pretto of Cristo Luz (Christ Light) contacted SGM's Brazilian distributor, João Alonso of LBO Lighting Comercio e Importação e Exportação Ltda, requesting a more powerful lighting output than the former installation could provide, João Alonso proposed the SGM P-5 wash light featuring 44 high power 10W RGBW LEDs per u

Argentina - Situated in the city of Cosquin in the Punilla Valley, and attended by around 9,000 people per day, National Folklore Festival Cosquín is the most important festival of folk music in Argentina. Dating back to 1961, it runs for nine nights each January, which are traditionally referred to as the Nine Moons Coscoínas.

Service and distribution company Deligio Iluminación first became involved back in 2006 and this year again rigged the large Atahualpa Yupanqui stage in Cosquin's main Prospero Molina Square - named in honour of the legendary guitarist. Deligio fielded PR Lighting's high brightness/low wattage XR200 Beams, imported by PR Lighting's Argentinian distributor, Martellota, and supplied by Carlos Capra's Audio - Line, alongside XS 1200 Spots, a versatile, bright moving head with rapid beam movement.

"We like the XR200 Beam for its overall performance,

UK - Ayrton reports that all new Ayrton products equipped with a wireless DMX/RDM receiver module will feature award-winning CRMX technology by LumenRadio.

After an extensive testing campaign, Ayrton selected LumenRadio because of its superior quality and reliability. The LumenRadio Coexistence technology allows smarter use of the frequencies by continuously scanning the radio spectrum and dynamically adapting its frequency-hopping pattern to the surrounding environment. This eliminates interference and maximizes performance whatever protocol is in use, whether DMX or RDM.

Ayrton and LumenRadio started working together during the European Motor Show in Brussels where they were faced with the challenge of controlling hundreds of custom LED fixtures using wireless RDM. The result was perfect and Ayrton decided to collaborate with LumenRadio for their entire product line.

The f

UK - Today, Tuesday 26 March, PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths appeared alongside members of the London 2012 Opening Ceremony creative team to represent the entertainment and installation technology industries before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee at the House of Commons.

The invitation follows a period of intense political lobbying by PLASA, on behalf of its members, many of whom were dissatisfied with the restriction surrounding the promotion of their involvement in the events. The questions asked will be used by MPs to assess the true extent of the role that the Olympic and Paralympic Games had in showcasing the UK creative industries, and what impact they have had on the sector subsequently.

"Many of our members were disappointed to discover the pervasiveness of the orders set up to protect the sponsorship deals of companies from outside the creative industr

USA - When production for Smokey Robinson presents Human Nature: The Motown Show decided to relocate from the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas to the nearby Venetian Hotel, experienced lighting designer Steve Cohen received a call out of the blue from the show's creative director, David Rudder. "They had already hired a set designer [Andy Walmsley], and were interested in having me light the show in the new space," he recalls. "Although we had never met before, since I live in Vegas, it was easy for me to see the show and see if we hit it off."

Fortunately for both the show's male vocal group Human Nature and Cohen they did; but since the group wanted to come up with a whole new look for their show, the designer had to choose his fixtures carefully to compensate for the limitations of the room and budget, as well as the existing lighting infrastructure. So

UK - High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire based lighting rental company Siyan supplied equipment and crew to the first UK leg of Indie rockers The Courteeners ANNA tour working with Lighting Designer Dan Hill.

The tour incorporated a string of sold out academy and student union venues culminating at Brixton Academy as The Big London Show and was the band's first proper production tour on this scale.

Siyan's project Manager Jez Johnstone says, "This is the first time we've worked with Dan on a full tour and it's been a pleasure. He knows exactly what he wants to see and is proactive and flexible when it comes to making things work during the prep stages. In terms of the show - the design is solid, his programming is tight and his timing is spot on! I'm looking forward to the next one!"

Hill has designed The Courteeners lighting for three years, and he worked

Olivier Awards - Michael Frayn and Gillian Lynne will be given prizes for their outstanding contribution to theatre at this year's Olivier Awards ceremony. They will both receive their Special Awards at the event, which is taking place at the Royal Opera House on 28 April and will be hosted by Hugh Bonneville and Sheridan Smith. Frayn is best known for writing his 1982 play Noises Off as well as dramas including Copenhagen and Democracy. Lynne has choreographed more than 50 Broadway, West End and international stage productions including musicals Cats and The Phantom of the Opera.

Downsizing - Irish alternative rockers My Bloody Valentine and US singer-songwriter Rodriguez are to headline this year's scaled-down Hop Farm Festival in Kent. Promoter Vince Power said the festival, the sixth to be held since 2008, would be over two days, on

USA - "White is the presence of all colours. ETC wanted to make a white-light LED spotlight that would be worthy of professional broadcast, film, and video production," says ETC's Matt Armendariz-Kerr. So ETC has released the new Source Four LED Studio HD, which utilises the colour technology of ETC's Selador x7 Color System for a more spectrally complete white light that can be finely tuned to the on screen talent.

With a special recipe of LED colour blending, the Studio HD is designed to perform in a high definition production world where people (with varying flesh tones) need to look their best. The Studio HD combines exceptional light output with an ultra-flexible, variable white light (2700K-6500K), for more accurate colour rendition on camera.

A multipurpose tool, the Source Four LED Studio HD is ideal for key, bounce, smooth or textured lighting. And as a Sour

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