Denmark - Martin Professional is offering global lighting designers a place in the race to become the hottest up-and-coming young lighting designer. To enter, captivated LD's can programme their ultimate show to a music track of their choice and submit a recording to the Martin Facebook contest page.

Apart from instant stardom, the winner will be awarded two prizes: a trip to Prolight+Sound 2014 in Frankfurt and the Martin M2GO controller. A second place winner receives the M2PC. Third place wins the Martin USB Duo DMX Interface.

During the contest friends, colleagues and other Facebook users can vote for their favourite shows. When the contest ends, the three shows with the most votes enter the final stage of the contest. A panel of judges, made up of last year's winner, Brad Helzer and Martin employees with field experience, Theis Wermuth and Paul Pelletier, will deliberate

UK - The hit musical Wicked has hit the UK and Ireland touring circuit a sleeker and altogether more agile show with the help of wireless DMX products from RC4 Wireless and LumenRadio. The Wicked UK and Ireland tour is one of the biggest tours of its kind. Crucially, the brief was to retain the same production values and scale as the West End show, while scenically and technically making it easy to transport and more robust than ever before. Part of this particular design process has been to replace the complex cabling that fed moving scenic elements with a range of powerfully compact wireless DMX products from RC4 Wireless and LumenRadio.

Utilizing state-of-the-art LumenRadio CRMX technology, these products include RC4 LumenDim4 4-channel low voltage dimmers, RC4 LumenData receivers and the SuperNova software from LumenRadio.

Production scenic lighting electrici

UK - London-based event design and production specialist Eclipse Presentations designed, produced, specified and co-ordinated all the technical production elements for a high profile gala dinner and awards event right at the hub of the 2014 Australia Day celebrations ... at the Australia House consulate in London.

Eclipse's team was led by project manager John Gibbons and technical project manager Jonathan Tingle, and the brief included the delivery of an attractive design plus lighting, video, audio, staging and rigging equipment as well as graphics, signage and branding.

One of the most notable challenges working at Australia House is the fact that it is the Australian Embassy in London. Another challenge is working within the constraints of the venue with all of the floors, walls and pillars made of beautiful marble.

The most notable highlight was seeing the project from

USA - Millions of viewers worldwide had their eyes on MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, 2 February watching as the NFL's Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks battled it out for the title of Super Bowl XLVIII champion.

While the game itself left Denver fans a bit bored, the halftime show proved to be the most exciting part of the day. Super Bowl XLVIII was the most watched television programme in US history with 111.5m viewers while the halftime performance was the most watched in the history of the Super Bowl drawing in a record 115.3m viewers, passing the record 114m who watched Madonna perform two years earlier.

The Super Bowl Halftime Show has some of the most stringent requirements in the business. Setup occurs in front of a packed stadium and in this case nearly freezing conditions - all in just under a mere eight minutes. With this sort of timeline, pre-product

Education Initiative - The Musicians' Union has urged the government to do more to support music hubs, after a critical report from Ofsted claimed the publicly-funded initiative was largely failing. The union re-iterated its concern that the "completely unrealistic timeframe" set by the government to establish the hubs, combined with local authority funding cuts, had allowed the "postcode lottery" of provision in schools to worsen.

Funded by the Department for Education and administered through Arts Council England, the three-year £171 million programme was considered to be a major positive outcome of Darren Henley's 2011 review of music education in England.

However, Ofsted's report published in November said the hubs, funded from August 2012, had done little to improve the quality of music education from previous years and that the subject continued

USA - When Britney Spears' new Las Vegas revue Britney: Piece of Me opened at the end of last year, leading production designers Baz Halpin and Chris Nyfield of Silent House Productions invested it with a typically dynamic and versatile set.

Halpin, who boasts a veritable portfolio of global superstars among his credits, first started using SGM's groundbreaking XC-5 colour strobes last year on world arena tours with P!nk and Taylor Swift, as rental stagers PRG invested in inventory to meet the demand.

This time he confirms that he has deployed 40 of the LED strobes on the stage at Planet Hollywood Resort as the only strobe platform in the set.

Designed to highlight the pop diva's signature style and energy as she performs infectious dance hits alongside tracks from her eighth studio album, Britney Jean, the show will run for a minimum of two years and combines a high-

Israel - A new reality TV series, Chef Games, has just made its debut on Israeli TV's Channel 2 with lighting designed by Dakar Azulay.

The show was recorded in Studio 5 of the Globus Group Studio complex in Jerusalem, produced by German based Constantine Entertainment, and lit with the help of Robe ROBIN MMX WashBeams and Robin LEDWash 1200s which were instrumental to Azulay's design.

The set featured a full kitchen on one side where the competitors created their culinary art, and this was connected via a conveyor belt to the restaurant / tasting area the other side. The food was dispatched to the tasting teams via the belt, so the judges were unaware of which chef had prepared which of the dishes!

Azulay decided to use the LEDWash 1200s for soft light on Chef Games, the first time he's used them for this application and context. He did this with the addition

Denmark - Martin products took centre stage and attempted to outshine Mylène Farmer on her 2013 Timeless Tour in a hitherto unseen combination of conventional and creative LED video products. The tour management team worked with Alabama Media to create a state of the art stage design with Martin LED video products.

Martin Professional VC-Grids, VC-Strips, VC-Dots and EC-Panels were integrated into all possible elements of the stage. One of the spectacular details was a curtain made up of Martin VC-Dots. Other than working as a traditional curtain it was used both for effects and to display images.

All along the front edge of the stage, a number of VC-Grids were placed. VC-Strips and VC-Grids were also put on stairs and a piano for maximum visual impact. Other stage elements included eight large trapeziums full of VC-Grids and VC-Strips were flying around on stage during the s

UK - 2012 UK X-Factor winner James Arthur has had a roller-coaster rise to stardom in the last 12 months, with his first full production tour kicking off two days into the new year complete with a stylish production and lighting design by Andy Hurst and lighting equipment supplied by Blackburn based HSL.

Hurst took the 'less is more' approach to lighting the Impossible singer's show, which he programmed during production rehearsals at Millennium Studios in Bedford, working a discreet jazz clubby vibe blended with urban edge in to the soul orientated show.

HSL's project manager Mike Oates comments, "Andy's design is classy and intelligent - and really shows off his skills at creating a theatrical style environment."

The stage visuals start with a sumptuous red velour drape upstage - supplied by EventServe Drapeage in Ireland - which sets the tone of the show, with t

UK - MilTec (UK) Ltd started the New Year celebrations by delivering their 1000th LEDHead Batten2 into UK rental stocks. The recipient of the 1000th unit is Push Hires Ltd, based in Eastbourne. Push Hires are part of Push Studios Ltd.

Steve Hubbard, Push Hire's production manager had seen the Batten2 being used on a variety of shows and was impressed with what he saw so he visited MilTec's stand at PLASA for a closer look. A full demo was then organised at the Push premises in Eastbourne, resulting in an order for 68 units.

Steve commented: "The Batten2 was chosen over rival products because it is bright, compact, robust and because the layout of the connectors makes it easy to set up for shows. It is obviously a well thought out and well designed product. Our first job with them will be at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on a huge exhibition stand over 80m long.

UK - A new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in London has introduced audiences to two innovations: the story of Stephen Ward, who was at the centre of a political scandal in the 1960s; and a huge lighting rig that includes 65 ETC Source Four LED luminaires specially purchased by dealer PRG.

Lighting designer Peter Mumford decided he wanted his rig to be as dynamic as the tabloid-worthy musical, and chose a large number of Source Four LED luminaires after seeing their versatility on King Kong in Melbourne. "ETC has managed to create hugely successful LED fixtures with the Source Four LED," he says. "ETC seems to have cracked the problem of making an LED source that works through lenses."

The largest part of the ETC Eos-controlled rig for Stephen Ward is moving lights, says Mumford, but he used the Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires as his 'generics,' provid

Germany - Dry hire company Niclen Moving Lights Systems GmbH, has added Elation Platinum Beam 5R Extreme moving heads and EPV762 MH high resolution LED moving head video panels to its extensive inventory of lighting and video products.

"We have always been in close touch with professionals from different markets and have always been good at fulfilling specific design needs and adding luminaires when needed," states Niclen CEO Bodo Valasik. "The choice to add the Elation Platinum Beam Extremes gives the market a very sophisticated tool for beam projection and offers the highest standards in brightness, optics and flexibility. We're pleased to have it in our inventory as there is always business for an excellent light."

Niclen, located at the centre of TV production in Dortmund in western Germany, has specialised in moving head systems for the past 15 years a

UK - After the global success of their take on rhythm and physical theatre, Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas have taken the Stomp concept to a new level. Where Stomp creates rhythm with everyday objects, The Lost and Found Orchestra transforms everyday objects into a plethora of invented instruments. LFO recreates every section of a symphony orchestra, using musical saws, bottles, whirly toys and traffic cones.

PRG's Andrew Strachan worked alongside Jason Culverwell from Stomp Productions as production manager and Paul Emery, lighting designer to supply the lighting and rigging for the show in Paris from 21 January to 9 February.

Within Paul's lighting design he utilised Vari-Lites, Impression X4s & Pixelline with a traditional theatrical generic rig making up the back-bone of the design.

Ian Philips was PRG project manager with Mary Webb from PRG heading up the lighting

USA - Astera LED-Technology has announced that industry veteran, Lori Mehrkens, has joined their US sales team as the sales account manager for the East Coast. Lori comes to Astera USA with more than 25 years' experience specializing in and selling performance and architectural lighting and lamps. She brings a perspective to the sales division as her foundational experience was as a lighting designer in the live music industry of the 1980s.

Lori has worked for some of the leaders in the industry, including Barbizon Electric, where she headed the wholesale lamps division for 15 years. Lori commented on the announcement, "I am looking forward to joining the Astera team as we support our clients with enormous stock, literature and product knowledge. It will be great for our clients to have less time limitations when placing an order. Astera has consistently maintained only the

UK - Arranpaul, Blackpool and the Fylde's largest sales, dry hire and full production company, deployed its recently inflated Chauvet inventory to Blackpool's Christmas Ball, which this year returned to its rightful home at one of the UK's most iconic venues: the 3500-capacity Empress Ballroom in Blackpool's Winter Garden.

The lighting rig comprised six Chauvet Professional Legend 230SR Beams, four Q-Spot 460-LED, three Q-Wash 560-LED, 10 Chauvet DJ COLORband PiX battens, 16 PixPar 24 and two COLORdash Batten-Quad 6, with six Robe 600s and six Mac 250s. Deployed for a colourful haze injection were four Chauvet DJ Geyser RGB effect foggers.

Production manager, Tom Beattie, said, "We knew we could make the venue look fantastic with the Chauvet fixtures we had and we'd just bought some new units so it was an opportunity to use those to their full potential."

The Chris

USA - Inspired by the exterior illumination on Philadelphia's Mann Centre for the Performing Arts, a York, Pennsylvania resident recently pursued his own professional lighting solution to brighten his hilltop property. Walking into local lighting integrator Production Express, Inc. unannounced, this customer aimed to illuminate massive trees lining the driveway approaching his home with a professional solution. Martin Exterior 100 lighting fixtures were installed to meet the customer's high expectations.

"The customer wanted something that would last, and we needed a fixture that would provide high intensity and a long throw distance to cover each of the 80-foot trees on the property," stated Matt DeMascolo, lighting systems manager, Production Express. "Without hesitation, we brought the Martin lights to the location for a demo and the customer was immediately co

Germany - In March, Nexo will partner with PRG Europe to provide the PA and monitoring systems in a state-of-the-art production package for the LEA Awards, one of Germany's premier entertainment awards programmes. Visitors to the Festhalle over the duration of the Prolight+Sound expo (12-15 March) will have the opportunity to hear Nexo and Yamaha in concert; a 24-set STM Series modular line array at front-of-house and a 45°N-12 line monitor system on stage, networked over Dante with a full complement of Yamaha CL Series consoles.

Sponsored by PRG, the Live Entertainment Awards (PRG LEA) reward outstanding achievement in the entertainment industry in German-speaking countries. This year, some 1,300 guests, including many prominent celebrities, will gather in the Festhalle in Frankfurt to enjoy live performances and applaud the winners of the LEA trophies. The gala event also

Germany - Robe moving lights were once again specified by lighting designer Manuel da Costa for the most recent series of the popular TV singing contest, The Voice of Germany (VOG).

The series was recorded at Studio Berlin and produced jointly by a Dutch German collaboration between Taipa and Schwartzkopff TV. It was broadcast on Pro7 and Sat 1 channels where it was again a big hit with viewers.

Da Costa has lit all three editions of VOG to date, and once again he worked closely with set designer Florian Wieder of Wieder Design and Video Content Producer Falk Rosenthal to create an elegant visual environment.

All of them drew on their previous VOG experiences to produce a different aesthetic from the last series, and within that framework, to ensure that each of the artists would receive a diversity of visual treatments that ensured that they all looked different, and

UK - Free registration is now open for the PLASA Professional Development Programme, running alongside a sold-out PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014 on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April 2014, at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

The Professional Development Programme provides visitors to this popular trade event with free access to over twenty seminars and demonstrations delivered by some of the industry's leading experts, and provides an opportunity to learn new skills and have questions answered.

Kicking off on the Tuesday, a panel of representatives from the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) will address how we talk about the artistic side of lighting design for live performance, what is meant by "good" or "outstanding" lighting design, and find ways to talk about this most ephemeral of art forms, in a discussion entitled And The Award For Best Lighting

USA - Chauvet Professional has elevated one of the industry's most popular classic effects - the strobe light -- to advanced levels of performance and functionality with its new LED-driven Strike strobe series. Combining the powerful output of SMD LEDs with rugged, roadworthy die-cast casing, the series features two models -- Strike 324 and Strike 882 - that are designed for touring and production applications.

Designed to fit a wide spectrum of rigs and venues, the Strike 324 is shaped like a low-profile par can and contains 324 white 1-watt SMD LEDs, while the Strike 882 is configured like a panel and equipped with 882 white 0.5-watt SMD LEDs. Thanks to the power and efficiency of their 6,400K LEDs, both models produce incredible brightness while consuming significantly less energy than conventional strobe lights of comparable output, offering the ability to run on standard vo

USA - Appealing to large-scale event and production professionals, Paul Braile, BlackTrax expert at CAST BlackTrax Ltd and Michael Wells, executive director of operations at Trinity Fellowship Church, Texas will present the Lights. Camera. Tracking! seminar at PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014 at room Mezzanine 27 at The Nashville Municipal Auditorium, TN from 12:00 to 13:00 on Tuesday, 18 and Wednesday, 19 February.

Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, Texas utilized BlackTrax motion tracking system in its 3,750 seat auditorium integrated with live performers, lighting, sound, multi-media and video for its 2013 Christmas Program and beyond.

"Visitors will walk away from the seminar with an in-depth understanding of how our production has deployed BlackTrax bringing significant ROI as well as lighting, logistical and creative benefits," explained Michael Wells, ex

Europe - Le Maitre is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its renowned G300 Smoke Machine - an industry standard around the globe which has been widely adopted by theme parks, theatres, cruise ships and the emergency services for breathing apparatus training.

The G300 was Le Maitre's second generation high powered smoke machine, following on from the Smoke Processor 3 series, and at the time of its launch was commented on by competitors as setting the standard by which all other machines would be judged. Le Maitre's goal at the time was quite simply to make a machine that was better than anything else on the market. This has clearly proved to be the case with sales still going strong and many of the unique features still not being able to be emulated by other manufacturers.

Le Maitre came up with and patented its 'Layered Block System' called Genesis - hence the 'G' of G300. T

South Africa - When 4U Rage Festival hits KwaZulu Natal at the end of each year, an event aimed at students who have finally completed school, its party, party, party for the next two and a half weeks. If you have young children of your own, there's still time to save up and entice them to go on a family holiday to Europe instead.... now that's a mother's thinking for you! If not, it's likely they will be asking to go to Balito, where an estimated 80 000 kids visited the area in December 2013.

The festival provides students with access card to various venues and clubs, all kitted out with top sound and lighting, and entertainment by great artists. While daytime is usually reserved for beach volleyball, soccer, surfing and tanning, this year saw revellers in gumboots and rain would not stop the fun!

Hirezone supplied the technical for the main dance floor at the Sound Factory i

USA - The world of Gospel music convened in Nashville under the illumination of Bandit Lites' gear for the 29th Annual Stellar Awards, the premier Gospel event that recognizes and honours African American artists. Daytime Emmy Award-winner Sherri Shepherd and Ricky Smiley hosted the event at the Metro Nashville Municipal Auditorium on 18 January.

With the awards being broadcasted to millions on the UP Network, lighting designer Mark Carver created a look for the show that would translate well both on television and for the live audience, in addition to relaying the emotion of the performing artists.

"Gospel Music has a very emotional and spiritual quality," Carver explained. "The lighting needs to try to help convey this emotion and engage both artist and audience."

In order to accomplish such a seamless, expressive design, Carver turned to Bandit who pro

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