From next spring, Bristol's visitors and residents will have access to one of the most sophisticated learning and leisure destinations in the world. An imaginative mix of science, nature and art, the £97 million at-Bristol landmark millennium project makes extensive used of advanced media techniques. The centre is home to two major attractions - the scientifically-led Explore-at-Bristol and Wildscreen-at-Bristol which will reveal the diversity of the natural world. The centre also includes an Imax large-format cinema and planetarium. As principal AV partner, Sony will provide a broad range of professional display solutions, including its PFM-500 professional flat screen monitors, VPL-S900 and VPL-X2000E LCD projectors, together with a range of monitors and LCD panels.

Giant outdoor screen specialist Screenco is celebrating its 15th anniversary this Spring . . . with brand new, much larger premises in Hampshire, UK. The company, which was founded in 1985, has grown to become one of the world's leading suppliers of giant CRT and LED outdoor screens and screen mobiles, with offices and associated companies based in the UK, Holland, Germany, Australia and the USA. The new HQ is at Fareham in Hampshire, around 10 miles from the former Eastleigh base. The 13,000sq.ft facility gives the company more than double the warehouse space of the old building and greatly improved office and workshop space. Screenco has also unveiled a brand new website which includes full details of the company's range of rental video screen, camera and portable production unit (PPU) services, equipment and key team members.

Britannia Row Productions masterminded the audio production for the BRIT Awards 2000 which took place at Earls Court 2 in early March. The Wandsworth-based company worked with sound designer, Derek Zieba, for the event. Chris Coxhead and Bob Lopez controlled the front-of-house sound, with Vince Sharpe and Andy Ray covering monitoring world. For the loudspeaker reinforcement Brit Row drew exclusively from its large Turbosound Flashlight inventory. The main system consisted of TFS-780 and 760 LCR clusters, with LCR delays and various audience and pit fills. This will be the fourth consecutive year that Derek Zieba has chosen Brit Row and Turbosound for the BPI's premier event.

Some 2,500 children from all over the country arrived at the Millennium Dome recently to celebrate Children's Promise. The event gave the Dome the opportunity to use its newly-installed Soundcraft K1 console, which is connected into the central show BSS 9088 Soundweb network.The day was rounded off in Skyscape, with a 'Voices of Promise' concert, with a Soundcraft Series 5 desk on monitors (mixed by Mark Crawley). As a full 57-piece orchestra, a band, and child choirs of varying vocal timbres all had to be mixed, the decision was made to split the FOH mixes. While the resident 48-channel Series 5 FOH desk was assigned to band, radio mic, Genex and VT mixes, one of the Dome's roving 32-input Soundcraft K3 desks was brought in to handle the orchestral mixes, with Pete Bartlett and Matt Napier on respective engineering duties. 10 Soundweb DSP networking devices are used in Skyscape, switched between surround sound in cinema mode and straight left/right. A Soundweb in each of the C Audio Pulse amp racks (using 2x1100 and 2x650 models) handled loudspeaker management for both the JBL HLA PA rig and floor monitors; the FOH processing was in conventional analogue, though the final output was sent to the stage via Soundweb down a single Cat 5 cable.

Application Solutions has appointed Peco Electronics as the exclusive UK distributor for the brand new Integra range of high performance amplifiers. The two companies worked together on the design of the new system, combining ASL's expertise in electronics with Peco's market intelligence. First to appear will be the Integra MA 6-120, a 120W mixer amplifier.

France's premier subscriber TV giant, Canal+, has launched i>television, a news-based channel offering news bulletins every fifteen minutes interspersed with lifestyle features and music slots. EVI Audio in Paris has supplied i>television with two Midas Heritage 3000s mixing desks, one for each of their studios. Mathieu Ninat, sound engineer and audio specifier for the new channelexplained his choice. "I was already familiar with the XL-3, having seen it in a variety of applications. I know that the preamp and EQ sections are excellent and obviously it¹s a highly versatile product, so when Midas launched the Heritage 3000 with even more features, I was extremely interested. EVI Audio arranged for me to visit the factory in Kidderminster where I was able to examine the desk in detail, and I must say I was extremely impressed."

HW International, sole UK distributor for Shure, have been awarded the title of International Distributor of the Year. Each year Shure honours one international distribution centre for its contribution to the company's global sales and marketing efforts. This year the award was presented to HW's managing director Dennis Harburn at a Shure celebration dinner held during the recent Winter NAMM in Los Angeles.

The ABTT is launching a series of lectures by people who are known for their contribution to the technical aspects of the Entertainment Industry. Organised by the North Region Committee of the ABTT, the lectures will be held in major venues across the North. The first of the lectures, accompanied by lunch, will be held at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester on Thursday April 27th. The first speaker in the series will be lighting designer Howard Eaton. Eaton has worked on several large shows with David Hersey including Cats, Song and Dance, Starlight Express and Nicholas Nickleby. As a lighting designer, he lit the first tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, and went on to work on productions in the West End and at the National Theatre. He started making lighting equipment for shows like Phantom in New York and all the motor control gear for the fledgling Unusual Rigging. From this work he started Howard Eaton Lighting (HELL) which manufactures a range of standard equipment and specials for the entertainment industry worldwide.

LA Audio has announced a new partnership with Expotus which aims to increase sales in major worldwide territories. LA Audio, owned by the SCV International Group, has coupled the change in distribution with the re-engineering of the British-based signal processing range, which will be on show at the Frankfurt Musik Messe. Martin Capp, MD of Expotus told PLASA Publishing: "Expotus made its name through being at the forefront of international exports for over 30 years. Adding LA Audio to our portfolio enables us to strengthen our distribution network and offer project solutions."

ARRI and Strand are among the first companies to take space at Showlight 2001. To date, 15 of the lighting industry's most famous names are taking advantage of the opportunity to be a part of the event which allows lighting designers, manufacturers and suppliers to meet and discuss ideas. The current list of sponsors includes ADB, ARRI, Avolites, Cirro Lite, DedoLight, DHA Lighting, ETC Europe, High End Systems/Flying Pig, Howard Eaton Lighting, Lee Filters, Northern Light, Optikinetics, Philips, Strand and White Light. Taking place every four years, Showlight is organised by lighting professionals for lighting professionals and allows attendees the opportunity to mix with some of the top names in theatre, film, television and architectural and themed lighting design.

Four days of professional design and technology workshops in lighting, production techniques and audio highlight the second annual ExpoLatina running from 22-25 May at the Miami Beach Convention Center, USA. A series of lighting and sound seminars will run alongside the show with Making the Music highlighting the audio seminar programme presented by a panel of top Latin record producers and engineers. Other audio sessions range from Dubbing Music for the Latin Market and Getting the Best Live Mix to explorations of applications for loudspeakers, microphones, mixing, sound system design and studio design. The 'Beyond the Light' programme represents three days of presentations for stage, screen and special events, showcasing lighting designers, technicians and consultants from around the world. Sessions include roundtables on industry standards from ESTA, film and television lighting techniques and moving lights for television. Lighting designer Sarah Sidman presents a look at new gobos, colours and lighting techniques, while Steve Hoffman and Chris Garcia from GAM lead a hands-on look at creating special lighting effects. The workshops will be taught in or simultaneously translated into Spanish.

A weekend of celebrations will mark the opening of the new Lowry Centre, the first purpose-built centre in the UK to integrate the visual and performing arts. Based on Salford Quays, Greater Manchester, the stunning steel and glass building will receive its official opening on April 28 with a major programme of music, dance, theatre and fire. The Lowry, a national millennium project costing £98 million, will host a 1650 seat lyric theatre, a 400 seat flexible theatre, as well as a purpose-built gallery for the City's comprehensive Lowry collection. In partnership with the University of Salford, there will be an adjacent national industrial centre for virtual reality. At the heart of the opening weekend is a specially-created production - To You - which involves the local community and professional artists. The audience will then be drawn into the 1,728-seat Lyric Theatre, which boasts the biggest stage outside London, for the next part of the production before the finale - a fireworks display and water pageant by Walk The Plank Theatre Company.

Earls Court and Olympia is working with Land securities, one of the UK's largest property companies, to develop an on-site hotel at Earls Court, home to the PLASA Show. Planning permission has been approved for a 513 room, four-star hotel in the Empress State building, adjacent to Earls Court 2. The two companies are now working closely to select an operator to develop the hotel, with a decision due in the next three months. The hotel will then be operational by spring 2002.

Preparations are now well underway for this year's Theatrical London event which will run directly after the PLASA Show in London from Wednesday 13th September through to Friday 15th September. Although certain parts of the programme are still to be finalised, shows already booked include The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre and the Witches of Eastwick at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. As with previous events, Theatrical London will include a number of backstage visits to venues of interest to this industry. Full details available shortly.

Showco Inc, provider of touring sound reinforcement equipment and services to the concert touring industry, is marking the 30th anniversary of both the company, and the industry it helped pioneer in the early days of major arena rock shows. Co-founded by Jack Maxxon and Rusty Butsché, Showco grew from the humble origins of a garage-based business into one of the first sound equipment suppliers to the post-Woodstock concert industry. Later forays into stage lighting led to the 1981 formation of sister company Vari-Lite, Inc. The company has won numerous awards for its products, most recently for the Showconsole and the PRISM sound system.

As a repertory theatre, in theory Sadler's Wells could play host to a different company each week, so to make chief electrician Martin Hunt's life a little easier, he's installed 36 of Wybron's new CXI (Colour X Infinity) Colour Fusion colour changers. Offering an extensive palette, the CXIs enable Sadler's Wells to call up virtually every colour of the spectrum. Each scroller uses just two gel strings made up of graduated frames of cyan, yellow and magenta to make the commonly used gel colours from Rosco, Lee and GAM, plus a host of shades in between. For Hunt, this means that the gel strings don't have to be changed for each different production. The first production at Sadler's Wells to benefit was Dick Whittington, which was lit by Andy Bridge who is also using Wybron equipment on the UK production of Fosse.

Northern Light will be showing its latest touchscreen programmable SM desk at this year's ABTT show in London (April 5-6). This desk is similar in type to those now in use at the Royal Opera House. As sole UK distributor for Austrian Company Lighting Innovation, Northern light will also be exhibiting the Motoryoke, a lightweight remote control yoke giving pan tilt and iris control and with an adaptor for a scroller for use with the Strand SL, Source Four or other spotlights.

Following on from the success of previous years, the DI UK Light Jockey Contest 2000 - sponsored by Clay Paky and Pulsar - has attracted a large number of contestants and is now underway. Pulsar has organised a number of seminars for contestants at all levels. The preliminary heats - first introduced last year and aimed at Light Jockeys new to the Clay Paky and Pulsar range of products - have proved popular. During the month of March these took place at Pulsar's headquarters in Cambridge, making use of its recently refitted showroom. The three highest scoring contestants will go through to the main heats which will be hosted at the famous Limelight club in London.

LIW 2000 (International Leisure Industry Week, 26-28 Seprtember, NEC, Birmingham) has announced details of a new internet feature, called e-leisure world, which will form part of its Leisure Facilities Management show. The area will be dedicated to helping leisure businesses exploit the benefits of the Internet for marketing and e-commerce. Several companies have confirmed their participation in e-leisure world include web designers and e-commerce solution providers.

The STLD recently held its annual Sponsors Dinner at the RAF Museum in Hendon. The Society has some 65 active sponsors and there was an excellent turn-out from many of these, most notably Strand Lighting, DHA, Rosco, Vari-Lite, ARRI and Le Mark. Guests had the opportunity to view in private the aircraft displays at the Museum and not surprisingly, a great deal of interest was shown in the flight simulator, with a steady stream of enthusiasts queuing on one side and a not-so-steady stream of green faces exiting at the other side.

The AES UK conference will take place from 8-9 May at Church House, Westminster, London. Mark Yonge will chair the conference which will address the way networks are used to transmit streams of digital audio and will include sessions on audio quality in network design, fibre channel technology, audio file transfers, ethernet networks and digital audio interfaces. The conference will be of interest to technical managers as well as the operators and technicians responsible for developing and using new audio systems for radio, TV and music recording.The registration fee is £298 + VAT for AES members and £348 + VAT for non-members.

A new company, set up to provide lighting and power solutions for design agencies, production companies, event organisers and theming specialists, has started operating from Bristol, London and a dedicated internet site. The company has been established by Richard Cross, Mike Matthews and Elise Tregaskis - all former SLX employees - who bring to the company a combined 40 years experience in the theatre, entertainment and conference industries. Fulcrum will provide creative design, development and project management, including equipment sourcing, co-ordination of equipment hire and sales, transport, personnel, travel and accommodation for both permanent and temporary projects.

West Yorkshire-based Futurist has been appointed a Strand Lighting main distributor. The agreement will provide Futurist with Strand's full range of stage, studio, location and architectural lighting products. Significant sales stocks are now in place and Futurist are planning a major launch event at the end of April, which will include a product showcase of Strand's new 300 series memory consoles.

Marquee Audio have embarked on the first four audio installations for an expanding pub chain operating in the Brighton and Guildford area. Zelgrain Ltd have grown their own estate to 25 leisure outlets in near record time, following the acquisition of Original Pub Holdings (OPH). The first refurbishment has seen the conversion of The Old Richmond, a legendary punk rock venue in Brighton's city centre, into Pressure Point. Marquee's Scott Wakelin designed the live PA system around Turbosound TCS series contractor products. These are driven by Yamaha P4500 and QSC Powerlight amplifiers via a BSS FDS-360 electronic crossover. This forms part of a highly specified FOH network of audio equipment, which also includes a Soundcraft Spirit 16/4/3 mixing console, BSS Opal Constant Q graphic, Behringer comp/limiters and Yamaha digital reverb. An existing CA SR707 was redeployed. Stage monitoring is provided by two Yamaha P4500 amps powering Renkus Heinz Q15s, while six each of Shure's classic SM57 and SM58 mics also form part of the order.