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UK - PLASA is hosting two sessions on Brexit during December to help PLASA members prepare for the new trading rules which will come into play from Friday 1 January 2021.
The first session on Friday 11 December at 2pm is a 30-minute introductory Q&A which will allow members to ask questions on the new rules and how they should prepare. This session is free, but numbers are limited to 20 to allow everyone to ask their questions. Pre-registration is required via the link below.
The next session will take place on Thursday 17 December and will run from 2pm to 4:30pm, allo

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UK - Industry campaigns #WeMakeEvents and #ExcludedUK have joined forces with homelessness charity Crisis to stage Silent Nights, a protest movement that encourages people to spend a night at their workplace.
Organisers hope the action will highlight the plight of around three million workers, who remain excluded from the state’s economic relief measures related to the pandemic.
Silent Nights will start at 7pm on 18 December (Friday) and end at 7am on 19 December. Organisers are inviting those whose livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic to participate by sleeping
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UK - Technical entertainment charity Backup has announced Round 2 of applications for its Hardship Fund is now open.
The fund was launched in October with the aim to provide limited financial assistance to production crew and those working in the technical supply chain across the UK entertainment sector. Set up just ahead of the then-concluding Self-Employment Income Support and Job Retention schemes, it originally targeted those in the community who had been unable to receive any state or charitable assistance.
But Round 2 will be open to workers who have been awarded up

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UK - #WeMakeEvents, the campaign to support the live entertainment sector during the COVID crisis, is hosting an online Speakeasy from Monday 30 November to Friday 8 January. This new virtual space will deliver skills workshops, support sessions for finance and wellbeing, ‘fireside chats’ with some of the industry’s greats, and plenty of entertainment. All industry professionals are invited to join in and connect with colleagues during what will likely be a difficult festive period for many.
The Speakeasy will run regular quizzes, webinars, Q&A clinics and training sess

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Germany - Top executives from d&b audiotechnik, the Royal Albert Hall, Audiotonix and Live Nation recently came together to address the future of shared entertainment experiences at the ‘Horizons Summit: Entertainment, Technology and Beyond.’
The virtual panel discussed the effect the pandemic has had on the live events industry and how shared entertainment experiences might look in the future.
The discussion, led by journalist and author, Dan Daley, included Amnon Harman, Group CEO d&b audiotechnik; Jackie Wilgar, senior vice-president Live Nation; Craig Hassall

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UK - The Guildford School of Acting (GSA) is hosting development project Creating Theatre in a COVID Landscape.
Developed alongside FUSE ARTS, Creation Theatre and Fray Studio, the project has created four COVID-compliant theatrical events, which will be livestreamed as part of two seminars to be held on 20 and 27 November.
Working with GSA’s technical theatre students and partnering them with professional creatives, the project explores how challenging and provocative theatre can be produced whilst maintaining a COVID-secure environment. It

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UK - The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Events has now been re-established as an official group in Parliament following the appointment of a new chair and vice-chair.
Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, will be the chair of the group. Theresa takes over from James Heappey MP, who was chair for four years, until his appointment as Minister for the Armed Forces prevented him from serving in that role. Robert Largan, MP for High Peak, will serve as vice-chair.
The APPG will continue to act as the industry’s voice in Parliament and has been credited with establ

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UK - To facilitate BDO’s first ever fully virtual global conference, creative consultancy Fusion Comms produced a new digital delivery format. The BDO Rethink Festival, which is traditionally held as a bi-annual face-to-face leadership event, was instead broadcast to a global audience on 2 and 4 November.
Fusion Comms partnered with White Light (WL) to create a virtual world for the event, within its SmartStage broadcast facility at London’s Science Museum.
WL collaborated with Fusion Comms and their digital creators MalfMedia to design a flexible xR solution to facilita

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USA - Elections for the ESTA board of directors concluded at midnight on Saturday, 31 October. An outstanding number of ballots were submitted this year, the organisation reports.
There were four positions up for election to the board. Tracey Cosgrove will fill the office of vice president; Elmer Veith of Reliable Design Services will serve as secretary; Evan Williams of Riverview Systems Group is the new production services director, and Mark Wofford of PC&E was elected to serve as rental company director. All will begin their three-year term of office on 1 January 2021.

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UK - Members of the events industry lit up part of Scotland’s Nevis Range – including the summit - on 16 October. Say the organisers, “This is part of our campaign to highlight our presence to the Government and that we need assistance to keep business surviving. Scotland's events artists, technicians and crew are fighting to resurrect the industry.
“We are looking for better grants as opposed to loans and a date to begin working towards reopening our sector safely. The present financial support schemes are limiting and many freelancers in particular are not eligible due t

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South Africa - Viral video footage of an African National Congress (ANC) rally held at the Luthuli 9L Sports Grounds in Polokwane on Sunday, 8 November, attended by thousands not adhering to the social distancing regulations, has infuriated the region’s live events industry who have not been able to work for over eight months.
“We as the TPSA, SACIA and SA Events Council have lodged a complaint with the South African Police, in particular with the Provincial Commissioner of Limpopo, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba,” said Sharif Baker, chairman of the TPSA. “We are absolut

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USA - The Audio Engineering Society has announced the winners of this year’s AES Awards for distinguished achievement in the field of audio and service to the Society, presented during the Opening Ceremonies of the AES Show Fall 2020 Convention on 27 October.
The awards were presented in the online ceremony by AES president Agnieszka Roginska. The AES Show opening ceremonies are available on-demand for AES Show attendees at AESShow.com.
The AES Board of Governors Award, given to members rendering exceptional service to the Audio Engineering Society, was presented to Jorge

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UK - Event business based in England are likely to benefit from the Additional Restrictions Grant, which will be issued by local authorities in light of tightening restrictions across the country.
Local authorities remain in power over how much of the £1.1bn funding is administered and to which businesses, but the guidance encourages them “to develop disc

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South Africa - Capetonians Alex Van Dyk from Solid Group and Alan Muller created Solid Studios that ran from April to the start of October this year.
When the South African lockdown was first implemented, Alex and Alan initially started chatting over the phone about PPE, hoping to generate an alternative income. The conversation turned to how many people were now streaming, and they smiled, talking about newbies to the platform showing up with coffee in hand and dressed in slippers! It dawned on them that if they paired up, created a studio and ran it as if it were a tv paying cli

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UK - The BPI/BRIT Awards have announced the donation of £54,000 to the COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund administered by Stagehand, the Production Services Association (PSA) Welfare and Benevolent Fund. The money will help Stagehand’s relief fund to approach £240,000, which will be invested in supporting live music and events professionals affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
The contribution from the BPI and BRIT Awards comes on top of £1.62m of BPI-co-ordinated funds donated earlier this year by the recorded music sector to charities and organisations supporting artists, managers and

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UAE - Creative Technology (CT) was this year's official communications partner for the Mai Dubai City Half Marathon, which took place Friday 23 October at Dubai International Financial District. The event which saw more than 400 runners from over 40 countries take part was the first mass-running event to take place in the UAE since the start of the pandemic in March.
With a range of measures in place to ensure the safety of all participants, this year's marathon was able to have three different race categories ranging from 5km, 10km and 21km.
Adding to the event’s safety

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USA - ETC has postponed any participation in traditional trade shows until July next year. “Out of concern for the safety of its employees and global community, ETC has announced that it will not participate in traditional trade show exhibitions until July 2021,” says a statement. “With the pandemic affecting many people’s ability and desire to travel, the company has instead decided to focus its resources on remote demos and online events.”
The statement continues, “A major part of the trade show experience is the chance to see the latest gear and get one-on-one face

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UK - Five event professionals encapsulated the trials and tribulation of the UK’s events sector on the Survival Tour, 3-18 October. Their 1,700km ride traversed over a hundred venues closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where the riders met the people who would have normally produced all kinds of events (insights into their journey can be seen here).
It was a bitter-sweet experience for the riders, both physically and psychologically, as Proper Productions’ Mark Ward explain

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UK - Over the last five months, the #WeMakeEvents campaign has been raising awareness around the current plight facing the live entertainment sector and its urgent need for financial support if it is to survive the COVID-19 crisis.
With the introduction of tier systems and the continued local lockdowns, hosting live events has become even more difficult than before. The campaign is therefore continuing to make its voice heard with the next stage of its protest action - Survival in the Square.
Gary White, lead producer of #WeMakeEvents, comments: “The latest government sup

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USA - Foo Fighters recently played the #SOSFest livestream with Brit Row providing the virtual remote mixing solution. Performing at West Hollywood’s Troubadour, the gig was streamed to fans on 18 October as part of a collective action weekend in support of independent US-based music venues.
A total of 35 artists - including Miley Cyrus, The Roots, Major Lazer and Leon Bridges - played in multiple venues in cities across the US and joined the Foo Fighters in raising awareness and funds to keep North America’s cherished independent concert venues from closing indefinitely.

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UK - Immersive experience specialists Technically Creative have formed a collaboration with five other creative experiential providers to launch the Vigilante Group. The newly-formed group specialises in advertising, film, experiential spaces and design.
The companies involved are Cod Steaks - design and build artisans focusing on museums and branded attractions; Burning reel - film production; Creep -a film, animation and visual effect postproduction company; Afew - designers and developers specialising digital experiences for the web; Arcadia - event specialists, and Technical

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UK - PLASA Online, a virtual programme of talks, panels and presentations designed to help industry professionals navigate the COVID era, was hosted by PLASA last week.
Thousands signed up in advance to watch the specially-curated programme, which spanned business advice, industry insights, technical developments, and product presentations. For those wishing to catch up on any of the sessions, the full programme will remain online until 16 November - recordings from each session

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UK - PLASA Online 2020, a five-day programme of business, technical and product sessions, kicked off yesterday and will run daily until 16 October. The week-long programme includes live key notes, panel discussions and training sessions designed to provide education, guidance and inspiration during these challenging times.
In light of challenges that have emerged in the COVID era, chartered safety practitioner and production manager Tom Goode will discuss event production in the new COVID environment. Joining him will be Karl Raw, Health and Safety Inspector for the Health and Sa

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UK - PLASA’s Managing Director Peter Heath spoke to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee on Employment and COVID-19 on 6 October.
Alongside Horace Trubridge from Musicians' Union, Abigail Pogson from SAGE Gateshead and Julian Bird from UK Theatre, Heath gave evidence of the live events and entertainment sector is suffering and why the sector needs further government support. The session was broadcast on Parliament TV and is available in full here: 
  1. PLASA Online programme to begin on Monday
  2. Qdos Event Hire opens Glasgow office
  3. Join The Survival Tour bike ride fundraiser
  4. Freelance musicians unite in call for government support
  5. The Backup Pumpkin Challenge is back!
  6. Britannia Row’s Bryan Grant calls for government action
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