Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024
Leeds - Main Banner - Apr24

General

Details
Europe - Blumano, engineering consultancy and advisers for safety and stage machinery design, has announced its expansion with Blumano Deutschland. This base, located in the heart of Western Europe, will work closely with Blumano’s network of offices in Ireland, the UK, Italy, South Korea and the Netherlands.
Laura van Haperen joins this organisation and brings impressive experience and her qualifications as a DGUV V 17/18 (formerly BGV C1) expert in Germany. Her career as a safety expert in machinery and equipment for stages and other production facilities includes collaboratin

Details
Theatres at Risk - The Theatres Trust has launched a new programme, Resilient Theatres: Resilient Communities, to help reduce the threat to at-risk theatres and strengthen theatre communities. The national advisory body for theatres, has been awarded a grant of more than £294,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund as well as funding from the Pilgrim Trust and Swire Charitable Trust to establish the initiative. The three-year project will focus on supporting communities operating a theatre building and communities considering taking over a theatre building.
Resilie
Leeds - Main Banner - Apr24

Details

Pay Offer - West End backstage and front-of-house workers have voted to accept a revised pay offer from the Society of London Theatre – which includes a 10% increase to minimum pay rates. The accepted pay offer will see a number of other revisions implemented in the SOLT/BECTU Collective Bargaining Agreement, which covers pay and working conditions for front-of-house and backstage staff in roles including wardrobe, sound, box office and stage door.
These include the removal of a ‘force majeure’ clause - allowing for lay-offs in the event of further Covid restrictions

Details
Eurovision Countdown - The shortlist of UK cities that could host next year's Eurovision Song Contest has been revealed, with seven locations in the running. Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield will vie to stage the event in May. Twenty cities expressed an interest, the BBC said, and those not making the shortlist include London and Belfast.
The BBC said the seven-strong shortlist was based on the cities' ability to show they have "the capacity, capability and experience to host an event of this scale and complexity".
A statement added

Details
UK - This year’s Gottelier Award nominations have been announced, with voting now in process. Named in memory of renowned industry innovator and commentator Tony Gottelier, this special award recognises the invaluable contributions of the people behind the products.
LSi readers, registered PLASA Show visitors and PLASA members are eligible to vote for the Gottelier Award. The recipient of which will be announced during the PLASA Awards for Innovation ceremony at PLASA Show on Monday 5 September. The nominees for the 2022 Gottelier Award are:
David Edelstein – Managing

Details
Tribute to Olivia - Producers of the West End production of Grease have dedicated the rest of its run to the memory of Olivia Newton-John, who has died aged 73. Newton-John, best known for playing Sandy in the 1978 film Grease, died on 8 August, with a statement from her family saying she passed away “peacefully” at her Ranch in Southern California, surrounded by family and friends. “Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer,” it said.
A stage production of Grease is currently running at the

Details
UK - Martin Audio recently introduced a dedicated environment page to its website, detailing its approach to the climate emergency. Now they have taken that a step further, announcing the funding completion for planting 50,000 trees, plus an ongoing commitment to plant another new tree for every line array cabinet sold.
Managing director, Dom Harter, takes up the story: “As a global leader in the pro audio industry, and as part of the wider Focusrite Group, environmental sustainability is a major opportunity for us to demonstrate climate leadership and values, define good enviro

Details
UK - Exhibiting at this year’s PLASA Show (4-6 September, Olympia London) on stand D3, Data Strategy will demonstrate their cable and electrical safety workhorse, the QC-Check workstation, as well as some of the QC-Check’s most popular add-on modules, including VeriCal, PowerCheck LOLER inspection and SimplyPATS integration software.
Embedded as part of the warehouse process – with integration realised for most equipment hire software - Data Strategy’s QC-Check provides practical safety inspection solutions that allow hire companies and venues to simply fulfil statutory re

Details
USA - The Audio Engineering Society has announced the incoming officers and governors following the 2022 board of directors and board of governors elections.
The Society’s membership has elected Leslie Gaston-Bird, as president-elect. Also on the board of directors, Valerie Tyler has been re-elected as secretary and Marina Bosi re-elected as treasurer.
In the AES Elections for the board of governors (BoG), Angela Piva has been elected vice president Eastern region, USA/Canada, David v.R. Bowles has been elected vice president Western region, USA/Canada and Jamie Angus-Whit

Details
UK - The deadline for entries for this year’s PLASA Awards for Innovation is fast approaching. Those wishing to enter products for this year’s awards are encouraged to do so as soon as possible, with the deadline for entrants to enjoy maximum publicity being Friday 5 August. After that, entries will be accepted until Wednesday 17 August but will miss out on key marketing opportunities associated with the awards. PLASA Show 2022 exhibitors, PLASA members and non-exhibitors are invited to enter their products to be in with a chance of winning one of the coveted awards.
Organised

Details

In Decline - Britain has 20% fewer nightclubs than it had when the country first went into lockdown in March 2020. Nightclubs have been in decline for the last 15 years or so and figures released by the Night Time Industries Association highlight that the trend of closures is continuing. That's despite the government offering billions of pounds in grants and loans throughout the pandemic to support hospitality businesses which were forced to shut down.
The NTIA recorded the lowest number of nightclubs on record - 1,130 - in its latest set of data, based on the situation in

Details
Eurovision - The Eurovision Song Contest will take place in the UK next year after show organisers decided it could not be held in the winning country, Ukraine. The ongoing war following February's Russian invasion prompted the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to look for an alternative host.
The UK's Sam Ryder came second this year, which prompted the EBU to open talks with the BBC last month. Several UK cities have already expressed interest in hosting. The UK has a number of places with suitable arenas, accommodation and international transport links, with London, Sheffield an

Details
UK - The UK Music workforce diversity survey tracks progress to boost diversity and inclusion in the UK’s music industry. This survey focuses on those who work behind the scenes in the industry, rather than those who are on stage. The final date for completed forms to be included is 8 August.
Led by UK Music’s Diversity Taskforce, the survey collates data from across the music business including studios, management agencies, music publishers, major and independent record labels, music licensing companies and the live music sector.
Launched in 2016, the finding

Details
Red Tape - The government should appoint a touring ‘tsar’ to unravel the red tape facing British musicians in Europe, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has said. They would need to tackle the soaring costs of obtaining visas and transporting instruments that bands have encountered since Brexit. Some orchestras face bills of £5,000 every time they play abroad, said the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music. It added the industry faced a "crisis" that required "urgent" action.
The call came in a major report into the state of touring post-Brexit, that warned musicians and t

Details
USA - In a 2019 survey of entertainment industry workers, over 40% of respondents said they had experienced alcohol or substance misuse. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the anxiety, fear, uncertainty, stress, and isolation experienced by so many in our industry significantly increased those numbers. Many of us saw ourselves or colleagues, friends, or family members turn to substances as a way to cope with the disruption in our lives. Many found recovery difficult to sustain.
Along with significantly increased usage comes increased overdoses. Deaths due to overdoses have spiked durin

Details
UK - To mark the centenary year of Stephen Joseph’s birth and the 60th anniversary of the founding of ABTT, the Stephen Joseph Committee of the ABTT last year established a new Award to commemorate the life and work of this maverick theatrical genius.
Following the success of the competition in 2021, the Award will again be offered in 2022 as an ongoing tribute to Stephen’s contribution to theatre culture.
Stephen Joseph was one of the most influential theatre practitioners of the last century. He was a founding father of ABTT and the Society of Theatre Consultants. He p

Details
USA - The 2022 Behind the Scenes Holiday Cards are now on sale at the BTS Boutique. This year’s collection features a mix of seven different designs created especially for the charity by Phil Foster, Jennifer Gillette, Robert Mendoza, Nancy Orr, Todd Potter and Lauren Press.
Cards are available in a variety of options: card packs of 10 with a standard greeting, personalized cards with a company logo and custom message, and electronic cards in multiple file formats and an array of price points starting at $20.
Sending a BTS holiday card helps spread the word about the char

Details
UK - Following in the footsteps of other industries that have taken steps to raise awareness of the importance of mental health, Backup has created an industry specific mental health first aider logo to help signpost people in need of support on a production, raise awareness and promote discussion around the subject of mental health in our industry.
Backup’s goal is to ensure that in every crew there is at least one trained mental health first aider crew member for every 20 crew members. “We trust that venues, promoters and production companies will engage with this is and it

Details
Theatre Funding - York Theatre Royal and Northern Stage are among 10 venues to be awarded funding from the Theatres Trust’s small grants programme. Through a partnership with The Linbury Trust, the Theatres Trust is awarding £49,476 to support 10 UK not-for-profit theatres with funding that will allow them to make repairs and improvements, enhance accessibility, and improve sustainability measures and facilities.
Jon Morgan, director of Theatres Trust said: "The wide array of projects funded this round show the many challenges that theatres continue to face. We are pleased to b

Details
USA - Theatre Projects has announced the addition of two new full-time staff members to their team. Chris Smith joins the firm as the marketing and content manager and Ashley Keen joins their strategic planning team as a senior consultant. Both bring significant expertise in their respective fields, have backgrounds in the performing arts.
Chris joins the company’s New York office to lead marketing and PR efforts. Over the past decade and a half, Chris has worked with a wide array of non-profit organizations in Chicago, Texas, and Oregon. His experience includes content creation

Details
UK - RentalPoint Software has released a fully web browser-based version of their Small Business Edition rental management software package designed for event technology rental and production companies.
This new release, says RentalPoint, is a re-imagining and updating of their Windows based product first released in 1998. It incorporates many of the features expected in software these days including online signatures for equipment deliveries and proposal/contract acceptance, dashboard, electronic pick list for prepping gear as well as scaling down to fit on smart phone screen siz

Details
UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians’ Annual Awards took place on the evening of Wednesday 22 June, after the first day of the 2022 ABTT Theatre Show at Alexandra Palace, London.
Engineering Product of the Year: XM Automation’s XMove
Sound Product of the Year: Clearcom’s Arcadia Central Station
Lighting Product of the Year: Robe’s T11
Widget of the Year: CallQ’s Showcaller Training Software
Stand of the Year: Prompt Side
Technician of the Year: Daniel Ewing
Award for Emerging Excellence: Kat Ellis
Virtual Ideas Pla

Details
UK - The atmosphere was electric at Daytona Sandown Park as the industry gathered for the first Kartfest in three years. With Chauvet once again headline sponsor, Backup was anticipating the biggest and best Kartfest yet. With more teams and more spectators joining than ever before, and a grand total of £35K raised, it certainly did not disappoint.
In opening proceedings, Backup trustee Lee Dennison paid tribute to Backup chair, John Simpson, who was instrumental in starting the charity and worked tirelessly to ensure it fulfilled its remit and sadly passed in June, whilst welcom

Details
Germany - Bizzy Studios in Cologne is a specialist recording and mixing studio geared towards rap and pop music, with five fully kitted-out studio rooms. European artists such SSIO, Jamule and Kollegah are regulars, attracted to the ambience that studio owner Bizzy Mo has created, and the skills of the talented production and sound engineering teams.
In the main studio, Van Damme XKE Starquad Series microphone cables and Van Damme Pro Grade XKE Pro-Patch Series balanced patch cables are used to connect outboard equipment.
Bizzy Mo has also recently used Van Damme Toslink c
  1. The Week in Light & Sound
  2. Stars sign up for Music Support auction
  3. The Week in Light & Sound
  4. The Week in Light & Sound
  5. Long Reach Long Riders reach $1m milestone
  6. Artech FX and Pyrofoor deliver SFX for Eurovision
Page 10 of 237
GLP - MPU - May-June 2024
Leeds - MPU - Apr24

Latest Issue. . .