UAE - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises, distributors of Neutrik for the past 20 years has been appointed as the distributor for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries which include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

"Neutrik connectors are an essential part in any audio, video, lighting and communication system," commented Chicco Hiranandani, business development manager at NMK. "Their connectors can be found across the region in large infrastructure projects, mid-sized facilities to small venues. Ensuring a

UK - Visitor registration for PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012 closes at 5pm today. Don't miss out, register for your free visitor badge today and experience the largest get-together of entertainment technology professionals in the North.

Registration is free, choose from 20 free seminars and meet 130 exhibitors across two sold-out halls. Plus, who says there's no such thing as a free lunch? Free lunch will be served from 1pm on both days of the event.

PLASA Focus: Leeds 2012 takes place at The Royal Armouries in Leeds on Tuesday 17 & Wednesday 18 April. Don't mis

UK - inspHire will be demonstrating its award winning, easy to use, Hire Management Solutions, at Scotland's leading Construction and Plant exhibition, ScotPlant 2012, on 27-28 April.

inspHire's hire management software boasts a modern interface, full of easy to use features which has helped over 900 single and multi-depot companies worldwide grow and increase profitability. Dedicated to continual product development, inspHire will be demonstrating latest features including new user-friendly Hire Management Dashboards on stand D10 in the Pavilion.

inspHire Dashboards provide key, re

USA - More than 60 Chauvet Professional fixtures make their big-screen debut in Tyler Perry's new romantic drama, Good Deeds.

Southeast Staging set up the runway and brought in lighting for the design team's 'Club Riot' scene. To light the scene, Bob Daniel, president and chief executive officer of Southeast Staging recommended COLORado Tour fixtures because of their on-camera capability as well as their efficiency, powerful output and precise colour temperature settings.

"We chose the COLORado Tour series because they are the brightest and most versatile lights in their

UK - James Harden is that latest addition to the ELP production staff. He joins ELP from Panalux where he was a project manager looking after broadcast and events clients.

"This is an excellent addition to our team" comments acting MD Dave Keighley. "James has over 30 years experience in the industry across all the various production sectors ELP work in including TV, music, corporate, sport and fashion shows. "

Harden grew up in South Africa and that's where he first worked in the entertainment industry. "I was a road manager for various bands, lighting desi

USA - Audio-Technica is introducing its new System 8 VHF wireless systems. Featuring stackable, contemporary styling, Audio-Technica's System 8 Wireless Systems are designed for reliable performance, easy setup and clear, natural sound quality at affordable price points.

Available in handheld, headworn, guitar, lavalier and body-pack configurations, these single-channel, fixed-frequency systems are available in three travelling VHF frequencies (169.505, 170.245 and 171.905).

The System 8 units offer reliable performance and durable construction. Features include an advanced dipole a

South Africa - Cape Town-based SMD Technical purchased Robe Robin 300s at the end of last year, which have gone out on almost every job since, including Johnny Clegg, Locnville and Radio Kalahari Orkes.

"I think that the regular lighting, staging and sound aspects of the Cape Town market is saturated with highly competitive businesses, and tend to operate with a more rock 'n roll approach, whilst the specially engineered/ bespoke side is unsaturated and far more complex in its requirements," said David Harris from SMD. "We find that our clients are leaning towards more

UK - Entec's sound division again supplied a powerful d&b system to the 2012 Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) shows at London's Royal Albert Hall (RAH), taking the opportunity to use the new d&b V-Series speakers as part of the main system for the high profile event.

Entec has supplied audio to TCT at Albert Hall since it started 12 years ago, and for the last four years, the system has been designed and overseen by Liam Halpin for the west London based rental company. Entec has used d&b on TCT for all 12 years, ever since it became their first-choice rental brand.

The RAH event involves

China - At close of day two of InfoComm China 2012, attendance at the show was 14,868, representing a 39% increase over its previous showing in 2011. Final attendance at close of the three-day exhibition is expected to breach 16,000, a record turnout in the history of the show.

The 30 sessions of the InfoComm China Summit education programme also attracted a record attendance of 1,550 delegates, more than double that of last year.

The organizers have already announced that the 2013 show will expand to Halls 5 and 6 next year to cater to the additional demand for space, not just from

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has announced the appointment of four new members of staff, as well as a number of role changes within the company, in order to service the needs of its growing customer base.

These changes are part of the AC-ET's philosophy of continuing to reinvest in, and further develop its business, to ensure that customers and suppliers continue to receive the highest levels of service and support, says the company.

James Bawn has taken on the joint role of technical sales manager and Chroma-Q global brand manager.

Having served as AC-ET's Norther

USA - PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012 is set to welcome a raft of new exhibitors as the two-day event continues to grow, with over 20 companies now committed to taking part and as many applications being processed. The event takes place 11-12 July, at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, TN, and is the first of its kind to be held in the region.

Confirmed exhibitors include: Barbizon, IATSE, Seachanger, Hive/Interspace, Show Sage, Ultratec, LynTec, Nicolaudie America Inc., Thern Stage Equipment, Coolux, Doug Fleenor Design, Chauvet, Robe, High End Systems, White Light, Creative Stage Light

UK - Wireless Solution Sweden AB is on the road again, this time heading for PLASA Focus: Leeds with new products and some innovative advancements to their W-DMX product range.

In addition to demonstrating their new product advancements, Wireless Solution will also be holding a seminar on Wednesday, 18 April from 1:00-1:45 in the Wellington Room covering Wireless Controls with RDM and Ethernet Advantages. The seminar will be hosted by Ben Darrington and is appropriate for lighting operators, lighting designers, installers, rental and stage managers.

The company has been working on a

Sweden - The award-winning wysiwyg previsualization suite from CAST Software of Toronto, Canada played a key role in the recent Melodifestivalen 2012. This is the annual Swedish song contest that determines Sweden's song to be internationally represented in the Eurovision Song Contest. This year's Melodifestivalen began 4 February 4 and the Finals were held at the Globe Arena in Stockholm on 10 March.

Lighting designer Fredrik Jönsson used wysiwyg for the lighting of 32 songs from all over Sweden, with a total of six live broadcasts by SVT (Swedish Television) from Växjö, Gothenbur

Canada - Apex has appointed Gerr Audio as its distributor for Canada. Gerr Audio was established nearly 30 years ago in Brockville, Ontario.

"Apex is well-established as a manufacturer of the highest quality signal processors," says Gerr Audio president Bob Snelgrove.

"The Intelli-X2 processors set a new benchmark for quality in the live entertainment industry and now the new Intelli-Z2 series is bringing that quality to the installed audio market. We are very pleased that we can now supply Apex's level of quality to the Canadian market."

(Jim Evans)

Russia - Green Hippo are making a substantial push into the Russian market with their recent sale of ten Hippotizer HD media servers to Big Screen Service in Russia.

Head of sales, Samantha Bailey, comments, "Big Screen Service are an important contact for us in Russia. They are involved in some major projects and we are very excited to have them on board as professional Hippotizer users in this area."

Based in Moscow, Big Screen Service was formed in 2001 and is a leading rental supplier of video display systems. The company deals with LED products, video projection and m

UK - To support the logistics for an expected 1,000km of cable, distributed across 39 venues in seven different locations, generator rental operator Aggreko has selected Le Mark's custom printed heat shrink cable labels.

The heat shrink labels will be custom printed with Aggreko's unique code system, allowing them to instantly scan the label to see cable details including size, length and stock quantity, hugely increasing the accuracy in distribution at one of the UK's most challenging events.

Le Mark's Leanne Baker says, "It's a huge achievement to be part of the 2012 Olympics

USA - This year marks a milestone for High End Systems. As of February 2012, High End Systems has been selling digital lighting products for 10 years.

The industry's largest portfolio of digital lighting currently includes the DL.3, DL.3F, DML-1200 w/Axon, Axon Media Server, Arena View System and the all new DLV. In celebration of the decade, High End Systems is offering special promotions on all digital lighting products.

High End Systems continues to grow as a leader in the digital lighting market with the release of the DLV Digital Light in early 2012. This new, small unit retain

UK - Philips Selecon and Strand Lighting distributor, Architainment has completed an installation project for ITN at the new, remote controlled Channel 5 news room in London Bridge.

"ITN recently won the Channel 5 News contract back from Sky. To accommodate the contract it needed to refurbish its news rooms," explains key account manager at Architainment, Bryan Kelly. "As part of the refurbishment project the lighting team was keen to improve presenter lighting. The Channel 5 news room is now entirely lit with Philips Selecon and ColorKinetics LED luminaires including S

Russia - Concert and event specialists CitySound has recently invested in a massive Martin Audio sound reinforcement consignment - taking their rental inventory into a new league.

The new order is built around a 36-enclosure MLA system, comprising of 22 MLA top boxes, 12 MLX subs, and two MLD down-fill enclosures. It also includes 22 x Martin Audio W8LC Compact line arrays (and two W8LD down-fills), 10 x W8LM (and two W8LMD down-fills), 20 x WS218X 2 x 18" subs. Controlling the systems will be six new MA18K and 12 MA5.2K amplifiers, along with a pair of DX1.5 dedicate digital sys

UK - Le Mark with its XS Lady Grip Gloves from Dirty Rigger has chosen PLASA Focus to launch their support for the Breast Cancer Care programme.

Driven by the Le Mark team of Leanne Baker(head of UK Sales) & Steve Marshall ( DR project manager) they believed the XS Lady Grip line, with its bright pink decals and logos, is the obvious choice .

"As a company Le Mark has always tried to support relevant charities as much as possible," says Baker. "Last year we were able to product link and donate to the PSA's StageHand Appeal. This year we have chosen something , I think

UK - The 2012 Olivier Awards, representing the best of London theatre over the last 12 months, were presented in a glittering ceremony at London's Royal Opera House this Sunday,15 April.

White Light, which supplied the lighting equipment to the ceremony and many of the nominated shows, as well as sponsoring the Lighting Design Award, would like to congratulate all of this year's winners.

In the lighting category, the award went to Bruno Poet for his work on Frankenstein at the National's Olivier Theatre. A central part of his design was a dramatic wedge-shaped light bulb ceil

UK - Stage barrier specialist Mojo Barriers is showcasing its proprietary crowd safety products on stand RA-B19 at this week's PLASA Focus in Leeds.

With a recently opened York office, alongside its London headquarters, Mojo Barriers provides services to live events across the country including festivals, tours, sporting and cultural occasions, premiers, and council events. Its UK team is at PLASA Focus to discuss the extensive range of Mojo stage barriers, crowd barriers and fencing along with post and rope and cable ramp.

Mojo Barriers UK director Jim Gaffney comments, "Peopl

UK - At PLASA Focus Leeds this morning, UK-wide distributor Impact announced an exclusive UK distribution deal with loudspeaker manufacturer Ohm, in tandem with the launch of a new speaker range developed jointly by both companies.

JET by Ohm is a range of British-made speakers at affordable prices, which can be seen at PLASA Focus on the Ohm/Impact stand RA-A17. To celebrate the partnership, Impact is running a competition throughout the show to win five pairs of Ohm BR-5 loudspeakers, requiring visitors to answer a simple question correctly to enter.

Impact, which has just announc

Waltzing Matilda - Matilda The Musical was the biggest winner at this year's Laurence Olivier Awards, winning seven prizes at the ceremony held at the Royal Opera House in London. They included one for best actress in a musical, presented jointly to the four child stars who share the title role. Matilda's record-breaking tally topped that of Nicholas Nickleby - another RSC show - which won six awards in 1980.

Special awards were presented to lyricist Sir Tim Rice and to Dame Monica Mason, who is shortly to leave her post as director of the Royal Ballet after 54 y

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