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Tourist Boom - Tourists going to concerts and festivals are boosting the UK economy by as much as £2.2 billion a year. Music tourism is also said to provide 24,000 jobs each year, a report by Visit Britain and UK Music shows. Spending by people from the UK and abroad was worth £1.3 billion last year. That includes buying tickets and paying for transport and accommodation plus other indirect spending, which adds another £914m.

Visit Britain says nearly half of the average live music audience is made up of tourists, with visitors from abroad spending an average of &pou

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UK - PLASA London 2013 proved a great success with exhibitors and visitors alike at its new home at ExCeL London. Over 11,000 visitors (subject to ABC audit) attended the show, of whom over 3,000 attended on multiple days. International interest was high, with more than 2,200 visitors from 84 countries. Stand rebookings for next year's show are also up on last year, and several major companies that did not make the move to ExCeL - including Philips Entertainment - have either already signed up for 2014 or are in serious talks to return.

Chris Toulmin, head of events, PLASA London 2013

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UK - Stage One, the company that realised Thomas Hetherwick's spectacular cauldron for the London 2012 Olympics, has announced three new appointments to its senior management team.

Alan Ellis, Tim Leigh and Andy Smith join the business as Performance Director; Client Services Director; and Head of Projects respectively, at a pivotal moment for the business as CEO, Mark Johnson, explains: "The last two years have been fantastic for Stage One. The London 2012 Olympics firmly established us as world leaders in the design and manufacture of automated control systems for large scale p

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Royal Visit - The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are to visit the National Theatre today, as the institution celebrates its 50th birthday. They will be given a backstage tour by outgoing director Sir Nicholas Hytner and watch rehearsals for forthcoming family show Emil and the Detectives. Their visit marks the anniversary of the first performance at the theatre

Peter O'Toole opened the venue on 22 October 1963, playing Hamlet under the eye of founder Sir Laurence Olivier. More than 800 productions have taken place at the venue in the intervening 50 years, including premieres o

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UK - Pearce Hire has barely stopped for breath over the busy summer festival season, supplying an impressive array of events for long-standing as well as new customers.

One of those new customers is Loudsound, who contracted Pearce Hire twice over the summer to supply generated power and site lighting on the Field Day Festival in London's Victoria Park, and power distro for the XX's self-curated festival, Night & Day at Hatfield House.

Loudsound is one of the UK's leading independent festival production companies, providing event management across a number of large capacity festival

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UK - New regulations set to come into play could mean more training and investment is needed for those involved in the building of event structures, a leading safety body has said.

The advice comes from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health's (IOSH) Sports Grounds and Events Group, in the light of new Construction Design Management Regulations (CDM), which are set to take effect in October 2014.

Carl Hagemann, chair of the IOSH Sports Grounds and Events Group, said: "Event organisers and those working in safety at events really do need to realise the impact the new

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UK - The First Night Riders charity motorbike and classic car adventure, which raises money to help The Theatrical Guild support backstage and front of house staff, has announced new dates for 2014.

Organisers David and Brenda Edelstein, from track systems specialist Triple E, will be leading next year's event and are inviting riders and classic car enthusiasts to join them from 20-23 June 2014.

Next year will be the fifth time the First Night Riders have toured the UK, setting off from a London location (TBC) and visiting some of the UK's most fascinating theatres and theatre su

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UK - PLASA secured a significant lobbying success last month when the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee published its report into 'Supporting the Creative Economy'. The Committee roundly endorsed PLASA's position regarding the Olympics 'No Marketing Rights Protocol'.

The report was the culmination of an inquiry which was launched just over a year ago with a call for evidence from the Committee, which is made up of MPs from across all political parties. PLASA made a detailed written submission as to how the creative industries can be better supported, with a pa

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UK - VDC Trading Limited has appointed Stefano Pucello as international sales manager. In this new role Stefano will be responsible for the management and development of the International markets for the Van Damme range of professional grade AV cables.

Pucello joins VDC with more than a decade of international sales experience in the wire and cable industry and has most recently lead the sales and marketing department for a well-established British brand within the UK broadcast sector.

Chris D'Aguiar, VDC's commercial director, said, "Stefano brings a wealth of experience to VD

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USA - Stampede Presentation Products has announced the appointment of John Marcolini to the position of vice president of product management.

"As we emphasized at our 2013 Vendor Summit, the traditional hardware based AV industry is giving way to a new personalized industry that is built upon the ideas of connecting, integrating, and sharing devices and software apps in entirely new eco-systems," said Stampede president & COO Kevin Kelly. "This shift is challenging our industry to stop using the terms 'audio and video' and start using the terms 'see, hear and control' i

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RSC Record - The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) says its income rose by a quarter in the past year, its highest figure ever. Its income rose to £62.6m in 2012-13 compared to £50.1m a year earlier, while box office receipts increased by about 75% from £18.1m to £31.6m. An RSC spokeswoman said its production of Matilda The Musical, which continues to play to full houses in London, had a "significant impact" on figures. There were 1,459 performances of 25 productions in 2012-13.

Fundraising, which includes money from individuals, companies and ch

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Italy - Genelec has announced that MidiWare Srl is its new Italian distributor. From 1 November 2013, Midiware will be responsible for Genelec monitoring product distribution and dealer support in the region, following a mutual parting of the ways with long-term partner, Leading Technology Srl.

MidiWare is based in Rome and has a local sales office and demo space in the Lecco area close to Milan. MidiWare also represents other brands including SSL, REM, Moog, SE, Novation in both the professional and MI segments. Jarmo Masko, international sales manager is delighted that Francesco Bor

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UK - After 25 years in the business, in the year Artistic Licence celebrates its Silver Jubilee, the company is relocating to a new studio space in London's vibrant Kentish Town.

Based in Harrow, Middlesex, for over two decades, the lighting control specialist has previously occupied the sort of light industrial premises suited to a traditional manufacturer. However, Artistic Licence now operates more as a design house, outsourcing the majority of its product assembly needs.

CEO Wayne Howell explains, "Artistic Licence is an agile company, happy to reinvent itself as the market

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UK - Trade associations PASMA and SELECT have entered into a new partnership agreement, bringing together their respective members in the work at height and electrical contracting industries.

The agreement between PASMA, the leading trade association for mobile access towers, and Scotland's trade association for the electrical industry, SELECT, will ensure that PASMA training is more accessible to SELECT members.

Delegates who take this route will receive a joint-badged PASMA card with the SELECT logo as a sign of their competence to work at height. With falls from height the leadin

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USA - When the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage at Theatre for a New Audience's Polonsky Shakespeare Centre opens this week, at 262 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, well-travelled theatre-goers may get a sense of deja vu.

The 299-seat theatre's two galleries, steep orchestra seating rake, and modest capacity create a closeness between the actors and audience that will remind some of a groundbreaking theatre 3,500 miles across the Atlantic. A theatre that through its innovative physical flexibility, intimacy, and dedication to experimentation helped revive the form of the courtyard theatre: The Cot

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UK - A new work-friendly part-time option of its Live Sound Technology course will be offered by Britannia Row Productions Training starting in January 2014. With classes taking place on one weekday evening plus one weekend day per week, the course becomes accessible for those who work full-time or have other commitments.

While contents and learning outcomes of the course remain essentially unchanged from the full-time version of the training programme, the curriculum will be delivered in three sections: 1. Live Sound Fundamentals, 2. System Engineering and 3. Mix Engineering. This st

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UK - The AED UK businesses including AED Rent, AED Distribution, AED Store and AED Second-hand are opening their doors on Tuesday 5 November for a Guy Fawkes themed Open Day. From 10.30 am to 6 pm, all visitors are welcome to meet the AED UK Team and have a look around their facility.

AED Distribution which enjoyed a busy inaugural PLASA, will be showing products from all of its partner brands including High End Systems automated luminaires, digital lighting and the HOG4 Family of consoles. Also, other brands such as SRS, Swisson, Prolyte, CM, GLP and MediaLas will be in action with m

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Arts Funding - Funding for English museums, galleries and theatres is heavily slanted towards London, a report has said. Central government spending on arts and culture in the capital amounted to £69 per resident in 2012/13, compared with £4.60 per person elsewhere in England.

Arts Council England chair Sir Peter Bazalgette admitted an imbalance existed, adding: "More should be done." He told the the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "There is an imbalance, there's no question. I've only been at the Arts Council for a few months. I'm absolutely passionate

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USA - PLASA's month-long elections to determine positions on its European and North American Regional Boards, together with its central Governing Body, concluded at midnight on Thursday 31 October.

Companies and individuals from PLASA's worldwide membership voted in the elections, which were conducted via a secure online poll.

There were four positions available on the European Regional Board. Filling the officer positions, Adam Blaxill of Stage Electrics was elected Regional Board Vice-Chair and Duncan Bell of Autograph Sound Ltd, was elected Secretary. Lee Dennison of Sound by Des

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) have praised the performance of industry-sponsored racing driver, Jack Goff in his debut season of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship - which ended with a climactic battle for first position and a podium finish in the final race.

After winning the Renault Clio Cup in 2012, Jack moved up a level and signed with Team HARD for the 2013 BTCC season. He achieved great pace over the season, including being second fastest for most of the race day at Silverstone and a 2nd place podium finish in the final round at Brands Hatch.

As a r

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Qatar - European flightcase manufacturer 5 Star Cases has shipped the first part of a major order for over 100 road cases for live event AV and video specialist Creative Technology (CT)'s Doha, Qatar facility.

These are to house a variety of kit used day-to-day by the busy rental operation which is headed by general manager Andy Reardon, including control systems, racks, a variety of different sized plasma screens, mains and power distros, 3U drawered racks, plastic blow-moulded cases with CNC machined foam inserts for audio and video processors and a number of high end bespoke design

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UK - Chilfest - the new boutique festival staged in Tring, Hertfordshire by Universal Event Productions (UEP) - has been nominated in two categories of the 2013 UK Festival Awards.

The two day event - the first and only music festival to be promoted and staged by an industry technical production solutions specialist - has been nominated in the 'Best New Festival' and 'Best Family Festival' categories. The Awards ceremony takes place at London's Roundhouse on 2 December.

A delighted Steve Butcher, MD of UEP declared, "I can hardly believe it - it's amazing to even be nominated a

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UK - Le Mark's Steven Marshall has been titled an 'outstanding employee' by the professional judges of the Archant Herts & Cambs Business Awards. Steve is known to many as the project manager and lead designer for Le Mark Groups Dirty Rigger gloves and accessories division. The Judges commented: "It's not often you come into contact with a young man who has such passion for business excellence and creativity".

Stuart Gibbons, Le Mark Groups MD commented: "It's been a personal pleasure for me to have mentored Steve and see him develop into such a consummate professional

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Hydro News - Glasgow is to host the 20th MTV Europe Music Awards (EMA) next year. The event will be held at the city's £125m Hydro Arena, which opened in October, and has a capacity of 13,000. Bruce Gillmer, from Viacom International Media Network (VIMN), confirmed the ceremony would be held in Glasgow for the first time. It follows discussions between MTV, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and EventScotland. Said Gilmer, "As one of the world's great music cities, Glasgow is always a favourite with artists and the new SSE Hydro will provide the perfect backdrop for the MTV EMA in
  1. One dead after pyrotechnic blast at Paris musical rehearsal
  2. Pearce Hire and the challenges of Bird Watching
  3. PLASA Focus returns to Nashville this February
  4. The Week in Lighting & Sound
  5. Swan Award presented to Rocky Paulson
  6. Stewart Awards for Paul Rabinovitz and E1.21 Task Group
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