USA - The AES and OCA Alliance will be working together at the forthcoming 137th AES Convention in Los Angeles towards the ratification of the alliance's proposed Open Control Architecture as an AES public standard.

At the same time, the alliance will be exhibiting on the exhibition floor (booth 1152), explaining and demonstrating the benefits of the OCA standards-based control and monitoring architecture, with a live demonstration of control and monitoring across networked audio devices from different manufacturers.

OCA defines communications protocols for reliable and secure contr

UK - The Grade II* former circus theatre, Brighton Hippodrome, tops the 33 theatres on The Theatres Trust's Theatre Buildings at Risk Register 2014, launched at the Theatre Royal Brighton on 18 September. The annually published register features the most 'at risk' theatre buildings across the UK under threat of demolition and redevelopment, theatres that lie abandoned, neglected and decaying, and theatres in use at risk of closure.

Brighton & Hove City Council has approved demolition and redevelopment plans for the Grade II* Brighton Hippodrome to create a cinema multiplex and

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has announced the appointment of well-known industry figure, Mats Karlsson, in a new international business development role.

Mats has more than 30 years of experience in various roles spanning rental and production, lighting design, sales and product development - and joins the company after some 10 years in LED display development at Barco, Martin Professional, and most recently, VER.

He will be responsible for increasing the market share of AC-ET's exclusive and key brands internationally, including the supply of Chroma-Q, Jands, Proli

UK - Realtime Environment Systems Ltd - to be known as 'RES' - is a new technical solutions company offering services to help designers, creative agencies and artists "achieve their wildest visual dreams". Mark Calvert and Dave Green have formed RES to provide "technical consultation and project-wide integration of all things visual in stage shows, corporate campaigns and permanent installations". The company will utilise the Ai Media Server - one the world's most powerful media server platforms, manufactured and developed in the UK by Avolites Media Ltd. RES Ltd is

John Peel Lecture - Iggy Pop is to deliver this year's John Peel Lecture. The singer, regarded by many as the godfather of punk, will talk about the subject of free music in a capitalist society on 13 October. The lecture will be aired live on BBC 6 Music, the digital radio station on which Pop hosts a weekly show, and later on BBC Four. The lecture is named in honour of late BBC Radio 1 broadcaster John Peel, who died in 2004. An annual event since 2011, the lecture allows prominent musicians to discuss the state of music and the music industry. It has previously been delivered by Char

UK - Robe, Clay Paky and Shure have been announced as the headline sponsors for PLASA London 2014. The show, which returns to ExCeL London for a second consecutive year starts on Sunday 5 October and is expecting visitor numbers of over 13,000. There they will see 250 exhibiting brands and 100 hours of educational seminar content along with numerous press launches, parties, networking events and gala dinners.

Robe Lighting is Platinum Sponsor for the third year running and will mark the occasion by occupying a huge, 1,000 square metre space on the show floor. Robe World - PLASA

UK - The Theatres Trust announces the full programme of events on its TheatreStage at PLASA London from 5 - 8 October at ExCel London. A total of 21 presentations will be held on the TheatreStage - running over all four days of the PLASA London show.

TheatreStage provides a focus on the show floor for visitors and the theatre industry to network and learn about projects, initiatives, campaigns and organisations connected to the theatre sector.

New initiatives launched from TheatreStage this year include The Backstage Heritage Collection, and the ALD / Lightmongers' Award for Lightin

UK - As the deadline for entries approaches, nominations for the PLASA Awards for Innovation are rolling in. Examples of all the nominated products will be exhibited at the PLASA Show's Innovation Gallery at the centre of the PLASA show (ExCeL London, 5-8 October), forming a focal point for visitors to the exhibition keen to view the latest technologies.

The products will be judged against one another on the strength of their innovation alone. All nominees will have the opportunity to make a 5-minute presentation, during the show, to a team of independent expert judges, who will have

UK - Jaguar dramatically unveiled its brand new sports saloon, the Jaguar XE, celebrating British creativity with a number of exhilarating live performances and stunts.

Global creative agency, Imagination was briefed by Jaguar to design and produce a series of innovative special events across London at iconic locations, defining another moment in the remarkable history of this brand.

Events started with an installation of the XE word cloud sculpture in 'The Tank' at the design museum on the 5 September. Imagination worked closely with Jaguar's design team to hand craft these contemp

USA - Axente is looking forward to optimising the market potential of Symetrix digital processing solutions in its new role as the US manufacturer's French distribution partner. Based in Longjumeau, in the south of Paris, Axente was established in 1994 to serve lighting and truss manufacturers. Following its diversification into audio in 2003, the company has progressed to represent some of the biggest brands in the business, including fellow Dante-enabled lines Televic, EAW and Powersoft.

"The addition of Symetrix to its portfolio arrives at an opportune moment for both Axente a

UK - MDG Fog Ltd has appointed two new distributors for its range of fog and haze generators.

From 1 October 2014, MDGfog UK, a trading division of Robe UK Ltd, will take responsibility for the exclusive distribution of the full MDG product range in the UK & Eire. This new division will be headed by Matt Wiseman, a well-known face in the UK entertainment industry who brings 20 years of experience to the role.

"I am looking forward to the new avenues and responsibilities this arrangement brings," says Wiseman. "It will allow MDGfog UK to focus wholeheartedly on promoti

Directors' Cut - Leading theatre figures including Marianne Elliott, Matthew Warchus, Vicky Featherstone and Jeremy Herrin have launched the industry's first body aimed at representing stage directors. Increasing fees in the sector is one of Stage Directors UK's first priorities. It will also represent directors on issues such as royalties, contracts, digital rights and copyright, as well as leading on training initiatives. Directors can become members of Equity, but SDUK says the lack of an organisation dedicated to the needs of opera and theatre directors has "led to an increasin

UK - Award-winning design and documentation software specialist, Stardraw.com, has announced some important enhancements to its Product Requests service, (historically known as Symbols Requests) to improve responsiveness and transparency. Product requests are a way for users to tailor the Product Libraries contained in Stardraw Design 7.1 to their own specific requirements.

The service already has an excellent track record: of the nearly 13,000 requests received since the service was inaugurated in 2002, over 95% have been published, with 40% of requests being published within a week

UK - Award-winning staging, seating and rigging specialist, Star Events Group, has four new faces at the window and a vacancy for an industry savvy structural engineer.

Senior design technician, Barry Gaynor, brings more than 30-years' experience as a project designer/draughtsman in the construction industry to the role.

Sales administrator, Sharan Tott, comes to the job from a very well known internet and telecommunications provider, where she managed a range of large projects and high net worth clients as project coordinator.

Martin Hunt, tasked with overseeing crew management a

UK - At PLASA London, uTRAC has revealed its top five feature developments to facilitate more efficient organising and tracking of labour for events

With the launch of uTRAC v2.0, the team has bolstered its drive to become the go-to workforce management application for events. The significantly re-designed interface has been tailored to improve the user experience and make its mobile app more touch friendly for people wanting to do their scheduling on the go with their tablets.

The new notification centre showing outstanding tasks includes notifications for unpaid invoices, unfilled

UK - At PLASA London 2014, A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has confirmed a number of senior appointments.

Laurie Giraudeau joins AC-ET in the new role of marketing manager, with immediate effect. Laurie will use her proven track record within digital marketing & brand communications to develop and oversee the marketing strategies for AC-ET's specialist lighting, audio, rigging and video sales divisions, and sister installations company, A.C. Special Projects Ltd.

AC-ET Director, Peter Butler, comments, "The Board of Directors are delighted that Laurie is joining us to s

UK - It was confirmed at PLASA London 2014 that White Light has appointed Lee Dennison as Head of Audio, further expanding the company's audio expertise. The move signals more growth for White Light as the company continues its strong market presence throughout the entertainment and events industries.

Dennison brings more than 20 years of audio experience to the position. He has previously worked with Autograph Sound Recording and most recently spent seven years working with Delta Sound/Sound by Design in a projects director position. In his new role at White Light, Dennison will work

UK - PLASA London opened its doors at 10am this morning and welcomed a surge of visitors in the first few hours of the show. Hundreds of people skipped their typical Sunday activities in favour of a vibrant exhibition floor and an education programme packed with the world's biggest names in entertainment technology.

Here are some of the highlights from today's show:

World Class Exhibitors

Every year, PLASA London brings together the most important audio, lighting, video and staging companies, filling the show floor with a feast of exhibitors. This year is certainly no diffe

PLASA London 2014 - The first two days of PLASA London 2014 witnessed busy stands and aisles with exhibitors and visitors alike commenting on the number of meaningful conversations they are having. PLASA London is all about revealing new products, exploring opportunities, supporting business growth and connecting people.

Mick Hannaford, Managing Director of Robe UK offers his view of Robe's huge 1000sq.ft stand: "To be honest, we've been overwhelmed - it's working really well," says Mick. "There are so many business conversations going on in here, it's amazing. Normally

UK - The Technical Theatre Awards, which celebrate the achievements of people working behind the scenes, have announced their winners at a well-attended ceremony during PLASA London 2014 hosted by Kasper Holten.

Now in their second year, the Technical Theatre Awards (TTAs) were established to give due credit to the often unsung heroes and heroines that work backstage to make the theatre magic happen.

The winners are:

The Douglas Turnbull Award for Outstanding Achievement in Stage Management (Supported by Opera Holland Park)

Sharon Hobden

The Philips Entertainment Award

UK - The PLASA Awards for Innovation (sponsored by Lighting&Sound International) were presented on Tuesday 7 October, revealing the most ground-breaking products of PLASA London 2014. It was a night of celebration and remembrance, as the prestigious Gottelier Award was awarded posthumously to Clay Paky founder, Pasquale 'Paky' Quadri, who recently passed away.

Clay Paky's Chief Operational Officer, Pio Nahum, graciously accepted the Gottelier Award on behalf of his friend and colleague. The other nominees - Richard Belliveau, David Cunningham and Dr Christian Heil - withdrew fr

UK - Suzanne Wynne of ShowTex has raised over £2000 so far for Macmillan Cancer Support by having her 43cm long hair shorn down to just 6mm on the final day of the PLASA Show. And the hair itself has not gone to waste - it was donated to The Little Princess Trust, which provides real hair wigs for both boys and girls across the UK and Ireland who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment.

Suzanne told LSiOnline: "Prior to the event I was quite overwhelmed to receive so many messages of support . . . doing this had clearly made people think, and some had even decided

UK - SEDA, the South Eastern Discotheque Association, marked its 40th anniversary at the weekend with a gala dinner at The Britannia, Chatham. So far as is known, SEDA is the oldest DJ organisation in the world. During its four decades it has worked to educate and improve the industry and the public, and has worked with national and local government bodies and trade and industry associations, organising seminars, exhibitions and technical events.

SEDA's Honorary President, Theo Loyla, told LSiOnline: "SEDA was involved with the formation of the British Association of Discotheque

UK - Dick Tee, managing director of EnTEEtainment Ltd, has tendered his resignation as Pyramid and Other stage production & area manager. After 18 years at the helm of Glastonbury Festival production, the veteran award winning production manager cites 'irreconcilable issues' and he and his staff will cease their association with the festival with immediate effect.

Says a statement from EnTEEtainment: "In the past two years since Festival Republic ended its involvement with the festival there have been a series of management restructures and operational changes at Glastonbury, whi

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