South Africa - For the first year, Blond Productions supplied the full technical for the Main Stage and second year at Kyknet Stage at ABSA Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (Little Karoo National Arts Festival - KKNK), with extra equipment and crew supplied by MGG Productions. The Prolyte grid, with the inclusion of 12 new Prolyft Aetos 500kg motors, was lit with Robe fixtures.

The festival, some 1,120 kilometres from Johannesburg and 400 kilometres from Cape Town, is now embraced by all the towns people as accommodation is booked up with people flocking in to see theatre on a big sca

UK - The green generators of Film & TV Services are a familiar sight on many events and are responsible for powering the location shoots and OBs of countless TV shows and sports matches across the country and around the world. It was started by Eddie and Julie Fegan back in September 1977, their first job being the fire services annual conference in Bridlington, which they lit for BBC News. The work for the BBC grew and they took on two part time staff and a transit van loaded with a couple of redheads and blondes, which ran around doing reactive news and conference work all over the co

South Africa - A team from DWR Distribution entered The Jeep Warrior Race hosted by Advendurance at Hakahana Trails near Hatebeespoort Dam situated in the North West Province of South Africa on 10 May.

"It looked like fun," said Nicolet Britz, the only fearless female competitor from the DWR team. "And it was. The best part was the mud pit and jumping from a 6m high platform into the water."

The idea to enter the competition came from Robert Izzett and the team included Keith Pugin and his son Tyler, Eazy Moeketsi, Schalk Botha, Grant Joubert, Nicolet Britz and D

Theatre Report - Musical theatre accounts for more than half of all box office income despite comprising just 15% of all productions staged, a report has suggested. Full findings from the British Theatre Repertoire report shows that musical theatre shows made up just 15% of all productions staged in 2013, with plays forming 72%. In total, 2,196 shows were assessed, of which 329 were musicals. The report was published by the British Theatre Consortium in conjunction with the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre.

Motown Magic - Motown the Musical is to open in the West

UK - Northern Stage Services Ltd has unveiled a new corporate brand following the acquisition of the business of Lancelyn Lighting and Lancelyn Theatre Supplies in February this year.

Now operating as National Stage Technology Ltd the company is able to offer UK-wide services for specialist lighting, sound and stage solutions for the theatrical, architectural and construction markets. National Stage Technology, based out of Manchester, Wirral and Oxford, boasts access to world-class manufacturing, highly trained and experienced lighting specialists, sound and stage engineering experts

Edinburgh Rocked - Edinburgh's position as the world's pre-eminent festival city faces challenges from the digital revolution, public investment and city infrastructure, according to a new report. Thundering Hooves 2.0 is a £50,000 report commissioned by the city's festivals forum, the umbrella body for public organisations that have a vested interest in the success of the city's 12 key festivals. It builds on an original 2006 report when it was feared that the "thundering hooves" of other cities could be heard overtaking Edinburgh's status as the UK's preeminent

UK - Following Chelsea FC's success in lifting the Barclays Premier League and the Capital One Cup this season, Bank Holiday Monday 25 May saw innovision manage the Club's triumphant victory parade through the streets of West London, with over 70,000 fans out in force to celebrate the team's achievements.

Joining Jose Mourinho's First Team on the open-top parade was the academy side who enjoyed a stellar 2014/15 season, picking up the FA Youth Cup and UEFA Youth League trophies.

Working closely with the Club, innovision project managed all elements of the parade, as well as creating

Italy - ARX Systems has appointed Bregnano based Etabeta Electronics spa as their new exclusive distributor for Italy.

ARX's MD Colin Park said, "Etabeta Electronics spa are a well-known and respected Italian distributor, here at ARX we're looking forward to working with Roberto Santini and the team at Etabeta Electronics.

"They're very enthusiastic about the possibilities for the growing ARX digital and analogue product range amongst their extensive dealer base throughout Italy."

Etabeta Electronics president Roberto Santini said, "ARX fits perfectly in our po

USA - Steve Moles reports for LSi: Excepting the Rolling Stones and, Lord preserve us, Ted Nugent, it's hard to imagine that anything in rock and roll has lasted thirty five years. Yet here we are in Nashville rocking up outside the doors of Spectrum Sound and yup, they just turned thirty five years of age. Barely middle-aged by most other measures, Spectrum is in the world of Pro Audio, a grand old man. Company founder Ken Porter is the kind of guy you can imagine becoming President of the student body at high school; he is also a consummate salesman. In that sense he is not typ

UK - The industry is mourning Max Lindsay-Johnson, director of international sales at Community Professional Loudspeakers who passed away suddenly in France last Thursday, 21 May.

Steve Johnson, Community's CEO said, "We are all deeply saddened by the loss of Max, who was one of the audio industry's most respected members. He was a true professional and had a smile for everyone, with the warmth of personality that made him a good friend to those he worked with."

Community's founder, Bruce Howze, also shared, "Max was a special person and a joy to work with. He became

Rock School - Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical, School of Rock, set to open in the autumn, will be showcased this week as part of a series of concerts in New York. The concerts will take place at the Gramercy Theatre from 3-6 June. Lloyd Webber has previously said he chose New York to open his latest musical because of the more relaxed child licensing rules in America. In a targeted email, Lloyd Webber described the School of Rock concerts as being "highly-staged". He said the concerts would work better than an out-of-town tryout or extended preview period becau

USA - The Media Networking Alliance has announced the appointment of chairmen for its Technical and Marketing Working Groups, nominating Kevin Gross and Will Hoult to the respective positions.

Kevin Gross is founder of AVA Networks and a leading independent consultant to AV equipment manufacturers and systems designers. He is a pioneer in media networking, having previously conceived and developed the CobraNet transport protocol for high-quality audio over Ethernet networks. He also helped build the first configurable DSP system and developed early DAW products.

On taking up the cha

UK - Production industry consultancy entertaining sustainability returns to the ABTT Theatre Show in 2015, as the show moves to London's historic Alexandra Palace on 24-25 June.

Centre stage on Stand E25 will be a live demonstration of :entertaining sustainability's real-time monitoring system from MeasureMyEnergy, giving visitors to the show an opportunity to see how a building's energy, water and gas consumption can be interrogated down to one-minute resolution. Using such systems can result in annual savings of 10% - 20% through the ability to target energy-efficiency measures.

A

UK - To mark the arrival of their new Luton van, Showforce has launched a competition on social media. Anyone who spots the van onsite or in transit should take a photo and upload it to Twitter or Instagram. The posts should mention @showforcegroup (Twitter) or @showforcegram (Instagram) and include the hashtag #vanspotting. They will then be entered into a prize draw to win a free four-hour 'Man and Van' call. The prize worth £250 is available to anyone with the Greater London area. The winners will be announced via Twitter and Instagram on 1 July.

Anya Roszkowiak, Showforce's

Germany - ASC has expanded its maritime projects business area with the arrival of Dirk Schmerschneider to cover the yachting/residential sectors.

Dirk Schmerschneider has been responsible for the newly created yachting/residential business area since December 2014 as key account manager at ASC. He reports in this position directly to ASC's management. With his experience as a project manager for entertainment systems on luxury mega-yachts, he has added to the Hamburg-based system integrator's expertise in the field of Maritime Projects and has extended it strategically to encompass a

UK - Shannon Harvey has joined Backstage Academy as course leader on the BA (Hons) Visual Production degree. Harvey previously worked as account manager at d3 Technologies - one of the course's core supporters - and will now be responsible for running the degree and ensuring it delivers against the industry's current skills requirements and technology.

Harvey's experience covers the architectural, theatrical and entertainment industries, working with lighting, video, projection and special effects projects on a wide range of applications.

Said Backstage Academy's Sara Gleadhall, &qu

Record Sales - One Direction, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay helped UK artists account for one in seven of the albums sold globally during 2014, the BPI has said. With 13.7% of worldwide sales, it's the highest British share since the BPI began recording those figures in 2000. Sales of albums by British artists rose in Canada, Australia, Italy and Sweden, as well as the US. Albums from Sam Smith and Pink Floyd also made the top ten list of the world's biggest-sellers of 2014.

According to the BPI's Music Market 2015 report, Taylor Swift topped the list of global recording artists, after shif

USA / Canada - Another draft American National Standard has been posted for public review on the PLASA TSP website at http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/documents/public_review_docs.php: BSR E1.51 - 201x, The Selection, Installation, and Use of Single-Conductor Portable Power Feeder Cable Systems for Use at 600 Volts Nominal or Less for the Distribution of Electrical Energy in the Television, Film, Live Performance and Event Industries in Canada. Its public review period runs through 3 August, 2015; the review is over and the links to the review materials disappear when 4 August starts.

BSR E1.

UK - The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) has issued a warning to UK employers about the risks of being misled regarding their obligation to undertake periodic thorough examination of all lifting equipment.

The advice reflects growing concerns within the lifting industry that some companies are being tempted to cut costs by not conducting thorough examinations as frequently as required by LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations).

Geoff Holden, chief executive of LEEA, said: "All UK employers are subject to LOLER, which clearly states that, once

UK - Hylec-APL, the specialist supplier of electrical and electronic components, enclosures and rack systems, has announced the Techno TH392 waterproof connector with X-Dry technology. All cables are hydroscopic to some degree and will therefore absorb moisture that can collect inside the cable sheath, moving along its length and even crossing terminations in the cable. The X-Dry technology blocks moisture transmission across terminals, protecting electrical and electronic equipment.

"The special barrier prevents moisture condensation, which runs through the cable, from entering

Canada - KRE Electric has announced the availability of a unique tool to serve all industries where the use of single pole cam lock type connectors is common.

"Like many great inventions, once seen, everyone remarks 'why didn't I think of that, it is so obvious'. For anyone who has run a 500-foot, five-wire cam lock feed made up of 100-foot lengths, relief is here. The Cam Wrench is designed to remove the pressure on your wrist and elbow to delay or avoid the onset of tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis). This type of injury is caused by the repetitive motion of tightening (addin

Worldwide Appeal - Foreign music fans visiting the UK for gigs and festivals boosted the economy by £3.1bn in 2014, a report by industry body UK Music says. The report said foreign visitors spent an average of £751 and helped sustain almost 40,000 full time jobs. Across the UK 9.5m people travelled to music events.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said the news was "fantastic" but not surprising as "British music is legendary around the world". He added, "Festivals like Glastonbury hold an iconic status on the world music scene and are one of th

UK - A host of industry experts, including Tower of London Poppies theatre designer Tom Piper and Episodes actress Tamsin Greig, attended the 2015 Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance Graduate Exhibition and New Writing Season at the Bargehouse on London's South Bank from 10-14 June.

The exhibition, which attracted over 100 visitors, included work by upcoming graduates from the School of Design Management and Theatre Arts (DMTA), including Costume Production, Creative Lighting Control, Lighting Design, Performance Sound, Scenic Arts, Theatre Design and Stage Manageme

UK - When 25 industry companies came together at Sandown Park on 17th June to raise money for industry charity, Behind the Scenes UK, at their annual karting day, leading crewing company Showforce was only too happy to submit a team and lend their support. Other companies competing included: White Light, Stage Electrics, Wonder Works, Brilliant Stages, DiGiCo and Crewsaders.

The karting day saw 25 teams of up to 6 drivers race for 3 hours on an open air course with organisers promoting a competitive atmosphere of skulduggery, out-manoeuvring and general all out 'race to win' attitude.

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