General

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14 March 2016

Leading the Australian business is Eric Lawrence, Melbourne resident and long-term Charcoalblue associate, who has worked with the team on the RSC Courtyard, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and the forthcoming Astana Expo 2016. He extends a warm welcome to anyone visiting or passing through Melbourne to the Design Studio, which is based at 104 Johnston Street, Suite 4A, Fitzroy.

"We share our building with a film co-operative in Fitzroy," says Eric. "There's great coffee, decent wifi and our local bar is the wonderfully named Naked for Satan! Pop in for a pint if you dare!"

Supporting this global growth is Gary Sparkes in Charcoalblue's London studio, who

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14 March 2016

With many events in the Middle East attended only by women, there is a need for can-do ladies who provide an extra pair of hands and ensure their successful delivery. Showforce's newly launched female event crew offer a team of experienced, friendly and resourceful all female event crew. Launched primarily to cater for private events, weddings and galas they can assist with set-up, decoration, operate lighting and sound desks, follow spots and other technical elements.

Ian Spendlove, Showforce's founder and chief executive comments, "

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14 March 2016

Cultural Ties - Shakespeare's Globe and the National Theatre ar

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14 March 2016

Over a million dollars alone has been ploughed into upgrading the powder coating lines at all sites, part of a planned reinvestment strategy in Swiss made Gema spraying equipment designed to increase efficiency and output worldwide for Penn to keep abreast of the current growing demand for its products.

The powder line installed at the factory in Guangdong Province, China, is completely new and replaces the previous one with the latest air cooled technology. This will enhance the working environment for the 30 employees as well as being more energy efficient, kinder to the environment and more cost-effective to maintain and run. The plant is also run on re-cy

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14 March 2016

The final assessment of those claims will take place at the PLASA Show, where an independent panel of industry experts will judge the entries, based on the strength of their innovation alone. Respected for their impartiality, the panel will hear a five-minute presentation from each of the nominees, and have the opportunity for questions and answers, before making their final selections.

There are no product

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14 March 2016

To celebrate a year on, the Current team has launched a new website as well as the release of the new Resources Module. Now, Current not only manages all of the renting and sale of products but also the services that go with these jobs too whether that be crew, transport, venues or rooms.

Key features of this new Module include: View all your bookable resources and any job with unallocated services; Flexible service charging by; hours, days or distance; Simple resource allocation using drag and drop functionality; Handy iCal feed for all resource bookings; Use Stores to determine the whereabouts of your resource; Specify periods of unavailability for bookable resources.

The Current team look forward to demonstrat

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14 March 2016

The 2015 Japanese EtherCAT Plug Fest was held 10-11 September at the facilities of Beckhoff Japan in Yokohama. The ETG was pleased with the improved quality, variety, and functional range of devices at the event, even when compared to the equally impressive results from the year before. In 2015, the Plug Fest had significantly more devices exhibiting advanced features such as highly-precise synchronization through Distributed Clocks, as well as modular device description (Modules/Slots). Additionally, the number of new and unique EtherCAT Slave Cont

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14 March 2016

Stop by the Behind the Scenes UK stand (C10) at the PLASA Show 5-7 October to do your part to bring help and hope to your colleagues in need. Raffle tickets are just £5 each and will be available throughout the show. The drawing will be held on Tuesday afternoon, 7 October but you do not need to be present to win.

The raffle is to help raise funds for the new UK charity Behind the Scenes which provides grants to entertainment technology professionals that may be used for basic living costs, some medical related expenses, transportation, retraining, or funerals. One grant recipient said, "I just want

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14 March 2016

A statement from PLASA reads: "This move will allow the associations to set strategic direction to meet their individual demands. It affords more focus of resources in each market toward the activities that are most relevant and pertinent to members and it will allow for more agility and decisiveness.

This in turn will foster the health of both organisations and protect their futures. As we did prior to the start of the cooperation agreement, the two associations will continue to work cooperatively on issues of common interest for the benefit of their members and the industry."

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14 March 2016

The TheatreStage plays host to key organisations and associations in the theatre sector announcing their latest activities, making presentations and giving awards, including the Association of Lighting Designer's Michael Northen Award on Monday 5 October at 1.30pm.

The programme includes 15 presentations over three days from the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), Backstage Heritage Collection, Behind the Scenes UK, Production Managers' Forum, Society of Theatre Consultants, The Theatrical Guild, and ourselves, The Theatres Trust, the National Advisory Public Body for Theatres.

We're delighted that many academic institutions are also part of the line-up on th

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14 March 2016

Trilogy sales director Ewan Johnston said, "With the launch of exciting new products, Trilogy is expanding its sales capability. The Middle East is a very important market for us and the addition of a local presence will enable us to better serve our customers and partners and take advantage of the significant growth in the region. I know Andrew will be just the right man to pursue and secure the many opportunities to accelerate Trilogy's growth in the Middle East."

Childs added, "Trilogy is a highly respected brand in the Middle East, and with so many compelling new product developments like the new VoiceFlow communication unit and Gemini II distr

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14 March 2016

The internship award offers a paid position, and an introduction to all aspects of theatre consultancy, including auditorium design, technical systems and project management.

The first award winner, student Kathryn Nolan, has just started her placement in Charcoalblue's London Studio.

"Kathryn is already bringing her enthusiasm and great talent to our studio and challenging our thinking every day," says Charcoalblue's managing partner, Andy Hayles. "It's great to have her join our team. It was a delight to pr

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14 March 2016

The role is safety critical and therefore a high level of competence is required. SAGE is recommending the prospective candidate should meet the following criteria:

•Membership of a Health and Safety Institute (IIRSM or IOSH)

•Qualified to NEBOSH Diploma Level (or equivalent)

•Membership of an event industry trade association

•Five years of event industry experience (not necessarily health and safety experience)

•Taking part in a Continuing Professional Development (C

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14 March 2016

With headline sponsors Robe, Clay Paky and TMB, this year's show features over 300 brands, many of which are showing new products and services, and sees PLASA Show adopting the successful 'Focus' model of a sector-specific, zoned layout, which will allow both visitors and exhibitors easier networking and navigation.

Over 50 leading brands from the pro audio sector are in attendance, with many new names joining that list including A.C. Entertainment, Autograph, d&b Audiotechnik, FACE, FBT UK, Flare Audio, POLARaudio, Ten 47, Unity Audio, White Light, Yamaha, SSE Audio and Wigwam Acoustics.

The lighting zone features manufacturers such as Altman, Avolites, Elation, ETC, Laserworld AG, and Robe, whi

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14 March 2016

"The traditional training grounds for young people entering the live audio industry are in the main, a distant memory," says Mike. "Technology has advanced and can no longer be learned solely on the job. Audience expectations of audio quality are forever on the increase and budgets determine that there is usually only room for technicians and engineers who know what they are doing. The 'pioneer' generation of live engineers and technicians are reaching retirement age, while the requirement for live audio continues to increase.

"Most available live audio training or education comes either as a minor adjunct attached to studio engineering or

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14 March 2016

"Cinematography: the art of lighting and photographing a movie. Translated into animation, how does this work? In this insightful talk, Pixar Director of Photography Danielle Feinberg will shed light on the magic of cinematography in animated film and how the creative freedom computers allow must be harnessed for ultimate storytelling," say organisers.

"After hearing about PLASA for years, I am so thrilled to be taking part this year," says Danielle. "It is a rare and wonderful thing to be in a room full of people that appreciate the immense power of great lighting."

The session takes place today at 2.30pm

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14 March 2016

With headline sponsors Robe, Clay Paky and TMB, this year's show features over 300 brands, many of which are showing new products and services, and sees PLASA Show adopting the successful 'Focus' model of a sector-specific, zoned layout, which will allow both visitors and exhibitors easier networking and navigation.

Over 50 leading brands from the pro audio sector are in attendance, with many new names joining that list including A.C. Entertainment, Autograph, d&b Audiotechnik, FACE, FBT UK, Flare Audio, POLARaudio, Ten 47, Unity Audio, White Light, Yamaha, SSE Audio and Wigwam Acoustics.

The lighting zone features manufacturers such as Altman, Avolites, Elation, ETC, Laserworld AG, and Robe,

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14 March 2016

"The launch of our brand new logo kicks off a new era at ELC Lighting that speaks of who we are as a company and portrays the ease of use and efficiency of our products", said Silvio Cibien, sales manager, ELC Lighting.

"We are proud to always be ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving industry and our new brand identity will illustrate not just who we think we are but how our customers regard our products - straightforward, unpretentious and dynamic."

The new logo which can be seen on the company's stand D60, is bold, easy to read and contemporary. "It is just how we see our products," says Silvio. "We do not need to package them up with bows and gimmicks. EL

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14 March 2016

Named by the London Stock Exchange this year as one of the '1000 Companies to Inspire Britain', and after nearly 30 years in the business, Hawthorn has never stopped growing. With the acquisition of Core Creative, renowned drapes brand Rex Howard and the hugely admired creative technical production business Anagram, it was felt the time was right to amalgamate all of these respected brands under the one name: Hawthorn.

Hawthorn was the brainchild of Martin Hawthorn, who in 1987 spotted a gap in the market for a good quality equipment hire company, to support theatres, dramatic groups, schools and colleges. With great customer service front of mind, he promptly set up shop in his garage in Leicestershire and the rest, as they say, is history.

The Hawtho

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14 March 2016

The 120,000 tickets were snapped up even before the line-up was announced, with only rumours about who might play at the festival. Adele and Coldplay are the top bets, with the Foo Fighters also hot favourites after pulling out of this year's event when front man Dave Grohl broke his leg. ACDC, Blur and Fleetwood Mac are also being tippe

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14 March 2016

Gillian Kiamil, venue director at Olympia London said, "Blitz|GES's technical services are consistently highly rated by event organisers; they are the leaders in their field for the full range of event support, including large scale live events, conferences and exhibitions, which suits our considerably diverse events portfolio perfectly. We've worked together as a team over the past seven years and look forward to a fruitful partnership for the immediate future under the new banner of Blitz|

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14 March 2016

Artichoke produce Lumiere Durham, which will once again transform the historic city with an ambitious programme of light installations from international artists from 12-15 November. Artichoke who have a reputation for bold, groundbreaking outdoor arts events was founded in 2005 with the mission to invade public spaces with extraordinary and ambitious art.

Light art installation specialist Nayan Kulkarni is currently working on innovative new artworks as part of Hull 2017, drawing on his experience with some of the most ambitious light works in the UK. Nayan Kulkarni's site

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14 March 2016

It is the third time a musician has confronted Trump about using their songs to promote his presidential bid. When the businessman announced his candidacy, his campaign played Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World - a song that contains the lyrics "He's just a rich old man / He never cared for anyone". Young, a well-known liberal, demand

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14 March 2016