Coronation Concert - A ballot has opened for 10,000 free tickets for a star-studded concert at Windsor Castle to mark the King's coronation. The televised show will be on 7 May, the day after King Charles is crowned at Westminster Abbey. The BBC has promised the line-up will feature "musical icons and contemporary stars". There are 5,000 pairs of tickets in the ballot, which opened at 07:00 GMT on Friday and will close on 28 February. The tickets would be allocated based on the geographical spread of the UK population, the BBC said, with those successful notified by late April.
The castle's east lawn would see "a world-class orchestra play interpretations of musical favourites fronted by fantastic entertainers, alongside performers from the world of dance and the arts", the BBC said. It "will also feature a selection of spoken-word sequences delivered by stars of stage and screen", a statement added. The evening event will last for two to three hours, with the full line-up to be confirmed later.
BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore said: "The coronation concert on the BBC will bring the nation together to mark this momentous occasion and we are thrilled to be able to offer the public the opportunity to be part of the event at Windsor Castle through a national ballot, as well as providing audiences with exclusive coverage across TV and radio."
Box Office Revenue - Box-office revenue in the West End has increased by 11.6% compared with 2019, according to the first full set of figures from the Society of London Theatre since disruption caus
Time Traveller - Beyoncé won a record-breaking 32nd Grammy Award, while Harry Styles won album of the year, at this year's ceremony in Los Angeles. Beyoncé made history as she won best dance/electronic album for her dance opus, Renaissance. In doing so, she overtook Hungarian-British conductor George Solti, whose record of 31 Grammys had stood for more than 20 years. Overall, Beyoncé won four prizes at the ceremony - but missed some of the early presentations after getting stuck in gridlocked downtown Los Angeles. "I'm surprised traffic could stop you," joked host Trevor Noah. "I thought you travelled through space and time."
Border Crossing - Eurovision's stage will use a design that demonstrates "how music can transcend borders and bring people together", the BBC has said. The song contest will take place at Liverpool Arena in May, with the city hosting the event on behalf of Ukraine. The BBC said the stage was inspired by "a wide hug" to give the impression of "opening its arms to Ukraine". It will be created by design firm Yellow Studio, which previously worked on the 2022 Grammy Awards ceremony.
Edinburgh Rocks - Work has begun to clear the site for Edinburgh's first purpose-built music venue in more than 100 years. The £75m Dunard Centre will be located behind Dundas House off St Andrew Square and host classical, pop, rock, jazz and electronica concerts. The 1,000-seat venue, set to open by 2026, will be the biggest built in the capital since the Usher Hall in 1914. It will be home to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and play
USA - ESTA has announced that Richard Nix is the new technical standards manager for the Technical Standards Programme (TSP). His predecessor, Karl Ruling, will stay on in a supporting role.
Nix’s involvement in the development of standards spans decades. In early 1994 he was already actively involved in the USITT Rigging Standards project when discussions began about the TSP and its mission. He immediately came on board as a volunteer and has been, as he puts it, “a rather hyperactive standards evangelist ever since,” having led multiple tasks groups over the years before joining ESTA as assistant technical standards manager in May 2019.
Former technical standards manager Ruling will now be senior technical standards manager. “I am stepping back so that Richard can step forward, and I am sure he will excel. Richard has been involved in the TSP for as long as I have, and with other standards organizations even longer.” Ruling will continue to write the TSP newsletter, Standards Watch, and will still be the technical editor for Protocol, ESTA’s quarterly technical journal.
The TSP is a programme by the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA). It comprises over 350 volunteer experts who devote time and knowledge to drafting American National Standards for the benefit of the whole entertainment technology industry.
Planning Ahead - The Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival could become a permanent fixture, if plans are backed. Festival organisers currently have rolling temporary planning permission but want it to become permanent. It would mean that as well as the festival, it would allow use of the land, on the Somerset site, throughout the year for parties and camping. But local residents are concerned it would change the land from a working farm to a festival and camping site.
The permission would also allow the "permanent regularisation" of the Pyramid Stage, along with a building currently used for storage and recycling, and the allocation of land to accommodate the temporary festival workforce. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the festival would still be subject to its official licence. So even if planning permission were granted, it would still need to comply with the likes of an agreed capacity and a limit on noise.
A spokesman for Planning Sphere, representing Glastonbury Festival Events Ltd (GFEL), said: "The grant of planning permission will provide certainty and secure the future of the largest music festival in Europe.
Cultural Policy - The Conservative Party has confirmed its commitment to devolving cultural policy and spending powers to regional leaders across England. Secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove reaffirmed the plans when speaking at the Convention of the North on 25 January.
The plans to devolve more governance powers to local leaders were first mentioned i
UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) has announced the launch of the Make A Difference conference, an annual proactive conference day committed to finding solutions to current industry issues. The conference will be more than simply talking and will ask attendees to commit to taking action and developing strategies to achieve solutions for the issues discussed.
The first conference will be held on Friday 21 April 2023 in the Ambassadors Lounge, Lyceum Theatre, 21 Wellington Street, London WC2E 7RQ with thanks to Ambassador Theatre Group for their support of this event. The theme for this year’s discussion is Solving our industry’s recruitment & retention crisis.
The conference has been developed to continue the joined-up thinking that is happening in the many ABTT seminars which are convened throughout the year and at the ABTT Theatre Show. “With support of academic theatre production staff from Guildford School of Acting we shall facilitate these continuing discussions at our conference day and provide a more focussed proactive platform to encourage actions and find practical solutions to move us forward with industry issues,” says ABTT.
ABTT co-chair & senior lecturer at Guildford School of Acting, Mig Burgess Walsh comments, “I am excited to see what this conference can achieve. It’s my privilege in my role as co-chair of the ABTT to attend many exciting and passionate seminars and talks from all parts of our industry. I hope this conference will provide a focussed time away from busy trade shows
Spain - BikeFest returned to Spain last week, cycling over 360km towards ISE in Barcelona, and so far has raised an astonishing £40,000 for industry charities Backup Tech, Music Support and Stagehand along the way.
The now annual event has garnered huge support from across the live AV and events industry, in both the UK and Spain. Organised by #WeMakeEvents, PLASA and AFIAL, the 2023 edition of BikeFest Spain was proudly sponsored by Ayrton, AVIXA, d&b Group, EARPRO, Fantek, ISE, SOJC and Total Solutions Group.
Piers Shepperd, Backup Tech Chair, Technical Director of Wonder Works, and BikeFest member, says, “I’ve been amazed by the widespread support for BikeFest and Backup Tech, as well as our fellow industry charities Music Support and Stagehand. It's been a delight - making new friends, and catching up with old ones, but most importantly riding in a way that shows we care about each other and our very precious industry, which has suffered so much over the past few years.”
Dave Crump, Creative Technology CEO and fellow BikeFest member, adds, “What an amazing journey! The support, both within the team and from across the industry, has been outstanding. It’s a real testament of what we are all capable of and shows how meaningful this industry is to us.”
The intrepid team comprised of 22 industry colleagues, representing BishopSound, Creative Technology, EARPRO, Equipson, FLUX Events, PLASA, SHARP/NEC Display Solutions, Stage One Creative Services, Total Solutions Group, White Light and d&b Solutions, and Wond
UK - Event Power Ltd, one of Ireland’s leading electrical hire companies supplying temporary power to major sports, festivals and state-run events, has invested in Data Strategy’s QC-Check workstation so that in the company’s busy warehouse, safety is an integrated part of the daily process.
With its power and cable inventory in constant demand, the company required a system to facilitate control of the stringent record-keeping associated with certified testing of distro and cable, as well as one that offered on-demand reporting.
Taking the advice of global temporary power specialists, Aggreko, who currently rely on more than ten QC-Check workstations to inspect the integrity of their power distribution units and cables in use at high-profile international events such as the recent Commonwealth Games, Event Power invested in a QC-Check workstation which included a CAB-4 cable test unit to test the integrity of single and three-phase cables, as well as a Power-Check add-on system to inspect power distribution boxes.
Custom-built by SES Entertainment Services Ltd, Event Power’s new QC-Check 2-bay workstation, bestows simplicity and speed of testing to the company’s warehouse processes. Anne Foley confirms: “Now we have the peace of mind that when we go to use our stock, all industry regulations have been adhered to, as we have the records to show it’s all certified and ready for use.
”Importantly for the busy warehouse, the new QC-Check was swiftly transitioned into the rental workflow. Anne agrees: “Once we received the initia
New Theatre - Southwark Playhouse Elephant has become the latest theatre to open in London. The 310-seat venue in Elephant and Castle, the sister venue to Southwark Playhouse Borough, is the fruition of an idea first conceived in 2006. Among its first shows are Bermondsey Revolution, which opens on Thursday, and The Walworth Farce on 17 February.
Artistic director Chris Smyrnios said: "It's a great feeling to come to the end of the journey and to be at the beginning of a new one. Because of the regeneration, we've always been renting places and never really had a place of our own. Finally, we're in a building which is where we can set our roots, it'll be our forever home and it'll be a great place to be able to serve the community but also put on world-class theatre by new and emerging theatre practitioners."
At Risk - The King's Theatre in Edinburgh has announced it has 30 days to secure funding or risk closing its doors. Inflation and changing trade agreements have been cited as the reasons for a funding gap of £8.9m for its redevelopment. It comes after Edinburgh City Council lost its bid to the UK government's Levelling Up fund. Capital Theatres, the charity which runs the King's Theatre, has already raised £26m for the project. It must find the remaining £8.9m in the next 30 days, "in time to sign over the building to the contractors, stay on track with the project and avoid spiralling costs".
Capital Theatres said if the money was not found, it could not continue with the redevelopment and would have to hand the keys ba
Spain - 22 live event and AV professionals are ready to cycle up to 390km from Valencia to ISE in Barcelona this weekend. Together as the BikeFest team, they are raising vital funds for industry charities Backup Tech, Music Support and Stagehand.
Organised by #WeMakeEvents, PLASA and AFIAL, BikeFest Spain is in its second year. Last year’s debut saw a team of 10 head toward the empty Fira de Barcelona exhibition centre, where ISE should have been taking place, poignantly showcasing the impacted live events sector.
However, this year’s BikeFest will head towards a thriving trade event – but not before taking in the stunning Mediterranean coastline. 18 members of the team cycle the entire route over three days, with the remaining four joining for the final 95km on the last day. The team represents the span of the live sector, including companies such as Bishopsound, Creative Technologies, Earpro (part of Midwich Group), Equipson, FLUX Events, Stage One, Total Solutions Group, d&b Group and Wonderworks.
The money raised by the team has already surpassed an incredible £20,000, with donations still rolling in. Furthermore, BikeFest Spain 2023 is supported by sponsorship from Ayrton, d&b Solutions, Ear Pro, Fantek, ISE, SOJC, AVIXA and Total Solutions Group.
Peter Heath, MD of PLASA and member of #WeMakeEvents steering group, says: “The team and I are geared up for another BikeFest in Spain, and it’s great to welcome many more members this year. BikeFest Spain really has become an important date in the diary for many of us. No
Creative Warning - Government complacency risks jeopardising the future of the creative industries, a report from the House of Lords has warned, as it called out an "indifference to the sector’s potential". The report from the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee follows an inquiry into the future challenges of the creative industries, which heard evidence from sectors including the performing arts, film, TV, gaming and music.
It warns of missed opportunities among senior government figures to recognise the sector’s commercial potential and makes a series of recommendations to support the future of the creative industries, including that the Department for Education must "address the decline in people taking creative GCSEs". This has been an ongoing concern in the creative sector, which has repeatedly warned that the English Baccalaureate is side-lining the arts.
The report states: "The government’s current approach is complacent and risks jeopardising the sector’s commercial potential. Indeed, the creative industries scarcely featured in the 2022 Autumn Statement and were not included in the government’s five priorities for growth. This lack of focus risks affecting the UK’s future prosperity, especially at a time of rising international competition in the sector and domestic economic challenges." It adds: "To unlock the sector’s full potential, ministers must devote serious attention to fixing a policy landscape characterised by incoherence and barriers to success."
Baroness Tina Stowell, chair of the committee, descr
USA - ESTA has announced approval of three standards by ANSI's Board of Standards Review.
ANSI E1.37-1 - 2012 (R2022), Additional Message Sets for ANSI E1.20 (RDM) -- Part 1 is part of the E1.37 project and provides additional get/set parameter messages (PIDs). Most of the messages in this document are intended for use with entertainment lighting dimming systems. These additional messages allow access to configuration parameters commonly found in many theatrical dimming systems.
ANSI ES1.18, Event Safety – Rigging, provides minimum requirements and general guidelines to assist an event organizer or producer regarding the suspension of equipment and materials that are used in the technical production of organised events. It addresses the general requirements for design, planning, installation, set-up, removal, and operation of rigging activities. These activities may be conducted either indoors or outdoors, on structures either temporary or permanent in nature.
ANSI E1.28 - 2022, Guidance on planning followspot positions in places of public assembly is a revision of the prior 2016 reaffirmation. It offers guidance on the planning of permanent followspot positions, including recommendations on the locations of the followspot positions within the venue, the power likely to be needed, the waste heat generated, the amount of space likely to be needed, and the fall protection and egress issues to be considered for the followspot operator's safety. It has been updated to include information about position apertures and substra
Europe - In the next phase of Power Logistics’ ambitious plans for expansion, the temporary power specialist has appointed a European director to lead its newly opened office in Maastricht, Netherlands.
Experienced international sales and marketing professional, Patrick Elissen, will be spearheading the company’s EMEA operation from the centrally located office. Situated in close proximity to both the German and Belgian borders, the new office is just a short hop from many major European cities.
The news follows the company’s announcement in November that it had established a permanent base in Cork, Ireland, and is part of an ongoing programme of growth that will see Power Logistics build on its market-leading reputation for driving innovative, sustainable solutions forward across the globe.
Commenting on his appointment, Power Logistics’ European director, Patrick Elissen, stated: “Power Logistics’ reputation in the provision of temporary event power is beyond impressive for a business of its size. Its commitment and market-leading approach to driving forward sustainable solutions is very exciting and something that I believe there is a real need for both within mainland Europe and the wider worldwide market.”
“The prospect of implementing energy management solutions and integrating technology that positively impact on an event’s carbon footprint whilst focussing on cost efficiencies will be an attractive proposition for organisers, promoters and production companies.”
Power Logistics’ founder and director, Pete W
Flagship Opening - City Academy is to open a new arts complex in the former home of the Central School of Ballet, which it is describing as a "flagship" offering. Opening in the old heritage building in Clerkenwell, London, the site will contain a purpose-built black-box theatre – opening later this year – and classes that will run over the five storeys, with the first course having started already.
City Academy offers dance, acting and other creative courses. Its managing director Michael Ward said: “We are incredibly excited to be bringing this wonderful heritage building back to life and filling it with a new generation of actors, dancers, singers, performers and creatives. As you walk around the building, you can feel its history, and we aim to honour and respect this past as we refurbish the building. Our team cannot wait to welcome our students and clients into the building from mid-January.” A total of 12 studios will open throughout 2023, offering spaces for acting, singing and dance, as well as film-making and music. The site will be fully open at the end of 2023.
Culture Commons - Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has committed to devolving cultural policymaking powers to local communities in his new year speech. Culture Commons, which is an organisation that aims to bridge the gap between culture and politics, welcomed the new year speech, stating it was "delighted" that Starmer had explicitly acknowledged the UK’s creative and cultural sectors.
Starmer stated that, if elected, Labour intended to devolve powers over areas
USA - Behind the Scenes is offering virtual training for mental health First Aid and Bystander intervention.
Says BTS, “Become a certified mental health First Aider in 2023 and make a real difference. Take an active role in helping to care for those you work with. Expand your skill sets by learning how to identify, understand and respond to signs of distress in your colleagues and help make our workplaces healthier and safer spaces for all. You will be able to use the information you learn every day in interactions with your co-workers as well as friends and family.”
Mental health First Aid virtual classes are posted for January and February at btshelp.org/mhfa. The course is delivered in two parts. The first is a two-hour self-paced online course that must be completed prior to a six-hour virtual live instructor led session.
The registration fee is $125. IATSE members and those working under IATSE agreements may be eligible for Training Trust Fund reimbursement upon proof of successful completion of the course. A limited number of partial and full scholarships are available to individuals not eligible for reimbursement. Private group classes of 15 -20 are available – contact mhfa@btshelp.org for information. Training for Canadians is available through the AFC at https://afchelps.ca/mhfa.
Lights Dimmed - Many West End theatres dimmed their lights on the evening of 21 December, in support of Ukraine and the winter blackouts the country will face due to the ongoing war with Russia. 21 December is the darkest day of the year, with the shortest day and longest night of the year, and West End theatres, along with other London businesses and the Mayor of London, participated in the worldwide supportive act.
West End theatres have a tradition of dimming theatre lights before or during an evening performance to pay tribute to notable figures who have died, mark a moment of tragedy or show support for a cause. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged organisations and individuals to band together for An Hour For Ukraine by switching off festive and non-essential lights to help raise public awareness of the continued war impact on Ukraine and to help with fundraising efforts. The campaign is part of a $10 million fundraising drive for hospital generators across Ukraine.
RSC Recovery - The Royal Shakespeare company’s box office income in 2021/22 increased by £12.4m compared with 2020/21, with the organisation stating it is "well on the way to recovery" from the impact of Covid. In 2020/21, when activities were restricted due to lockdowns, the RSC’s box office income was £94,000. This rose to £12.5m for 2021/22.
The organisation’s total income for 2021/22 was £39.7m, 62% of which was self-generated from box office sales, commercial trading and fundraising, its annual accounts show. This compares with a total income
Italy - Sadly, we report the death of pro audio consultant and journalist Mike Clark, who passed away on 30 December at the age of 77.
Mike, Scottish by birth, arrived in Italy at the end of the sixties as a sound engineer for a band. He fell in love with the country and decided to live there.
He always worked in the field of music, first as a DJ in the leading discos of the Riviera, and then as a music expert in one of the largest shops in Italy, Dimar in Rimini.
A specialised journalist and correspondent for entertainment industry magazines including LSi, he also collaborated with many pro-audio manufacturers, including Outline.
“During the last 30 years, Mike was the most precious resource for our r&d and marcomms departments,” Michele Noselli of Outline states. “A brilliant, generous and extremely reliable person, Mike translated intricate patent texts for us, doing it with surgical precision, elaborating the texts and making them essentially clear, hence effective, thanks to his ability to ask the right questions to refine the whole work… and he never got tired of calling you five, six times a day, only to deliver a flawless piece. And we always counted on him! We are sincerely and profoundly grateful for this. Ciao Mike, thank you for everything. Have a safe journey.”
“Mike has been contributing to LSi for many, many years and could always be relied upon to source brilliant international projects to share with our readers,” adds LSi editor, Claire Beeson. “He was a lovely man with a wealth of knowledge about the
Going Underground - Ukraine has chosen pop duo Tvorchi as its act for next year's Eurovision Song Contest in a live broadcast from a Kyiv bomb shelter. Tvorchi's entry Heart of Steel is the first song to be confirmed for the 2023 competition in Liverpool. Band member Andrew Hutsuliak said: "We will try to do everything to present Ukraine with dignity."
Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra won this year's contest, but the UK will host in 2023 because of the war. A metro station in Kyiv was transformed into a TV studio for Saturday's selection show. The underground stop has been in use as a bomb shelter since Russia invaded in February.
War Child Support - Andrew Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatres has launched a partnership with charity War Child to support children caught up in or affected by conflict zones. It marks the charity’s first partnership with a theatre company. The theatre company said it would support the charity with concerts at the London Palladium and other venues.
"Audiences can expect to see A-list talent in both large and intimate settings, similar to War Child’s Bastille Reorchestrated at the London Palladium in 2020 for BRITs Week," LW Theatres said. As part of the partnership, LW Theatres will also be working with War Child to provide training for their staff as well as engagement sessions and new-starter introductions.
The first event in the partnership is The Four Days of Christmas, which is in association with Crossroads Pantomime – a digital advent calendar campaign on LW Theatres’ social media channels, w
UK - Scottish singer songwriter Gerry Cinnamon concluded his summer tour with two sell-out concerts at his home stadium, Hampden Park, in Glasgow, breaking records as he did so. Cinnamon was the first Scottish artist, and the first independent act to sell out the 50,000-capacity stadium - twice!
His long-term production and lighting designer, Pete Hutchison of Illumination Creative Design, knows all about Cinnamon’s determination to entertain every member of his audience and give each and every one of them an unforgettable experience, whichever part of the stadium they are seated in.
‘This Is The Beginning Of The Rest Of Your Life’ is a maxim which forms a big theme for Cinnamon and outlines his intention to bring the party to his fans. His set and lighting are designed to deliver big moments, which include lots of pyrotechnics, video and lighting effects, and are based on an open design which renders the performer highly visible to all.
From an artist’s perspective, Cinnamon likes a lot of haze coming off stage to create that big party look. “He wants to see beams go right out into the back seats as an extra element to keep everyone involved and part of the show, no matter where they are. You need to chuck a lot of haze out to achieve that! It helps that we had some really excellent stadium hazers from MDG!” says Hutchison who toured with four MDG theONE dual haze and fog generators to help realise his design to its maximum potential.
“theONE is absolutely incredible,” he says. “The volume of haze they produce to fill the w
Germany/Italy - ams Osram, a global leader in optical solutions, has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Claypaky entertainment lighting business to Germany based ARRI AG. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
Claypaky, established in 1976 and acquired by Osram in 2014, is headquartered in Seriate, Italy and is recognised as a leading brand in the professional high-end entertainment lighting market. The company has a strong reputation for its LED- and laser-based portfolio extensions, and offers an innovative, award-winning portfolio of moving body and moving mirror projectors, colour-changers, followspots, projectors and various lighting effects.
ARRI AG, headquartered in Munich, Germany, is a leading designer and manufacturer of camera and lighting systems as well as system solutions for the film, broadcast, and media industries, with a worldwide distribution and service network.
“The acquisition of Claypaky is a strategic, long-term investment into our lighting business,” says ARRI CEO Dr. Matthias Erb. “Claypaky enjoys premium recognition in the entertainment lighting market while ARRI is recognized as a premium manufacturer in motion picture and broadcast lighting. This premium position of the two brands shows, that both companies are an ideal match and can further expand their respective businesses under the unified parent company.”
Dr. Wilhelm Nehring, EVP Business Unit Digital at ams Osram comments: “ARRI AG is an ideal new home for the Claypaky team in Seriate and
Japan - Sony Group Corporation (Sony) has been included in the CDP’s A-List,*1 a distinction which recognises Sony as a leader in efforts to address climate change. This is the second year in a row, and the seventh time that Sony has made the A List in the climate change category.
Based on the recognition that its business success depends upon a healthy global environment, Sony has established Road to Zero, a long-term environmental plan to achieve a zero environmental footprint throughout the entire Sony Group by the year 2050 and is promoting activities from the four perspectives of climate change, resources, chemical substances and biodiversity.
Considering that climate change risk becomes a more serious and pressing issue, and also given our past achievements, this May, Sony announced the acceleration of the target year for achieving its goals in the climate change area. Specifically, Sony has pushed forward the net-zero targets throughout the entire value chain, including Scopes 1 to 3, from 2050 to 2040, and is aiming to achieve net-zero in Scopes 1 and 2 by 2030. As announced in this September, Sony received approval for its net-zero targets from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)*2.
To achieve this goal, Sony has been promoting energy saving initiatives and introducing renewable energy at its business sites. Sony has already accomplished 100% renewable electricity use for all business activities in Europe and China. Going forward, the company will accelerate the use of renewable energy in Japan, North America, and Southeast
UK – Warwick Arts Centre, based at the University of Warwick’s Coventry campus, reopened in late 2021 after an extensive four year redevelopment, choosing APS configurable power distribution technology from LSC Control Systems at the heart of its new technical infrastructure.
One of the busiest cultural arts destinations in the Midlands, attracting over 300,000 visitors per year, the Warwick Arts Centre boasts an array of busy entertainment spaces. There are two theatres - a 575-seat main house and a 150-capacity black-box studio, a 1,450-capacity concert hall and three cinemas, alongside exhibition and presentation spaces.
Managing the technical requirements of the refurbishment was chief electrician Mark Smith, who is responsible for lighting and power across the Centre’s auditoria. He found that the APS system met a number of requirements. “The APS units were chosen chiefly due to their size and channel density, but cost was also a consideration,” he says.
LSC’s APS delivers an elegant solution to the problem of powering large numbers of lighting, video or audio products, by sequentially switching the outputs and controlling large inrush currents, earth leakages and overloads. Each individual circuit can be sequentially soft-started with a user-programmed delay, or multiple APS units can be cascaded so that each begins its automatic start-up sequence in turn.
When a DMX signal level is detected, the APS will commence start-up procedure, regardless of actual signal levels. When the DMX signal ceases, the APS will commence shut-do
Junior Eurovision - France has won this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Yerevan, Armenia. Thirteen-year-old Lissandro won with 203 points for his song Oh Maman! beating hosts Armenia in second place, Georgia third, and Ireland fourth. The United Kingdom came fifth overall with 146 points - although it did win the public vote. The UK's entrant, Freya Skye, performed live after suffering with vocal issues during rehearsals.
Rising Stars - R&B vocal harmony group Flo have won the Brits rising star award. The London-based trio only released their debut single, Cardboard Box, in March, but won instant praise for their retro-styled girl band sound. Formed in 2021, they comprise singers Stella Quaresma and Renée Downer, who met at the Sylvia Young Stage School, and Jorja Douglas, who they discovered on Instagram. The prize, formerly known as the Critics' Choice award, has previously tipped the likes of Adele, Florence + the Machine and Sam Fender for success. Last year's winner was singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone.
Mamma Mia! - ITV has confirmed plans for a UK-wide search to find two new leads for musical Mamma Mia! in the West End. Mamma Mia! – I Have a Dream is an eight-part series from TV production company Thames and Mamma Mia! production company Littlestar, which will be shown on ITV1.
The broadcaster said the contestants would be “put through their paces as they navigate their way through challenges, masterclasses and performances”. It will be filmed in Greece, where the
UK - Production Futures is an initiative created to provide opportunities for young people to learn, train, network, and develop real careers in production across every area of the live event, music, touring, theatre, TV, broadcast and film industries.
Having run a series of successful live events from its inception in 2016 to 2019, the organisation produced several equally popular online events during the pandemic, before returning in 2022 to forge new partnerships and deliver its nationwide On Tour programme.
Working with 47 brand partners and bringing to the table the wisdom of a number of acknowledged industry experts, Production Futures this year opened many more doors of opportunity for young people at its events. With a mission to inspire, teach and make real connections, the On Tour programme saw more than 1,800 young people visit venues across five UK cities and towns to gain first-hand experience of the exciting employment and training possibilities within the production sector.
Production Futures CEO Hannah Eakins is in no doubt about the value of the On Tour events: “As well as allowing young people to engage with and speak directly to potential employers, Production Futures is introducing a wealth of latent talent to our partners that will be be the backbone of this growing industry for years to come. The companies who work with us are unanimous in their view that the mutual benefits of this initiative cannot be overstated.”
In addition to facilitating face-to-face engagement between young people and production partners, the O
Royal Engagement - Robbie Williams will headline the first large-scale live music event to be held at the Sandringham royal estate. The pop star will be joined by several special guests at the outdoor concert in Norfolk on 26 August. Giles Cooper, from Heritage Live, said: "It will be the most magical concert in the most amazing surroundings that'll live in our memories forever." While the royal estate has played host to a number of events, including the mile-long Luminate Sandringham outdoor trail this Christmas, the concert will be the first time it has held a live-music event of this scale, organisers said. Pre-sale tickets to see the former Take That singer are due to go on sale on Thursday, with general sale starting on Friday.
Atlantic Crossing - Irish rock band U2's music has been described as a "bridge between Ireland and America" by United States President Joe Biden. He made the remarks at a White House reception ahead of the Kennedy Center Honours on Sunday, which saw the band awarded one of America's most prestigious cultural awards.
The annual event recognises five stars from across music, screen and stage for their significant contribution to American culture. The 2022 recipients also included actor George Clooney, singer Gladys Knight, singer-songwriter Amy Grant and composer Tania León. During the event, President Biden described the United States and Ireland as friends, linked in memory and imagination. He said the members of U2 were inheritors of the Irish tradition of poetry and protest and had a belief in the dignity of a