UK - Backup has joined forces with Big Drop, brewers of alcohol-free beer, to generate wider awareness and increased funding for the live events/entertainment technical supply chain.
“We’re all painfully aware of the devastation that the pandemic caused to our industry around the globe,” says John Simpson, Backup chairman. “The generous response to Backup’s fund-raising efforts over the past two years has been phenomenal, and we’ve been able to offer help to our colleagues in the UK who were and still are in desperate need, both financially and for the impact the situation has had on their mental health.”
As theatres open, and concerts and festivals start to re-emerge, the pandemic is viewed as being over. But it has left serious scars. Help is still needed, as it was pre-pandemic, but now even more so, to allow Backup to continue to address mental health, addiction, poverty, loan repayments, loneliness, and food-bank reliance.
So far, the funds to provide assistance have come primarily from within the industry itself. Whilst Backup is incredibly grateful for their support and belief in the work the charity does, it also recognises there is now a need to reach a wider audience. Big Drop provides an ideal avenue to do just that.
Plans include using the Backup logo on its packaging to help build awareness, running a competition to find the best ‘Big Drop Pour’ in the most extreme or picturesque locations and supporting Backup’s range of mental health initiatives.
Big Drop was conceived by friends, bandmates and brewers
Germany - GFR (Gesellschaft für Regelungstechnik und Energieeinsparung) has been part of Bosch Building Technologies since 2019 and is changing its name to Bosch Building Automation effective 1 April.
The company’s portfolio comprises complete automation solutions for the operation of buildings on a sustainable basis and related services with a comprehensive range of hardware and software. “We are achieving strong growth with connected building automation and energy efficiency solutions that are planned and implemented on a highly customized basis in close cooperation with our customers. The Bosch brand will open more doors for us and give us the opportunity to position ourselves even more prominently on the market for building automation,” explains Volker Westerheide, managing director of GFR.
The building automation specialist will continue to market its products under the Digicontrol product brand.
GFR has over 40 years of experience and currently employs around 300 associates at nine locations in Germany. Its building automation solutions are used in numerous sectors, from kindergartens to major cultural and educational institutions, shopping malls and hospitals. For example, solutions from GFR form the control centre for the technical building equipment at the prestigious Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg.
“We are pleased to now work with Bosch Building Automation under the Bosch brand together. This underlines our strength as a system integrator to offer our customers holistic solutions from a single source for building se
South Korea - JYP Entertainment, one of the biggest record labels and music production businesses in South Korea, has discovered and produced some of the most popular and successful K-pop artists such as Stray Kids, ITZY, TWICE and NiziU.
It was founded in 1997 by South Korean singer-songwriter Park Jin-Young (named after his stage name, J. Y. Park). JYP’s first girl group, Wonder Girls, became a commercial success and was the first South Korean group to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009 when their song Nobody charted at No. 76.
Over the last couple of years, JYP Entertainment has grown rapidly. This meant that it needed to find a new, bigger studio, with larger music production rooms to accommodate the increasing numbers of artists it now works with.
The project took two years to complete and was finished just before the global pandemic started in 2020. Working with Gearlounge, all the systems had to be built from scratch and Van Damme cables were selected for all six main rooms because they carry audio sound very transparently and flexibly. Cables included Van Damme Blue Series Studio Grade 16 Pair, Van Damme Blue Series Studio Grade 8 Pair and Van Damme Pro Grade Classic XKE.
Taewon Seo from Gearlounge comments: “We recommended Van Damme Cables for JYP’s studios because we knew they would work, especially as we have a lot of artists with different music genres recording here. K-pop involves a lot of vocal recording, so Van Damme cables are a good choice since they are stable and carry all signals without any distortion.”
USA - ESTA has announced the North American Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference (NATEAC) as the newest addition to its community. The association is to be the new host of the quadrennial conference, the fifth iteration of which will take place July 2024 in New York.
Created by Bill Sapsis of Sapsis Rigging, NATEAC was first produced in 2008. Since then, it has been bringing together the architects, engineers, consultants, and manufacturers who are responsible for designing, building, and renovating theatres. NATEAC also facilitates communication between those groups and end users. Over the course of a weekend, conference-goers attend panels and exchange ideas at social events like an evening boat cruise in New York Harbour, dinner at Sardi’s, and a cocktail reception.
“I believe ESTA and NATEAC will be a natural fit,” Sapsis explains. “After 14 years of developing this conference, I’m looking forward to its continued growth under ESTA’s wing.” ESTA intends for Sapsis to continue to be a presence at future conferences as NATEAC’s director emeritus.
ESTA president Todd Spencer comments: “As an industry, we need to throw open the doors and include diverse voices to increase the value of networking events, training, and resources. Connecting the theatre, engineering, and architectural community that NATEAC serves with ESTA’s wide variety of members, our certifications programmes, and our technical standards creates immense value for everyone.” ESTA is also taking this opportunity to extend new benefits to members, inc
UK - Crewing platform Entourage Pro (EP) has launched its free to use and join freelance production crew resource. The service connects and sources freelance production crew and underpins traditional word-of-mouth methods for finding work and sourcing crew.
Partnered by major manufacturers of production technology including Robe, Avolites, Yamaha, d&b audiotechnik, MDG, Chainmaster and Marshall, EP is an online network of crew that has already secured thousands of members from over 60 countries around the world.
Initial uptake is being extended by EP’s partnership with Showcase Music, with the platform being promoted to over 350,000 rental companies, artists, labels, management, venues and production and tour managers from across the globe.
Searches by role, experience, availability, credentials, visas, rates, languages, qualifications and much more, gives the whole industry access to an unrivalled source of professional freelance crew from over 150 industry roles.
“The non-return rates of freelancers who had to leave the industry to find other work during the pandemic are frightening,” says EP director, Joel Perry. “We know the number of crew lost has reached into the 1000s, globally. Consequently, the opportunities presenting themselves for skilled video techs, riggers, staging, audio and lighting practitioners, are vast. EP can plug the gap quickly, efficiently and comprehensively.
“Entourage Pro was conceived well before the pandemic, and was able to act swiftly during lockdown,” adds fellow EP director, James Stanbri
In the Dark - COVID-19’s impact on the UK’s theatre industry has been widely understated in public discourse due to an "ongoing devaluation of the live arts", according to a report. Freelancers in the Dark is a research project undertaken between July 2020 and March 2022, funded by the UK Research and Innovation’s Economic and Social Research Council. It investigated the economic, cultural and social impact of COVID-19 on theatre’s freelance workforce and was led by Holly Maples at the University of Essex, in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University and Queen’s University, Belfast.
The report includes a series of recommendations for the industry informed by the previously published findings from a survey of 397 freelancers from November 2020 to March 2021, as well as 135 one-to-one interviews, focus groups and creative workshops. In the survey, 55% of respondents said they felt very or quite unsupported by organisations, compared with 19% who felt very or quite supported, while nearly three quarters (72%) felt more pessimistic about their future as a theatre freelancer.
Ukraine Aid - The Royal Court is staging a day of play readings in solidarity with Ukrainian theatre artists, including a live stream of Natal’ya Vorozhbit’s Bad Roads. The day-long event on 1 April will feature readings by 10 members of the Theater of Playwrights in Kyiv, telling their own stories about the war. They will be performed in the London venue’s Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. The reading will also be live streamed on the Royal Court
USA - Theatre Projects has announced two additions to their team in North America - Peter Wilson and Thomas Bukovac. Both have joined the firm as associates.
A licensed architect, Peter is an accomplished venue designer who previously worked at architectural firms such as Gensler and Barton Myers Associates. He is passionate about designing theatres and says he’s “thrilled to share my knowledge with new clients and new colleagues, and to learn as much as possible from each of them in turn.” His past projects include the renovation of the Madrid Theatre for the City of Los Angeles, several theatres at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, and a new 600-seat theatre for the Television Academy’s Saban Media Centre in Los Angeles.
Thomas joins Theatre Projects as their new audiovisual and integrated technology team leader. A licensed professional engineer (PE), his role will focus on the design of high-performance audiovisual systems and innovative technology designs that aim to enhance the built environment. Having worked previously at Kirkegaard and Arup, his project portfolio spans numerous markets from performing arts to healthcare, from corporate headquarters to higher education.
Theatre Projects’ general manager, Daniel Ordower, adds, “Peter and Thomas are fantastic additions to our team. They bring creative energy, curiosity, and great experience to our work. We’re looking forward to seeing our clients and projects benefit from their knowledge and insights, and creating more dynamic, immersive experiences for their
USA - Rosco Laboratories continued their long-time support of the charity with a cheque presentation at USITT 2022, reflecting sales of Roscolux #359 Medium Violet.
Henry Cowen, live entertainment sales manager - North America, presented the cheque on behalf of Rosco, saying, “I am truly honoured to able to present this donation to our friends at Behind the Scenes this year. The work you do is so important to the industry we all call family, particularly in the past two years when so many of our colleagues and their families were negatively impacted by the pandemic. I speak for the entire Rosco family when I say Thank You for the work you do. We appreciate you, and we are committed to you.”
Tobin Neis, a BTS Board member, accepted the cheque on behalf of the charity, and commented, “It’s so gratifying to accept this donation from Rosco who was our very first Pledge-a-Product Partner. We know times have been tough for everyone and the sustained support Rosco has shown means an enormous amount to us and to those we help.”
Concert For Ukraine - Camila Cabello, Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol will all play at next week's Concert For Ukraine, which will be broadcast on ITV and STV. Emeli Sande, Becky Hill, Gregory Porter and Chic are also in the line-up, with more acts to be confirmed. Tickets for the concert, which will take place at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, go on sale today.
Proceeds from the concert will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee's Ukraine Humanitarian appeal, which is providing food, water, shelter and medical assistance to refugees in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
ITV has also pledged that all sponsorship and advertising revenue generated from the broadcast - an estimated £3m - will be donated to the appeal. “I will be singing to try to help every human being forced to flee their home and in solidarity with those being racially discriminated against even within this humanitarian crisis,” says Sande in a statement. The show is being produced by ITV in conjunction with the Global radio network - which will broadcast live, behind-the-scenes coverage on its Heart and Capital stations.
City of Culture - Bradford, County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham have made the shortlist to be named UK City of Culture for 2025. A different location is given the title every four years. The winning place will be announced in May and will be the fourth holder, after Derry-Londonderry, Hull and the current City of Culture, Coventry. The title has brought £172m to Coventry, according to the government, as well as events like BBC Radio 1's Big Wee
USA - The American Society of Theatre Consultants (ASTC) has announced Scott Crossfield as a new Fellow of the Society. Crossfield has a distinguished body of work in performing arts design. He has consulted on the design of over 600 performing arts venues. He had been an ASTC Board member and vice-president. He is a director at Theatre Projects having joined the company in 2007.
Christopher Ochocki has been admitted into membership of ASTC. Ochocki was approved by the ASTC Board of Directors after having met the requirements for membership including leadership experience as theatre consultant on multiple projects over the past 16 years. He is a senior theatre consultant at PLA Designs in Portland, Oregon.
Finally, industry veteran Ted Ohl has been named an Associate of the American Society of Theatre Consultants. He is a principal consultant at Schuler Shook Theatre Planners in New York.
USA - On the show floor at USITT, Westview Productions presented a check to Behind the Scenes to honour their Pledge-a-Service commitment to the charity. Westview is an entertainment, energy, and immersive technology solutions firm headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Their project process encompasses all aspects of design that integrates with all construction trades to ensure a cohesive and seamless project experience.
On presentation of the cheque, Eric Bloom, president, stated, “Westview is honoured to be able support Behind the Scenes, and to be able to give back to the community that has given so much to us all.”
Eddie Raymond accepted the cheque along with other members of the Behind the Scenes Board of Directors. Eddie commented, “We are very grateful to Westview for their contribution, and their understanding that it takes long-term commitment to truly make a difference in caring for our colleagues in need. We challenge other service companies to step up and become a Pledge-a-Service Partner.”
Ukraine Support - International dancers from companies including the Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and English National Ballet are coming together for a fundraising gala in support of Ukraine. Directed by former Royal Ballet stars Ivan Putrov - who is Ukrainian born - and Alina Cojocaru, the charity gala will take place at the London Coliseum on 19 March. All participating dancers have donated their services for free, the English National Opera has waived its rental fee for the Coliseum and the chorus has volunteered to support the evening. Money raised by the event will go to the Disaster Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
Ticket Pricing Fears - Music industry leaders are urging Chancellor Rishi Sunak to abandon a large increase on concert and live event tickets, due to come into force on 1 April. The 7.5% hike would see the tax return to its pre-pandemic level of 20% - a move that would be "hugely damaging" to the industry, according to trade body UK Music. VAT is currently charged at 12.5% on tickets for live events, but went down to 5% at the height of the pandemic.
Chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin has written to Sunak, in a bid to change his mind ahead of his mini-budget as part of the spring statement on 23 March. Njoku-Goodwin says millions of music fans would be likely to face a rise in ticket prices resulting from the increase, at a time when the cost of living is already pushing many to the limit.
The move would also come as the industry attempts to get back to work following two years of near shutdown. Befor
USA - InCord made their 2022 donation to Behind the Scenes on the show floor at USITT reflecting a percentage of profits from sales of their Theatrical Safety Netting Systems.
Joe Menhart, InCord’s theatre division sales manager, comments: “We are delighted to provide this needed support to BTS especially when so many more are still in need due to the ongoing global pandemic that is now stretching over two years. Our hearts go out to all those who benefit from the grants and resources provided by BTS.”
Todd Spencer accepted the cheque along with other members of the Behind the Scenes Board of Directors. He comments: “We are so appreciative of InCord’s donation. Their concern for the safety of industry workers is built into their product and their commitment to Behind the Scenes. Our Pledge-of-Support Programme is the perfect vehicle for InCord and their customers to demonstrate that concern.”
Ukraine - Nearly 50 European cultural networks - representing thousands of theatres, arts festivals and venues - have pledged to receive and host Ukrainian artists and to stage performances and events in a show of support for the country. The organisations are urging policymakers across the continent to help them "actively support Ukrainian colleagues" by facilitating international collaboration.
In an open letter to national and European stakeholders, 49 networks and bodies have come together to declare that the "European cultural sector is united" in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to offer solidarity with Ukraine’s people. An adjoining petition has also been signed by more than 600 individuals, including National Theatre director Rufus Norris and Thomas Ostermeier, director of the Schaubühne in Berlin.
"We are extremely concerned about the impact of the invasion on civil society. Over the past decade we have developed deep ties with counterpart organisations in Ukraine - supporting ongoing dialogue and artistic exchange, a thriving democracy and long-term collaboration with future generations through flagship civil society initiatives, such as the EU’s Eastern Partnership," the letter says, declaring that international collaboration "must be supported at all costs".
"Our organisations are ready to receive and host artists, to stage performances, to organise events, to inform and facilitate access to resources and to advocate for a peaceful solution," it adds. The letter itself has been signed by organisations including the Euro
UK - The Version 2 team at the Old Grain Store HQ will cross hands to show their support for International Women’s Day on Tuesday, 8 March.
The pose ties in with this year’s theme, Break the Bias, which promotes a world of gender equality, free of stereotypes and discrimination. The annual International Women’s Day event celebrates women’s achievements from political and economic to social and sport.
"Version 2 is especially proud to be ‘shining a light on women’s sport’ through partnerships with Saracens Women’s rugby and Saracens Mavericks netball team, as well as the sponsorship of WBO World Champion Boxer Savannah Marshall," says the company.
“There has been a fundamental change in media coverage of women’s sport in recent years with increased programming allocated to matches.” says Nick Edwards, Version 2 managing director. “We are passionate about our professional links with our partnered female teams and sportswomen both on and off the pitch and in and out of the boxing ring.”
UK - VDC Trading has promoted Herpreet Kaur Singh to the role of commercial director. She will now be responsible for the commercial aspect of the business for the whole of the UK and export and will oversee and assist the continuing growth of VDC and the Van Damme brand in multiple markets across the world.
Herpreet, who joined VDC in 2014, previously managed VDC’s export and customer services department. “I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to be able to expand my role in this way,” she says. “We have weathered an incredibly difficult time during the pandemic and have emerged more resilient with so much to look forward to. Van Damme as a brand has never been stronger and VDC has many interesting projects in the pipeline - both domestically and internationally. I’m excited to drive the commercial side of the business and look forward to continuing to work with our clients closely to ensure they get the service they expect from VDC.”
Niall Holden, founder and CEO of VDC Trading, comments: “Herpreet is integral to achieving our ambitious vision and growth plan amidst the post-pandemic recovery and was the obvious choice for this position, with her extensive experience and positive, can-do approach that inspires and encourages others.”
UK - Peterborough-based technical production company Pearce Hire has received the accolade of Best Power Supplier at the recent Event Production Awards 2022.
The company specialises in temporary power and lighting systems for outdoor events on greenfield sites across the UK, including Royal Parks, stately home gardens and areas of outstanding natural beauty.
During the last two years, founder and managing director Shaun Pearce has campaigned for government support of the sector at local and national level, whilst working tirelessly to safeguard and future-proof the business he has built.
“It really has been one of the most difficult periods of Pearce Hire’s history but this really signifies the light at the end of the tunnel,” says Pearce. “Like the rest of the industry my company has battled to get through the past two years and we couldn’t have done it without the absolute support and resilience of the entire Pearce Hire team and all our clients.
“The award really does acknowledge the excellent service that my team offer our clients, and with a very busy 2022 schedule ahead of us, we can’t wait to return to doing what we love, out there in the thick of the industry.”
Solidarity - All remaining performances of the Russian State Ballet of Siberia in the UK have been cancelled following the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Over the weekend, venues began to cancel planned performances by the company, with the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, the Royal and Derngate in Northampton and the New Theatre Peterborough, run by Selladoor, all pulling planned appearances by the company. Ambassador Theatre Group also cancelled performances planned at the Edinburgh Playhouse and the Bristol Hippodrome.
Now, Raymond Gubbay, which was producing the tour, has cancelled all remaining dates. “In view of the current shocking circumstances unfolding in Ukraine, the remaining performances by the Russian State Ballet of Siberia of their 2021/2022 tour will not be taking place,” it said.
English National Opera performed the Ukrainian national anthem before its show on Sunday in support of the people of Ukraine. The opera company’s orchestra performed the anthem at the London Coliseum ahead of its final performance of La Bohème. ENO said it wanted to perform the piece "in solidarity with the people of Ukraine".
Russia will no longer be allowed to participate in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, the European Broadcasting Union has said. The EBU, which produces the event, said Russia's inclusion could bring the competition into disrepute "in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine".
Going Green - Members of Equity have pledged to campaign for arts institutions to cut ties with the fossil fuel industry as part of a
Reconnected - The organisers of the T in the Park and TRNSMT festivals have announced their newest event will be held in Edinburgh. The Connect Music Festival will take place at the Royal Highland Centre near Edinburgh Airport from 26 to 28 August. Promoters DF Concerts said the line-up for the weekend-long event will be announced this Wednesday. There have been two Connect festivals before, in 2007 and 2008, both at Inveraray Castle in Argyll.
Announcing the festival's revival, Geoff Ellis, chief executive of DF Concerts and Events, said: “During initial planning discussions around the relaunch of Connect, we realised that we had to make some changes and to remaster the original festival proposition for today's audiences. One of the biggest considerations we had was around public transport and ensuring the event was accessible to festival goers from across the country. The Royal Highland Centre provides a purpose-built event site that is readily accessible by public transport for each of the three days. This not only makes it easy for festivalgoers to attend but hugely supports our ambition to deliver a more sustainable festival now and into the future.”
Bristol Fashion - The biggest music festival to ever take place in Bristol has been announced for this summer. Forwards, a new event on the city's Downs green space, will have a capacity of 60,000 over two days. The festival in September will be headlined by The Chemical Brothers and feature artists such as Little Simz, Jamie xx and Sleaford Mods.
COVID Concern - Theatres are bein
China - DJ Wengweng, well-known electronic musician, the main founder of Acupuncture Records and the Lantern Club, has recently opened Solo, a new electronic music room in Bejing, with the help of Van Damme Cable.
Measured at only 18sq.m, the music space will be used to record live sets of or other artists, and make their musical talents and ideas better known through the internet.
The key aim is to establish increasingly strong relationships with domestic artists, labels and club operators, start discussions around the development of electronic music culture in China and create development opportunities together.
Despite its size, the sound, lighting, DJ and acoustic processing equipment are all professional standard. Installation was achieved with the help of Phoenix Audio, Van Damme’s Chinese distributor.
The audio configuration uses Funktion-One series: two R1 full-frequency main amplifiers and two F101 supplementary speakers. One BR218 double 18’’ bass. Van Damme Tour Grade Classic XKE starquad microphone cable, Black Series Tour Grade 8 pair multicore and Black Series Tour Grade 4 x 4.00mm multicore were also used in the Solo Club install.
Herpreet Kaur Singh, commercial director at VDC Trading, comments: “We’re delighted that we were able to support Phoenix Audio with this install. It’s a privilege to be involved with Solo, a space linked to such a high-profile artist and one of the important personalities in the development of Chinese electronic music culture.”
Chris Zhang, director of Phoenix Audio, adds:
Massive Losses - Commercial theatre companies including Ambassador Theatre Group and HQ Theatres have revealed losses they incurred to March 2021, with theatre closures leading to 90% falls in revenue in some instances. Cameron Mackintosh Limited suffered pre-tax losses of £16.2m to the end of March last year, with the company’s turnover tumbling to just £20.8m. This is down from £206.7m in 2020.
The organisation, which operates eight West End theatres blamed the “disappointing trading results” entirely on the pandemic and warned that conditions remained “challenging”. It said a “consistent return to pre-pandemic audience attendance levels will take time to rebuild”, as domestic visitors, workers and international tourists return to London.
According to the accounts for International Entertainment Holdings Ltd, the parent company of ATG, the group saw revenue fall to £41.6m in the year to March 2021, compared with £476.7m in 2020 - a drop of 91%.
The organisation said this was the result of COVID forcing “the closure of all the group’s venues for the full year”. It made a pre-tax loss of £147.1m in 2021, compared with a £33.9m loss in 2020. After tax, its loss was £138.9 million in 2021, compared with £25.9m the year before.
Vegas Calling - Adele has said the Las Vegas residency she recently postponed will "absolutely 100%" happen later this year". Last month, the singer posted a tearful video the day before her first show, saying it wasn't ready. She has now told TV host Graham Norton she and her team are
Brit Awards - The 2022 Brit Awards take place at the O2 Arena tonight, with Adele, Ed Sheeran, Dave and Little Simz leading the nominations. All four artists are up for the night's biggest prizes - artist and album of the year - alongside Sam Fender. It will be broadcast live on ITV, and on YouTube for viewers outside the UK.
Last year's Brit Awards took place as part of the government's pilot scheme for the return of live events. COVID restrictions necessitated a mixture of live and virtual performances, with artists like Coldplay, The Weekend and Elton John appearing on tape.
This year, organisers have vowed to "keep everything in the room" - even when that meant scrapping a planned performance from US star Doja Cat, after members of her team tested positive for COVID. As a result, tonight's performances are exclusively coming from British artists - including all five artist of the year nominees: Adele, Dave, Ed Sheeran, Little Simz and Sam Fender.
TikTok Tickets - The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced a partnership with social media platform TikTok in a bid to attract more young people to theatre. In a scheme dubbed ‘TikTok tickets’, people aged 14 to 25 will be offered subsidised travel and entry to shows. The Stratford-upon-Avon group will also create more content with the platform, including TikTok takeovers and behind-the-scenes films.
Launching in June, young people will be offered £10 tickets for performances. The RSC said the move aimed to "inspire the next generation of theatre audiences" and would particularly tar
Ireland - In late 2021, VDC Trading was approached by Murt Whelan Sound to create a 48-channel stagebox which will be core to much of the company’s work in 2022.
Murt Whelan Sound (MWS) is a pro-audio rental and installation company based in Limerick in the Republic of Ireland. It provides professional services nationwide and is a one stop production shop, offering support from initial concept and design right through to the realisation and management of any large-scale event.
MWS constantly invests in responsive, state-of-the-art equipment to ensure it stays ahead of the market and exceeds its customer expectations. It therefore approached VDC Trading to design a custom 19” rack mountable, 48 channel stagebox, which will be central to many of the concerts it plans to do in 2022.
The stagebox has three passive splits for FOH / MON and REC, on 24 channel VDMs. The system also has 4 x SAT inputs on VDM 37 s to patchable XLR tails and 12 channel multicores and SAT boxes.
Adam Jafrabadi, VDC’s export director, worked closed with Carmen Wagner, VDC’s head of production to make this request a reality within a two-week timescale.
Adam commented: “We have a long-standing relationship with MWS and have built similar systems for MWS’ business in the past. We therefore had a very good idea of what Murt and the team wanted. Because they have the capability and expertise to deliver flawless projects, every piece of kit needs to be work at a high level to ensure an exceptional level of service. We are proud that we were able to deliver wh
On The Beach - The BBC Concert Orchestra will take up a three-year residency in a seaside town to "raise aspirations". Its arrival in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, is due to a collaboration with the charity Orchestras Live and arts organisations in the county. The aim was to "provide learning pathways and improve people's wellbeing", the charity said. It will run workshops in every primary school in the town and hold a free schools concert.
Part of the Create Yarmouth strategy, it hopes to encourage students to get creative with music. “The programme aims to raise aspiration, provide learning pathways and improve people's wellbeing through collaborations with world-class musicians, digital artists, producers and arts managers”, an Orchestras Live spokeswoman said. Pop-up performances in public spaces, as part of a Heritage Action Zone, will also be held.
Pride Restored - Paloma Faith is the first main stage headline act to be announced for this year's Brighton Pride. The Brit Award winner will appear this summer after the event was cancelled two years running due to Covid-19. The three-day festival will run from 5 to 7 August and it has previously attracted crowds of about 250,000.
Park Life - Parklife's return to a summer slot has led to a "huge demand" for tickets, its co-founder has said. The festival at Heaton Park will take place on 11 and 12 June after it was cancelled in 2020 and moved in 2021 to September due to the pandemic. Its line-up will include rappers 50 Cent, Megan Thee Stallion and Tyler, the Creator, singers Lewis Capa