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Under Pressure - Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under renewed pressure to provide greater financial security to the arts sector’s self-employed workforce in the forthcoming Budget, as the findings of a new inquiry warn of a talent exodus without support.
The Inquiry into the Future of Self-Employment has been carried out by Prospect – the parent union of BECTU – and calls on the chancellor to end “the exclusions from the government’s income support packages”, which have seen millions of self-employed and freelance workers fall through the gaps of existing financial support schemes.
As part of the inquiry’s research, a survey of more than 2,200 self-employed workers was carried out, of which 39% were trade union members.
BECTU head Philippa Childs gave evidence to the inquiry and said: "Workers in the creative industries have been left with

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UK - To mark the centenary of Stephen Joseph’s birth and the 60th anniversary of the founding of ABTT, the ABTT Stephen Joseph Committee has announced an award to commemorate the life and work of the influential theatre practitioner and pioneer of theatre in-the-round.
A statement from the ABTT says: “Stephen Joseph was one of the most influential theatre practitioners of the last century. He was one of the founders of the ABTT and the Society of Theatre Consultants, now the Institute of Theatre Consultants. He promoted new writing, architectural standards and technical excellence, and was an inspiring university teacher. His pioneering work has given rise to the use of myriad forms of theatre and open staging in current practice. At the heart of his philosophy was the close and fundamental relationship between performer and audience. Above all, he established theatre-i
Claypaky - Banner - Mar25
Doughty - Banner - Feb-Dec25
HOF - Banner - March 2025

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UK - The Stagehand COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund, launched in September 2020, achieved its target of raising £1m by the end of 2020 and now looks to building on the £1.17m raised in order to continue supporting live events industry workers experiencing hardship in 2021.
As a result, a third round of grant applications will be open until 12pm on 12 February. The grants of £500 help crew facing financial crisis and experiencing food poverty.
Donations to the COVID-19 Crew Relief Fund have been received from PPL, BPI / BRIT Awards, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, The Co-Op, SJM Concerts, artists, artist managers and many individuals including some by anonymous donors.
Prints for Music, the photography sale created by Ed Robinson who, together with 39 other photographers, donated images depicting musical heroes throughout the ages. The campaign saw significant f

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Pay Freeze - Backstage theatre workers across the UK will have their pay frozen until April next year, under temporary contract changes aimed at helping the industry reopen following the pandemic. UK Theatre and BECTU have concluded a temporary COVID-19 Variation Agreement, which came into effect on 18 January and replaces the current UK Theatre/BECTU agreement until 2022.
Although BECTU members voted in favour of the amendments, the union said they were not happy with the changes. The changes will not impact separately negotiated house agreements with individual venues, but local negotiations can take place to vary house agreements in line with the temporary COVID-19 Variation Agreement.
The UK Theatre/BECTU agreement covers pay and working conditions for offstage roles in theatres across the UK in areas including box office, administration, technical, front of house,

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UK - Guildhall School of Music & Drama has announced 15 new online courses that will run from April – July 2021. The school has transferred its most popular short courses online and created a range of new ones, working with tutors to ensure that they are “just as enriching and memorable as they would be within the building”.
The courses cover music, drama, music production for young women and girls, sound design for theatre, video mapping and an introduction to game audio. Participants will have the opportunity to learn with Guildhall School staff members, as well as guest tutors, in a range of workshops all held on Zoom.
In addition to these courses, Guildhall School is hoping to run several in-person Summer Schools from July - August. For a full list of in-person courses and to register your interest, you can go to the website

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UK - If you’ve ever fancied owning an industry-relevant personalised number plate, now’s your chance! The plate, which reads A1 DMX is currently owned by a prominent lighting director, who would prefer to remain anonymous. It has been kindly donated to LSi to be auctioned in order to raise funds for the #WeMakeEvents campaign.
The LD says: “Some of us working in TV and film studios are fortunate enough to have kept some of our work since the COVID pandemic closed the majority of our industry last March. So many of our friends and colleagues, particularly in music, events and theatre, haven’t had any work at all during that time and have had little or no support from the government.”
“I would like to try to help out in a small way. I know many reading this in LSi will have homes and offices cluttered with old equipment and industry memorabilia. Some

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No Coachella - Another major music festival, Coachella, has been cancelled due to the pandemic. The annual event in the southern Californian desert was scheduled over two weekends in April but the region's public health officer Dr Cameron Kaiser says it will not go ahead.
The Stagecoach country music festival, on the same site as Coachella but later in April, has also been cancelled, Dr Kaiser said, blaming the dire COVID-19 situation in the state. He said in a public health order: "If COVID-19 were detected at these festivals, the scope and number of attendees and the nature of the venue would make it infeasible, if not impossible, to track those who may be placed at risk."
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival takes place in the Indio desert near Palm Springs and attracted about 250,000 attendees in 2019, while Stagecoach draws more than 70,000 country

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Festival Blues - This year's Glastonbury music festival has been cancelled due to coronavirus, organisers have confirmed. Michael and Emily Eavis announced the news on the festival's official Twitter page writing: “With great regret, we must announce that this year's Glastonbury Festival will not take place.”
It's the second year running that Glastonbury will not go ahead, after last year's 50th anniversary celebration was cancelled due to COVID-19. In a full statement on their website, the father and daughter team explained that in spite of “efforts to move Heaven & Earth”, the event would not be happening in 2021, adding that “this will be another enforced fallow year for us”.
“It has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the Festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down. As with last year, we would like to offer all

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Quarantine Regulations - Performing arts professionals are no longer entitled to a quarantine exemption when arriving in the UK, following a tightening of travel restrictions. As of now, anyone working in the performing arts that enters the UK, including performers, creatives and technical staff, must self-isolate for 10 days, according to regulations confirmed by the government.
Performing arts is one of eight sectors that has been removed from the list of professions that qualify for quarantine exemptions, alongside television and film production workers, journalists and advertising professionals. The government has given no indication of the duration of this change.
People working in the performing arts were added to the list of exemptions for England in December. The exemption covered individuals travelling for a paid work engagement in the UK, with both int

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Pistol Package - Trainspotting director Danny Boyle is to make a six-part TV series about 1970s punk icons the Sex Pistols. Based on guitarist Steve Jones's memoir, it will star Anson Boon as John Lydon and Louis Partridge (Enola Holmes) as Sid Vicious. Filming is due to start in March for US TV network FX. No UK broadcaster has been announced yet.
"Imagine breaking into the world of The Crown and Downton Abbey with your mates and screaming your songs and your fury at all they represent," said Boyle, announcing his new project. "This is the moment that British society and culture changed forever. It is the detonation point for British street culture, where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion - and everyone had to watch and listen.”
Air Conditioning - London’s 100 Club is to pioneer trials of

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USA - ClearOne, a global provider of audio and visual communications solutions has launched two new webcams with the intention of “making true-to-life video collaboration possible for everyone”.
For users who want to upgrade from the basic camera included in their laptop or PC, ClearOne has introduced its most affordable webcam to-date, UNITE 10. The small, powerful webcam supports up to 1080p video quality and offers autofocus. It can capture five-megapixel images with a field of view up to 87-degrees. UNITE 10 attaches to any PC or laptop with a simple mounting bracket, and a 1.5m USB-A cable ensures simple connection to most modern computers. UNITE 10 is also available to dealers and distributors in 20 packs for commercial sale.
Meanwhile, the new UNITE 50 4K AF webcam introduces ClearOne’s new Auto-Framing technology to maximize screen use through intelligen

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Europe - Global event production company PSAV has announced that it will begin to operate under the Encore name as part of a planned move to align its portfolio of companies, including Hawthorn and AVC Live, under a master brand.
Announced in March 2020, the move “solidifies the company’s desire to unify its operations and deliver industry leadership through end-to-end creative, production and technology services to its meeting planner customers and hotel partners, taking them far beyond traditional AV services”.
“This is an exciting day for our family of companies,” said Ben Erwin, president and CEO. “In a world changed by the pandemic, the Encore brand and new icon signal a forward focus. It puts our customers at the centre as we offer new platforms and tools to enable them to continue to meet and seamlessly connect in person and virtual audiences. We hav

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UK - 2021 sees the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) celebrate the diamond jubilee of its foundation. The Association will be marking this milestone with a year of online activities, and a resumption of the popular face to face in-person events when restrictions allow. It will also take the opportunity to dip into the rich depths of the ABTT Archive in order to share videos and interviews. Plus there will be more seminars, new awards, and events throughout the year.
“It is a privilege to be part of the ABTT in its 60th year and to participate in its diamond jubilee,” says Robin Townley, CEO of the ABTT. “It is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the role it has played throughout its existence in supporting those engaged in the design and construction of places of entertainment as well as those delivering technical and production support to live perform

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UK - PLASA is hosting two free webinars this week on how to apply for the second round of grants from the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF).
Taking place on Wednesday 13 January from 10am-12pm and Friday 15 January from 2pm-4pm, these webinars will be hosted by Caroline Taylor, an independent expert with a proven track record in successfully applying for £15m in Arts Council England funding, including the first round of the CRF and the ACE Emergency Fund.
During each webinar you will explore the main application questions in detail which will help you submit a strong application. You will also learn about Grantium, the new Arts Council application portal which you are encouraged to register for prior to the webinar. Additionally, each webinar will have a dedicated Q&A section to answer any specific questions you may have regarding the application process. Following the

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USA - Behind the Scenes has announced a generous year-end donation from MA Lighting International which has been a supporter of the charity for many years, through its partnership with the Lightpower Collection. MA Lighting International is responsible for worldwide sales and marketing of grandMA control systems.
MA Lighting international managing director, Stephan Saremba, commented, “In times like these, when donations from companies have declined sharply due to necessity, MA Lighting would like to set an example with direct financial support and once again emphasise the importance of these foundations.”
The Lightpower Collection is a long-time major supporter of Behind the Scenes. Lightpower, founded in 1978 in Germany as a lighting rental company, has grown to be an internationally established distributor for stage and studio lighting equipment. The Lightpower

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World - As the LSi and PLASA offices close for the festive break, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued readership throughout 2020. It’s certainly been a challenging one for our industry, but there have been some incredible moments of solidarity and triumph over adversity too, many of which we’ve had the privilege of detailing for you both here at LSi Online and in the magazine.
Our daily online news service will resume on Wednesday 6 January 2021. Until then, if you fancy a read, you can access LSi’s full 35-year back catalogue free online here.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays – we wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!
The LSi team

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UK - West End theatres must once again close their doors as London moves into the highest tier of COVID-19 restrictions from midnight tonight (Tuesday 15/12). Many shows – including Pantoland at the Palladium, Six and Les Miserables: The Staged Concert – had only just opened and were following strict COVID-safe measures.
The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) said the move would cause “catastrophic financial difficulties" for venues, producers and thousands of workers.”
Andrew Lloyd Webber issued a statement saying: “I feel devastated for all those in theatre who have tried so hard to provide entertainment for the Christmas season. Theatres have worked tirelessly to make themselves as COVID-safe as possible. It does seem arbitrary and unfair that people can jostle uncontrolled in crowded shops yet orderly socially-distanced theatre-going is banne

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Freelance Support - Freelancers in financial need because of tighter restrictions around the UK are being offered support through the Theatre Artists Fund, which has had a boost from Arts Council England. ACE, supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has previously contributed £1m to the fund, and has now put in additional money, although the amount has not been disclosed.
The fund is administered by the Society of London Theatre’s sister charity Theatre Development Trust and will be looking to support freelancers who were not eligible to apply for grants in the recent funding round, but are now in financial need due to working in a Tier 3 area. SOLT said the Theatre Artists Fund would be contacting producers and theatres that have had to cancel or postpone productions in Tier 3 areas to seek details of affected individuals. Grants of £1,000 to

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Europe - HOF has announced Scandec as its new distributor for Norway. Scandec is an established distributor for audiovisual products and permanent installations of pro audio and video.
Founded in 1984, Scandec has a large dealer network all over Norway and offers a strong portfolio of brands, products and system solutions. The company will distribute the HOF brands XOOP Lighting, Hof Truss, CJS and Excellent Line, and will partner with HOF for special aluminium constructions for permanent installations.

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UK - Production Park has secured a £12million Government loan which it plans to use to expand and develop its Wakefield campus over the next decade.
Production Park is one of the latest 11 major arts and heritage organisations across the UK to have received loan offers from the £1billion Cultural Recovery Fund, a combination of grant and loan cash from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), targeted to support a culture sector that has been devastated by the effects of COVID-19.
Other organisations to have benefitted from the £165m in repayable finance – and a further £58m in capital funding for ongoing construction and maintenance projects in the sector – announced by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden include the Royal Albert Hall, National Theatre, English National Opera, Alexandra Palace and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
“The

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USA - Magmatic atmospheric effects has introduced Rocket, a line of powerful CO2 cryogenic simulation effects that produce ‘dense white clouds of fog for visually stunning atmospherics. Capable of generating a heavy blast of fog that engulfs an area in just a few seconds yet dissipates instantly, each effect is arrayed with high-output RGBA LEDs.
Rocket is making it easier for designers and production houses to implement high-impact cryogenic-type effects into projects of all types - tours, special events, clubs, theme parks and more, says the company. The advantages over traditional liquid CO2 or liquid nitrogen cryogenic effects are many. With the Rocket series there are no cumbersome, high-pressure liquid CO2 or liquid nitrogen cylinders to deal with, making for a safer, less expensive and faster setup that requires no local authority approvals.
Three Rocket ser

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USA - Chauvet Professional has announced it is extending its ReSet Fund programme through 31 December during 'the season of giving' to help individuals in the live event industry impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
After Chauvet kicked off the programme, which helps fund grants through Behind the Scenes (BTS), with a $25,000 donation to BTS in October, the brand has been offering a matching donation for all merchandise sold on its website. With hundreds of orders in, Chauvet is committed to extending support during the holiday season.
“We are in the season of giving and during a year when everyone has given so much,” said Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “We see the ReSet Fund as a way to demonstrate the critical importance of supporting our community during good times and challenging times like now. As we emerge from the pandemic, we believe programmes like this

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On Stage - Many West End theatres have started reopening their doors for the first time since March. Among those reopening their doors for the first time since closing eight months ago are the Garrick Theatre, the Lyric Theatre and the Sondheim Theatre, which is home to the Les Mis concert. The development comes as Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed plans to open six of his West End theatres by the summer of 2021, in a move that is being seen as a major boost for the sector.
Nimax venues staged 12 performances over the weekend, including four performances of Six at the Lyric. Nimax chief Nica Burns had previously indicated her intention to begin a phased reopening of her six theatres earlier this year, and had already brought Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt to the Apollo, which opened in October shortly before the second lockdown in November. “It was a ve

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Doorstepping - Actors Maria Friedman and Adrian Der Gregorian have launched a new production company to take the West End to the nation’s doorsteps. Backed by theatre figures including Cameron Mackintosh, Nica Burns and Sonia Friedman, well as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group, Doorstep Productions will stage personalised performances from hit shows, in full costume, on streets, driveways and in gardens across the UK.
It is promising a "song-and-dance spectacle" featuring up to six performers, with audiences able to choose songs and scenes from shows including Les Misérables, Mary Poppins, The Phantom of the Opera and Dreamgirls. The company will also be offering a Dickensian carol singing experience over the festive period.
Alongside Der Gregorian, who is her husband, Friedman has assembled a group of West End actors, si
  1. STNDBY looks to dress crew and creatives
  2. The Week in Light & Sound
  3. Behind the Scenes launches bullying awareness initiative
  4. The Week in Light & Sound
  5. Light Touch Designs pledges support to BTS
  6. Le Mark dance mats for Sarah England school
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