UK - For the third year, the Stage Electrics Welsh Trade Show is being held at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff on Wednesday 11 October 2006. Doors open at 11am and the show closes at 5pm.
Leading industry suppliers Apollo, Audio Technica, ETC, Lee, Le Maitre, Mackie, MA Lighting, Martin, Prolyte, Pulsar, RCF, Rosco, Selecon, Sennheiser, Strand, Teclumen and Zero88 will be exhibiting their latest products, offering demos and providing expert advice.
Elaine Peake from Le Maitre will be demonstrating a selection of pyrotechnics at 12 noon and 2pm (weather permitting).
The Stage Electrics Welsh Trade Show is a free event, open to everyone and no tickets are required. The company is recommending you come early to take advantage of the free sandwiches available at lunchtime. Visitors can also take the opportunity to pre-register via the Stage Electrics website to be entered in the prize draw.
Helen Gadbury marketing executive from Stage Electrics says: "This is the largest show so far with more suppliers taking stands than ever before. We are building on the success of our last two shows but will have a new look at the venue - it's a day that you don't want to miss."
(Chris Henry)
Uk - The classical Sondheim musical Follies has returned to the London stage with Robert McWhir's critically acclaimed production at the Landor Theatre in North Clapham. The show was designed for a large Broadway theatre but the Landor is a small fringe venue on the first floor of a South London pub. With a small acting area, a seating capacity of 50 and no financial backing or budget. McWhir's vision was to seat the audience on chairs and tables to be part of the party. The cast of 21 are joined on stage by projected images of their younger days - the synchronisation of all this is done by grandMA.
Andrew Tottle, the production manager explained: "We started looking for solutions ten months ago. The total power capacity for the lighting system is 63A single-phase so we needed very precise solutions designed to work! There would be no spare budget to buy our way out of trouble. The sound, pianist, cast, film and lighting had to be perfectly synchronised for this to work."
The system recommended to Tottle that could frame and light synch 'straight from the box' was grandMA. He continues: "The projection distance is only 12' and projectors that are bright enough with a wide angle are too expensive. So, we needed to combine two cheap projectors to get the width covered and soft-edge our media content, again grandMA does this. With the cheaper projectors there's a blue output when you really want black - two Rainbow scrollers with Blackout gel as one of their frames were created by Whitelight so we could block the projector output when not neede
UK - Blitz, the UK's leading technical staging specialist, will join Phantom of the Opera in celebrating its landmark 20 year anniversary this October. Blitz has worked on the award-winning show, since it opened at Her Majesty's Theatre on 9 October 1986.
Blitz provides a complete sound solution for the stage show. Phantom of the Opera is notable for its pioneering use of Sennheiser radio mics, now a West End standard, as well as sound designer Martin Levan's first use of open Tannoy loudspeaker drivers. Today, as 130 cast, crew and orchestra members are involved with each performance, the show demands a large volume of high technology to work in concert.
Having worked with Phantom of the Opera since its inception, Blitz has adapted with the musical over time, supplying new equipment for two major refurbishments in 1994 and 2004 to keep up with the changing nature of the theatre sound industry technology. Over the last 20 years Phantom has received more than 50 major theatre awards from around the world, and has been seen by an estimated 80 million people worldwide.
As Paul Hutton, managing director of Blitz says: "We are delighted to be celebrating our 20th year of work with Phantom of the Opera which has evolved into an iconic theatre production. Blitz has provided a wide variety of creative technical solutions over the years to keep up with the changing design briefs. The challenges of supplying a production with a complete sound solution for 20 years are of course numerous; however, with continual innovation we have been abl
UK - Stage One have beaten off the competition and been crowned 'Supplier of the Year' at the prestigious 2006 Event Awards, which were announced on Friday 29 September at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London. "It means a lot to us to win this prominent industry accolade as it's recognition for all the energy, skill and dedication we bring to bear on every project we're involved with," says the company.
The projects we submitted for consideration were; the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, MTV Europe Music Awards and Aspire opening ceremony in Doha, and information about all of these, along with other recent projects can be found on the Stage One website: www.stageone.co.uk.
(Chris Henry)
UK - London-based PA and promotions company, Up All Night Music, employedAllen & Heath GL2400 and GL2800 multi-purpose live sound mixers to manage audio during its busy festival schedule, which included 'Til The Cows Come Home, Bloodstock, Lovebox, and Secret Garden.
The season started with 'Til The Cows Come Home festival, which took place in Bedfordshire at the beginning of July. The independent festival - with an elite 500 capacity - featured an eclectic mix of bands on one stage. Acts included the 9-piece band, P-Hex; The Retro Spankees; Whisky Cats; Delphian Complex, who have supported New Order and Primal Scream; mod-ska British band, Bowfinger; and the Lazarus Plot, who have supported the likes of Supergrass and Shed 7.
"A small portable board was needed for a quick and easy set up, so I selected a 24-channel GL2400," explains Up All Night sound engineer, Ed Shackleton. "The desk has a small footprint but with enough ins and outs for the job, and there was capacity for four monitor mixes run from FOH, and still two more auxes spare for FX sends. The GL2400 did the jobadmirably, and as usual band engineers were more than happy with the setup."
Next in the diary was the UK's biggest independent outdoor metal festival - Bloodstock Open Air, attracting leading metal bands from around the world to its two stages. Shackleton explains: "We employed a 40-channel GL2800 on stage two, so we had plenty of channels to play with. We really went to town on mic'ing as there were decent changeover times, hence using four microphones for two kick
Eastern Europe - The very first ISE Roadshow in Eastern Europe is about to be launched. Starting in Poland and the Czech Republic on 30 October and 1 November respectively, the Roadshow moves to Hungary and Turkey the following week. Two new silver sponsors, Stardraw and Extron have just signed up to add their support to the event. The show organisers have reported a high level of interest from emerging companies in the AV and Electronic Systems Integration market and have issued an advice to anyone still interested in attending to visit the website as soon as possible to guarantee a place at this new event: www.iseurope.org.
The workshops will be of interest to custom and professional installers, buyers and resellers of AV Systems, designers, meeting planners, agencies and IT consultants.
The Roadshow will visit four key cities over an eight-day period and will include four intensive one-day programmes.
AMX / Comm-Tec. Crestron & Da-Lite have signed up as platinum sponsors, Lighthouse and Vantage as Gold, Christie, KEF, Lutron, Panasonic, Stardraw, Extron and Polycom as silver. These manufacturers will be showcasing the latest in AV Systems Integration technologies through a series of presentations and an exhibition.
"ISE has developed a tremendous marketing platform for the European AV systems industry with its main event in Amsterdam and we feel that now is the right time to extend this further into new emerging markets," said Josh Garner, director of international sales at Da-Lite. "The AV systems Integrators in these regions are crying out
France - Digigram, a leader in PC audio interfaces and innovative networked audio devices, announced today that its HR series of professional sound cards have been submitted to Microsoft WHQL tests with success. The sound card used during the tests, a VX222HR, is now acknowledged as "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP", a Microsoft label only given to qualified products. HR Series drivers are also digitally signed for Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 (32-Bit edition), meaning that they also comply to WHQL standards.
Until now, no other professional-grade sound card for broadcast solutions has been 100% tested and made available with drivers digitally signed by Microsoft WHQL.
This is a significant demonstration of Digigram's willingness to keep current with professional hardware quality standards: system stability is not compromised, power management features are improved and PCI bus access complies accurately with Microsoft's Operating Systems guidelines.
For Digigram's partners and customers, this means they will gain full support from Microsoft support teams, a Microsoft service that is only available to customers using signed drivers. Driver updates will also be available via the Windows Update website.
Another great benefit is that installations will become significantly faster, with no dialogue boxes warning about potential system conflicts. IT administrators will also appreciate the improved automatic deployment of solutions and updates on multiple workstations via silent installation packages.
By submitti
UK - Opera North, England's national opera company in the North, based in Leeds, has purchased a CyberHoist motion control system through Vertigo Rigging to greatly expand its flying capabilities.
Opera North's system - comprising four CH500 500kg CyberHoist motors and an Apple laptop-based InMotion 3D programming and control system - was immediately despatched as part of the company's 2006 touring production of the satirical Kurt Weill operetta Arms and the Cow.
The operetta is set on a sleepy Caribbean island that is drawn, through the machinations of an arms dealer, mendacious politicians and US connivance, into an arms race with a neighbouring island. Raunchy humour and Caribbean-feel numbers infuse the work, completed and revised with input from Opera North's own head of music, James Holmes.
The CyberHoist system's capabilities were thoroughly tested by the production. A pair of BGV-C1 rated CyberHoist motors flew a 150kg couch, with three of the cast sitting on it, up and down. A third motor flew a table in and out while the fourth was used to fly one of the leading characters, an arms dealer, out on a rope ladder as he made his escape from the island by helicopter.
The system was chosen by technical director Ric Green and chief stage technician Chick Macfarlane, who explained: "Although we've been flying people and objects using manual counterweight and pulley systems for years, to meet modern safety standards using state-of-the-art technology is far preferable and more reliable.
"That means motors with a BGV-C1 rating and at least d
Italy - Billy Joel and Bryan Adams were dual headliners at this year's Telecomcerto, the large annual free concert organised by Telecom Progetto Italia in cooperation with the City of Rome. The two-for-one superstar event took place on the July 31 2006, on a stage where many of the world's greatest artists have performed over the last three years, in front of the Coliseum and in the magical setting of the Fori Imperiali (Imperial Forums).
It was a night of great music and high emotion for the estimated 500,000 fans in attendance. The audio and lighting equipment for both concerts was supplied by Italian company MMS srl. of Solaro (Milan); Maddalena Tronchetti Provera and Vittorio Quattrone of the Four One Music company organised the event.
The event was also a great success for Texim, official Italian distributors of the Electro-Voice, Midas and Klark Teknik equipment that comprised the entire sound reinforcement system. This year Texim celebrates 30 years as an Electro-Voice distributor, as well as 35 years in the professional audio business.
The event location included one of the most famous streets in Rome - that running from the Coliseum to the Imperial Forums - along which sound reinforcement was provided for one kilometre. Alessandro Galli was responsible for event production, with support from Diego Bertuzzi. Milan-based Stage System supplied the stage and the layer for the delay towers. The EASE projections for the audio system were made by the Texim Technical Department in collaboration with Giovanni Colucci and Massimo Sartirana of MMS, who made the f
USA - Theatrical Lighting Systems (TLS) recently held lighting seminars in the Huntsville and Nashville areas. The sessions were divided into 'lighting for churches' and 'lighting for theatre/entertainment', in order to give each group individualised attention.
The seminars included product demonstration from various manufacturer representatives including Rosco, Vari-Lite, High End, Thomas Engineering, ETC, Strong, and DeSisti.TLS offers these seminars on a regular basis as a free service to customers in order to create better relations and keep them informed about the newest innovations.
(Chris Henry)
UK - The launch of the Roscolux range in Europe was welcomed by both US and European lighting designers, Rosco reports. The wider availability of the range offers access to these colours for shows on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the opportunity to use colours that have been standard for American designers for 30 years.
"I have always felt comfortable using the Roscolux family of colours," says US lighting designer Kirk Bookman. "It offers the full range of saturated colours, middle ranges and tints. The continuing addition of colours keeps my personal colour palette fresh. I have always been able to count on the colour durability and consistency through the years."
Rick Fisher concurs: "It is great that Roscolux is available in Europe, particularly as it now gives designers access to some of the subtler shades that have been so useful in the US. I have already used Rosco 302 (Pale bastard amber) for a play at the Royal Court Theatre, where it provided just the right amount of warmth without appearing too much of a colour.""I'm delighted to see that Roscolux is now available in Europe - no need for sneaky imports any more!" adds Hugh Vanstone, LD for Spamalot. "It fills a few gaps in the Supergel range, particularly in the subtle blues which I find very useful."
(Lee Baldock)
UK - PLASA 2006 was a resounding success for Lincolnshire-based loudspeaker specialist Logic System Pro Audio Ltd. Confirmed orders for a further 60 VA boxes on the stand over the four-day period has resulted in total sales for VAs passing 1000 - a notable achievement.
The new Ethos Compact box caused a tremendous amount of interest. Ethos Compact is a fixed angle array box offering directivity of 20° (V) and 90° (H), and using a neodymium 8" cone driver combined with two waveguide mounted 1" neo-compression drivers. The box is passive and has 16ohm impedance, which will allow four boxes to be run from a single amplifier channel. It has numerous applications which include AV theatre and live sound.
A phone call on the first morning of the show from the company's Singapore office confirmed that the new compact box would be included on another large Ethos installation in Guangzhou, China, due to open before Christmas. This follows on from the success of the Ethos installation at Shanghai dance club, Wyn Win. "The most interesting comment of the show, came from one of our competitors' Chinese distributors, who acknowledged that the installation at Wyn Win had redefined dance systems in China," the company says.
Chris Scott, Logic's MD commented: "This year the show has been great, there has been a fantastic atmosphere on the stand, the new products have been well received, and Ethos as ever has proved to be a great success. The quality of new customers from both the UK and Export markets has been a revelation. I think the next six
UK - In a project that began way back in 2004, Warsaw-based Tommex was asked by the architects from the project company Arconel for cooperation with a range of room acoustic solutions and audio system designs for 'Globus', a multipurpose hall with an ice rink and an audience capacity of 5000 people.
The planned facility would have the ability to host hockey, volleyball and basketball - and music events. By the time Tommex joined the project team the main building was almost complete. Tommex started by preparing a mathematical model of the hall using Ease 3.0 software and the virtual acoustic reality of the hall was far from good. In every instance,measurements were made using Gold Line DSP 30 B to check the RT60 parametersand the poor measurements confirmed those gained from Ease. The RT60 at somefrequencies was almost 11 seconds. This presented Tommex with an enormouschallenge to meet the customer expectations of a venue for music events andspeech with good intelligibility.
The finance for Globus was already closed but a series of meetings between the client, the architects and Tommex persuaded the client to increase the budget for acoustic treatment. As a result, additional damping material on the ceiling and an acoustic screen above the main loudspeaker cluster were installed to the specification drawn up by Tommex. This resulted in an impressive decrease in average RT60 to below 3 seconds and RaSTI better than 0,5.
Tommex admit the room remains less than ideal for music events but it is possible to attain quite good speech intelligibility; a remarkable ach
USA / Europe - To educate and assist users in selecting colour, Apollo Design Technology Inc has introduced a "better" gel swatch-book, the company says. The front of the data sheet that supplements each gel swatch now includes a full colour spectrum transmission curve for enhanced colour recognition, while the back contains a detailed colour description, suggested uses, and how the colour interacts with other elements such as scene paint and costumes.
Apollo's new user-friendly gel books are available in two formats. The standard book is free upon request. The Designer Edition, with 6.25" x 6.25" removable filter sheets for projection testing, carries a list price of $150. The cover of the Designer Edition can also be customized with personal, firm, or school names, titles and logos.
Apollo Gel Books also include seven new colours - Cherry Lewis, King Congo Blue, Pinkerbell, Pink Pong, Rust Assured, Early Morning Frost, and Lavender Retriever. Apollo Design Technology Inc is a leading manufacturer and distributor of lighting effects products and accessories for the entertainment industry, including custom and standard gobos, dichroics, gel, scrollers, rotators, power supplies, cable, pattern holders and tape.
(Lee Baldock)
Austria - The Raiffeisen Bank of Austria wanted an eye-catching corporate branded frontage for their newly refurbished building near Vienna in Austria. Vivid Effect were asked to provide the right combination of architectural, signage and LED experience to achieve their objectives. Working with a local architect and installer, they designed a 20m x 8m screen to be fixed to the first floor exterior of the bank's building.
The LED fixtures used are DingDotz - individually addressable, low profile, self contained, colour changing RGB LEDs that are IP66 waterproof containing super-bright Nichia 3-in-1 sealed LED units. With a viewing angle of 120 degrees, the 15mm fixtures radiate light with high quality colour rendition of 16.7 million hues, which is suitable for directly viewed outdoor architectural signage applications. A standard rackmount Windows PC acts as the master controller, running Vivid Effect's DesignerSuite and FireFly software. The software manages the pixel mapping and contains a media player that plays the videos on the array. X-Node rackmount integrated drivers distribute power and data to the network. Braincell slave controllers run each set of 100 Dotz. The system network architecture allows video and animation to be run at 30 frames per second.
The DingDotz are fitted from behind into a custom horizontal aluminium U-profile section with holes cut out to locate the Dotz. The U-section is then fitted over the main frame and secured with grub screws. Each section of U-profile is 2.5m long and can be removed in minutes for any maintenance requirement
UK - With National Music Week fast approaching, national awarding body NCFE has launched a new range of qualifications aimed at aspiring music technicians, DJs and MCs. The qualifications in Music Technology provide learners with the opportunity to explore the uses of music technology and provide opportunities for people to deepen and broaden their musical interests and skills.
Candidates also study a diverse range of subjects including mixing, sound, live sound, DJing, MCing, sound effects, audio editing and employment opportunities. Learners also produce final recordings using music technology skills through practical work to develop creative skills.
Alasdair Downes, director of business development at NCFE, commented: "NCFE has developed these qualifications to help provide learners access to a range of opportunities within the music industry. NCFE has consulted industry specialists to ensure that the Music Technology qualifications are developed to the highest standards and include subjects and opportunities relevant to the music business."
The qualifications were developed with several partner organisations including Confetti, a specialist provider in Music and Video Technologies. Darren Bourne, director of education at Confetti, was fundamental in the development of the qualifications. He commented: "Confetti chose to support NCFE in the development of these qualifications as it is an approachable, forward thinking awarding body. NCFE is interested in issues of flexibility and delivery as well as providing solid qualifications at a tested l
UK - Entec Lighting rose to the challenge of supplying lighting kit and crew to five separate, high profile offsite shows at London Fashion Week. The shows were for Paul Smith, Giles Deacon, Julien Macdonald, the Fashion Fringe competition for emerging talent and Russian fashion house Kisa.
The venues varied greatly - from a glass walled debating chamber in City Hall (the Mayor's office) to Rochelle School in Whitechapel. Some were not normally used to stage shows, and all presented their own unique sets of logistical and practical idiosyncrasies.
Overall LFW lighting co-ordination and project management was by Adam Stevenson, and the two site teams were led by Andy Keightley (Smith, Deacon, Macdonald) and Simon Honnor and Tony Austin. Entec worked for Inca Productions on the Macdonald, Deacon and Fashion Fringe events, for DSA Production Services on Paul Smith and for My Beautiful City on the Kisa show which was staged at the Orangery, Kensington Palace. Additionally, Entec Sound supplied rigs to the Giles Deacon and Julien Macdonald events.
The Paul Smith show kicked off the week for Entec in the newly refurbished Royal Horticultural Halls in Victoria. LD Simon Tutchener filled the vast void of the hall with thirty-six 2.5K HMIs, rigged in three rows of six onto two trussing structures built by Outback - one at each end of the catwalk.
One end had heavy ND filters applied to the lights, whilst at the other, the fixtures were run as bright as possible. This was to achieve the even light balance for photographers that Tutchener required along the full-length
Switzerland - The city of Basel in Switzerland has recently staged its debut Basel Tattoo festival of marching military bands and dancers, supported by a sophisticated "source-oriented" sound reinforcement system based on the TiMax Audio Imaging delay matrix and showcontrol software. The sell-out show played over five nights in an outdoor arena specially created in front of the 19th century Kaserne Hof military barracks.
The system was based on over 20 distributed speaker channels including two HW compact line array systems and 14 Kling & Freitag trapezoidal cabinets on poles or on the ground at the front of each audience seating bay. There were also six sub-bass channels feeding separate 2x18" cabinets spread out under the horseshoe-shaped audience bleachers surrounding the 80m x 25m outdoor performance area. The system was designed by Thomas Strebel with the assistance of Robin Whittaker and Dave Haydon from TiMax developers Out Board.
The job of the TiMax system was to make sure the radio mics placed on various band members and vocalists would localise to where they were standing or marching, all in real time. TiMax was calibrated with ten Haas Effect delay-based localisation zones down the length and breadth of the arena, plus a balcony and 'Lone Piper' tower image. Then using its cue-driven Playlist, the various acts' mics were sequentially applied to these zones both statically and dynamically as they moved around the site. Microphone and playback sources were mixed selectively to eight groups on the Yamaha digital console which in turn fed e
UK - The Effects Company has announced a supplement to its unique range of Aromatech essences for the Christmas season. These 'specials' have been specially blended to reflect the aromas that complement the season and "like all Aromatech essences, are renowned for their realism, say the company.
The 'seasonal specials' are Christmas Spice, Frankincense & Myrrh, Mince Pies and Mulled Wine. Pine and Cinnamon are also available from the standard range. The above six essences can also be ordered in a mixed box of 12 (2 x 6 essences), say the company.
(Lee Baldock)
USA - The historic Hollywood Palladium in Southern California which as been host to almost every type of popular music and artist since 1940. From Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra to Glen Miler, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and U2, the venue has been host to innumerable musical genres.
The venue is a classic ballroom type, originally designed with Big Bands in mind. Very little thought was given to sound reinforcement and the Palladium is not the easiest room to create quality. The fact is that the entire venue is very wide and to make matters worse, it has a balcony: not impossible, but it would normally require a lot of boxes for coverage rather than just SPL concerns.
The physical dimensions make things difficult. The distance between the rigging points is about 65ft (aprox. 20m) with the FOH position over 125ft back (almost 40m) and the main dance floor being greater than 11,200sq.ft (1,200sq.m). There is an additional 7,000+sq.ft (700sq.m) in the balconies. The ceiling is over 24ft high (7m) yet the fly points because of motors and flybar/grid are lower than 20ft (6m) - making this just the type of venue that is ideal for the wide coverage that the Aero 28As have to offer, according to D.A.S Audio.
Recently at the Palladium, with a new Aero 28A system, was Astro Audio Video Lighting Inc, headed by Craig Merrick. The Glendale, California-based company offers full-service, sales, rental and production support. Established in 1974, Astro has a wide range of technical and creative capabilities in the fields of professional audio, scenic design, stage and eff
Ireland - Arena Structures provided a selection of structures to the organisers of the 36th Ryder Cup, as the K Club in County Kildare was transformed to a world-class sporting venue. The Ryder Cup's first visit to Ireland has been hailed a success on all levels. For the European team it was a record breaking third victory following three days of incredible golf. For the PGA organising the event, it was also accommodating one of the World's major sporting events, with the sell out crowds, corporate hospitality and huge media representation in the remote K Club.
PGA Staging director Edward Kitson began planning the event from the moment the course was selected. Planning began nearly two years in advance to ensure the unique tournament lived up to the highest of standards, and he selected Arena Structures to supply over 21,200sq.m of structures to form key temporary venues on the course.
Arena Structure managing director Grahame Muir said: "We were delighted to be entrusted to supply the Ryder Cup and Ireland with their first ever triple storey hospitality suite, giving guests stunning vantage points. The PGA has produced an incredible event and the number of compliments we have received about the level of finish achieved in all of the structures has been earned by everyone in our team."
Many of the matches reached their gripping conclusions on the 18th Hole (The Hooker's Graveyard), flanked by the Boyne Suite, a luxurious Arena Structures triple-decker hospitality suite. The 15m x 100m Boyne Suite accommodated 2000 guests, with individually designed su
UK - XL Video is supplying three of its newly purchased Christie S20 Roadster projectors as part of the complete video package being provided to the current Will Young Keep On Live UK tour.
The show features both high definition playback and IMAG video directed by Phil Woodhead, and the account is being project managed for XL by Phil Mercer.
Mercer says: "Over and above the standard IMAG requirements for a tour of this scale, XL is providing state-of-the-art hi-def playback, projection and control equipment, giving maximum impact to the specific sections of the show utilising pre-recorded video."
Material is projected onto an 11m wide by 5m electric roller screen that comes in centre stage, and also onto two 16 by 19 ft side screens. The compact, very bright Christie's - part of several new additions to the XL projection fleet - are rigged on a front truss, and beam onto the centre screen, while the two side screens are fed by a pair of rear-projected Barco R12+ machines.
The six songs worth of pre-recorded content are stored on a V1 hi-def Doremi hard drive which is controlled via a Barco Events Manager system. These sections of the show are all cued via timecode and synched to the click track.
The camera package consists of three of XL's Sony D50s. Two are in the pit - one with a wide angle lens stage left, and the other with a standard lens that also goes hand-held onstage at specific points. The third is positioned at FOH with a long throw lens. There's also a remote overhead mini DV cam strapped to the truss, and another one on the key
UK - Winners of the IVCA Clarion 'Corporate Social Responsibility' awards were announced on Friday 29 September at a packed awards ceremony at BAFTA's headquarters in London. The Clarion awards are now recognised as the leading CSR barometer within the event and communications industry and past winners range from BP, Shell, and McDonald's UK, to the achievements of Hotel Rwanda and Billy Elliot the Musical.
Leading design and communication company Imagination received 2 awards at the ceremony including a Special Recognition Award for the Founder and CEO of Imagination Gary Withers. Imagination was also presented with the 'Best Live Event' award for their work on 'Lifetime Lab' - a children's interactive exhibition which deals with issues of sustainable living and environmental issues built in the heart of Irish city, Cork.
Set on the banks of the River Lee, 'Lifetime Lab' was built on an old Waterworks site, which Cork City Council decided to restore and revitalise, the campus facilities include: a schools resource centre, information centre, an adventure playground, conference suites and an interactive visitor exhibition.
Since opening in October 2005, over 10,000 visitors have explored Lifetime Lab and two fulltime teachers have also been appointed to provide information to visiting students. The space has become not only an invaluable space for education but also for the local community and government.
IVCA Clarion Awards' jury said of the project: "This unique and visionary exhibition brings to life the proposition of sustainable living and lifestyle
UK - Lift-Turn-Move have reported a busy surge in Autumn work following their third PLASA show, which also marked the company's second birthday.
Lee Culff is the latest person to join the Lift-Turn Move team, joining Dave Ward, Alan Wood and Phil Jones in the busy and expanding workshop. Culff's lift servicing background is an ideal qualification for the work he will be doing at LTM which includes preparing and testing Lodestars.
LTM is also looking for its first apprentice. "It's proved consistently difficult recruiting staff locally," explains John Jones, MD. LTM is spending the next month searching for and interviewing young people with the right attributes, work ethic and attitude to get on in the fast-moving environs of the production industry.
LTM has also expanded its hoist testing facilities to deal with the large volume of work it is now experiencing. A test assembly for hand chain equipment has been purchased and installed - which is LTM's second test rig. All hoists leaving the premises have to be fully tested and issued with a UK accepted Certificate of Inspection & Test, and the new rest rig will make that operation quicker, easier and more efficient.
The first LTM Motors Schools kick off in October. John Jones was one of the first industry individuals to start promoting this training and product awareness initiative. Earlier this year LTM moved premises to a larger unit which afforded the space to start staging the schools.
LTM has also just launched a new range of weatherised covers for Lodestar motors. The Velcro-type enclosure all