Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Business

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Europe - This year’s ISE (Integrated Systems Europe) show was a special one for Truss Aluminium Factory (TAF). On 30 January, the first day of the exhibition, the company revealed its new TAF logo.
The new image was also featured in a special logo reveal video released that same day on TAF’s social media channels and website, as well as in the TAF newsletter and on industry media websites. Going hand-in-hand with the redesigned logo was news of TAF’s new strategic direction as ‘The Factory’.
The teaser campaign highlighted ‘a truss brand you know’ and a factory that’s ‘behind much of the well-regarded truss on the market’.
“The redesigned logo not only serves as the new face of the brand, but also as a symbol of its evolution as a leading truss manufacturer and new strategic direction as The Factory,” says the Czechia-based company that

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Iceland - Harpa, the concert hall and conference centre, located in capital city Reykjavik - has invested in 48 x new Robe Forte moving lights which will be utilised in their 1600-capacity Grand Hall, home of the Icelandic Opera and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
The striking Harpa building was designed by the Hanning Larsen Architects from Denmark in conjunction with Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson - well known for creating sculptured and large-scale installation art using elements like light, water, and air temperature - and opened in 2011. The structure comprises a steel framework clad with different coloured and shaped geometric glass panels inspired by Iceland’s beautiful and mineral-rich basaltic rock landscape.
Harpa stages numerous high visibility world-class productions and events as well as hosting meetings and high-rolling summits. Karl Sigurðsso

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UK - PLASA Focus Leeds is gearing up for another successful year at the Royal Armouries from 14-15 May 2024, and you can now register for your free entry badge.
Attracting over 2,000 visitors, the popular regional event is known for connecting professionals with lead names in the entertainment technology industry across two friendly days of networking and discovery.
Boasting a fully booked show floor, PLASA Focus Leeds will feature 150+ brands in pro audio, AV, lighting, rigging, and staging. Attendees will have the chance to closely examine new products and engage in face-to-face discussions with potential suppliers.
Lighting professionals can look forward to meeting Ambersphere, Avolites, ChamSys, Chauvet Professional, Entedi, ETC, GLP UK, Prolight, Robe UK, TMB, and Vari-Lite.
Top quality pro audio is also on offer from Audio-Technica, Bose Professiona

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UK - In a fusion of sound technology and storytelling, Meyer Sound ULTRA-X family loudspeakers and 2100‑LFC low-frequency control elements play a pivotal role in bringing the immersive sonic landscape of Stranger Things: The First Shadow to life at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End.
The prequel show, which serves as an origin story for the Netflix series, ties together the past, present, and future of fictional Hawkins, Indiana. The stage production was brought to life by a creative team, with an original story by show creators Matt and Ross Duffer and writers Kate Trefry and Jack Thorne; direction by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin and a sound design by Paul Arditti with associate sound designers Rob Bettle (focused on realising the system design) and Christopher Reid (working closely with Paul on content creation).
For the stage production, which t

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UK - Urban Audio Productions (UAP), a prominent player in the live events industry since 1999, has consistently delivered bespoke packages ranging from sound and lighting equipment rentals to full-service production. From supporting emerging bands in intimate venues with compact desks and IEM systems to providing complete touring packages for established acts, UAP's expertise spans diverse locations and venues, relying on Shure wired and wireless products for audio consistency.
UAP provides audio solutions across industries, from high-profile corporate projects such as the TED global conferences to some of the most prolific songwriters, including providing full touring audio solutions for artists such as Ian Brown, Steve Vai, Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott.
Since 2011, Dan Lewis, technical director at UAP, has steered the sound engineering for Noel Gallagher’s High Fl

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Italy - Forged nearly four decades ago as a congress equipment supplier, STS Communication has since transformed into a full-service provider, delivering technical expertise and equipment for corporate and special events, music tours, exhibitions, brand activations, broadcast TV, as well as fashion and retail projects.
As a member of the PRG Alliance, the company stands as one of Italy's pioneers in deploying Virtual Production, prominently featured in two multifunctional STStudios: CR49 and Studio1D, both powered by Brompton Technology LED processing.
“Aimed at cinematic virtual productions, CR49 features a comprehensive setup, including a camera tracking system, media servers for background plate playout, render nodes for Unreal Engine photorealistic 3D content, and a highly skilled crew,” says Alessandro Rosani, chief technology officer at STS Communication.

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USA - Situated on the Kent State University campus in Kent, Ohio, the Centre for the Performing Arts is dedicated to creative excellence and delivering an exceptional learning environment for students. After struggling with a single-channel communications system and walkie-talkies for some time, the School of Theatre and Dance evolved its production communication with its recent installation of Clear-Com’s Arcadia Central Station IP intercom platform.
The new Arcadia system seamlessly integrates with the school’s Clear-Com FreeSpeak II digital wireless and HelixNet digital wired party line intercom user stations they had previously installed as part of an infrastructure upgrade. This set-up now combines all the functionality Kent State University requires to have the constant clear communications it needs for every stage of the production - from pre-production tech set-

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UK - Panto is a British performance genre that combines wit, slapstick comedy, double entendres, magic, fantasy and usually a bit of politics tossed together with the musical hits of the year.
“We like happy endings,” commented lighting designer Andy Webb, which is why he specified Robe for two key shows for producers UK Productions (UKP), Snow White & The Seven Dwarves at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre in Buckinghamshire directed by Chris Wilkins-Nelson, and Cinderella directed by Benji Sperring, staged at the Malvern Festival Theatre in Wiltshire, both produced by Martin Dodds.
The 1,200-capacity Waterside Theatre is the larger venue in terms of both stage and audience sizes, and here Andy utilised 60 x Robe luminaires - a mix of T1 Profiles, Spiiders, MegaPointes, BMFL WashBeams, LEDBeam 150s, Cyc FX8s and ParFect 100s, together with elements of

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Germany - Take That joined a host of German and international popstars who performed on Germany’s Your Songs TV show recently, each with their own large LED screen visual backdrop driven by Green Hippo Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers.
Billed as a celebration of popular music, Your Songs sees well-known artists sing one of their most successful tracks while enveloped in visuals and accompanied by a live orchestra. The LED Main Wall measured 16m x 5m at 4096 x 1280 pixels, while an 8m x 2.5m LED ‘Talk Wall’ displayed secondary graphics. A series of ‘gardenfence’ LED strips surrounded the stage, pumping out 12300 x 1450 pixels of graphics.
The data-heavy visuals were designed by Saskia Olma and Vlad Befus of LUPIXX. “Every artist got the video content individually designed just for them,” they said. “This year was the second time [broa

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Germany Calling - Adele has announced four concerts in a specially-built stadium in Munich this summer - an idea she described as "a bit random, but still fabulous!" The shows will take place in an 80,000-capacity open-air venue in the German city on 2, 3, 9 and 10 August. It will be the first time the singer has performed in mainland Europe since her last tour in 2016.
She said she hadn't been planning any more shows after her current Las Vegas residency and two London shows in 2022. But the star said she had been tempted by the offer of "a one off, bespoke pop-up stadium designed around whatever show I want to put on", which was "pretty much slap bang in the middle of Europe".
Grammy Awards - Taylor Swift stole the show at this year's Grammy Awards, becoming the first performer to win the prize for album of the year four times. The superstar had previously bee

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UK - Vision: 2025 and Julie’s Bicycle launched a Sustainable Materials and Waste Management Toolkit for Festivals at AIF Congress, Bristol on 1 February.
This new resource condenses years of research around industry practices to give organisers a spread of practical, easy to implement waste management processes, to help improve practices, and encourage re-use of materials and reduce waste.
Chris Johnson, Vision: 2025 chair, unveiled the new, free-to-access toolkit, followed by an in-depth presentation by Julie’s Bicycle project lead, Richard Phillips, and Vision: 2025’s comms manager Bethan Riach. The toolkit, which is part of an ongoing industry project, Towards Zero Waste Festivals, focused on improving waste management practices in the festival sector, funded by the Dixon Foundation.
The AIF Congress audience represented over 80 festivals,

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UK - London-based creative agency Treatment Studio has been awarded Media Content Creator of the Year at the 2024 Parnelli Awards for U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere. The 22nd annual Parnelli Awards took place at the Anaheim Convention Centre on 26 January during NAMM 2024, recognising those who demonstrated outstanding work in their fields.
Along with their work with U2 over the past 40 years, Treatment Studio’s impressive portfolio of projects also include Elton John’s headline performance at Glastonbury Festival 2023, Adele’s residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and the Reframe: The Residency Exhibition at The Southbank Centre London.
Willie Williams, co-founder at Treatment said: “For a company that originated in London, to win this US award two years in a row is very gratifying. Thank you all.”
Sam Pattinson, c

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UK - The ABTT Theatre Show is set to return for its 44th edition once more at Alexandra Palace on 5-6 June.
Over 150 brands will showcase their products and services. In addition, there will be more activities including skills workshops, training, seminars, demonstrations, CV surgeries, career advice and free hearing tests.
The ABTT Theatre Show always attracts a broad range of visitors at all stages of their careers alongside an ever-increasing list of exhibitors from all areas of the industry!
The two-day event will include a wide range of free seminars on the latest industry topics which run alongside the busy show floor. This year’s programme will be announced soon.
The ABTT will once again be providing a wide variety of hands-on skills-based sessions, including taster sessions from the ABTT Bronze Award for Theatre Technicians.
ABTT events man

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Spain - Integrated Systems Europe 2024 was the most successful edition in its 20-year history. Taking place at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via venue, the show’s organisers have reported that it attracted 73,891 unique verified attendees from 162 countries, a record since the show’s inception in Geneva in 2004. This represents an increase of 27% on the 2023 edition. 
On the Wednesday (31 January) the show had 51,617 visitors, the highest number ever in a single day beating the previous record by almost 22%.
The total number of registrations reached 95,396 with 172,627 visits across the four days. Attendee numbers for the Friday were at 24,528, a record for the show since it went to a f

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UK - Stage Electrics Group has acquired specialist mechanical inspection and testing company, Just Rigging & Inspections Scotland. The acquisition strengthens the group's existing mechanical inspection, maintenance, testing and reporting capabilities across the UK and enhances the services it provides to the education, entertainment and events sectors.
On sharing the news with colleagues, Dave Coull, chief executive officer of Stage Electrics Group, told them, "Additional to our continuing, solid growth as a group organically, I'm delighted to announce the acquisition of Just Rigging & Inspections Scotland, which further accelerates our growth trajectory.
“The addition of Just Rigging & Inspections Scotland not only complements the existing services we're able to provide our valued customers, but it also represents an opportunity to expand the services

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Germany - At the centre of the career and training opportunities on offer at Prolight+Sound (19-22 March) will be the Future Hub. Divided into Campus, Career Centre, Start-up Area and Networking Lounge, the area is promoted as ‘a contact point for the professionals of today and tomorrow’. Designed to conserve resources and powered by green electricity, it also sends out a clear signal in favour of energy efficiency and sustainability.
The latter is also the driving force behind a joint project with the Lycée Francais Victor Hugo in Frankfurt. Plants used as decorative and meta-story elements in the Future Hub will be given a permanent place in the school's garden after the show. With this campaign, Prolight+Sound is emphasising its efforts to constantly promote the topic of sustainability in the sector through creative projects. Another aim is to convey the diversity a

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USA - Meyer Sound, founded in 1979, is celebrating 45 years of innovation with a new logo ‘that underscores its commitment to the future of sound’. The loudspeaker specialist has been a driving force in audio since John and Helen Meyer set up shop in Berkeley, CA four-and-a-half decades ago.
Since then, Meyer Sound’s technologies, including trapezoidal loudspeaker cabinets, self-powered loudspeakers, processor-controlled loudspeaker systems, curvilinear arraying, and source-independent measurement systems, have become industry standards. The company’s inventions have earned more than 100 patents and numerous awards, including TEC Awards, Parnelli Awards, and the R&D 100 Award.
“Scientific innovation, engineering excellence, an unwavering commitment to quality, and constant evolution - this is our legacy, and our future,” says Meyer Sound senior vice pr

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UK - Rise, the advocacy group for gender diversity in the broadcast media technology sector, has announced its 2024 global mentoring programme.
This year's mentoring initiative will span the UK, Europe, ANZ, APAC, India, and North America, aligning with Rise's mission of fostering inclusivity and diversity in the industry on a global scale. The 2024 activity will build on the successful delivery of two mentoring programmes in 2023, which supported 125 mentees globally.
Each regional cohort will follow a shared agenda, with the incorporation of tailored enhancements to ensure its relevance to the unique dynamics of the local territory. The schedule will feature a combination of scheduled masterclasses and networking events, as well as the inclusion of responsive content based on feedback from participants. The participants will also have the opportunity to connect with

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UK - The Association for Lighting Production Design announced the winners of their 2023 Awards at the New Technology Showcase at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama yesterday, 1 February. This event, jointly hosted by White Light, the ALPD and RCSSD is an opportunity for lighting professionals to explore and compare the latest lighting technology available on the market.
The Michael Northen Award sponsored by Go Live Theatre Projects, ETC and Vectorworks is this year awarded to Morgan Moroney, a lighting and video designer working across theatre, opera, dance and installation. A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Morgan received the 2020 APDG Emerging Designer for Live Performance Award for his design on Ghosts directed by Priscilla Jackman (NIDA). He has been nominated three times for a Sydney Theatre Award in Best Independent Lighting Design an

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Europe - Leading audio technology companies d&b audiotechnik and L-Acoustics have joined forces in a collaboration to advance technologies and tools for the benefit of the industry. The first result of this alliance is a project to jointly develop an innovative software platform designed to revolutionise the configuration and management of Milan AVB networks.
In a departure from traditional competition, born from the companies’ shared commitment within the Avnu Alliance, L-Acoustics and d&b audiotechnik are co-designing a new software platform that addresses some of the challenges which currently discourage widespread adoption of Milan AVB technology. The software will be a neutral, free-to-use solution that eliminates any branding affiliations to help foster universal acceptance. This collaboration reflects the two manufacturers’ commitment to removing barriers

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UK - PLASA has acquired BPM, the UK’s only dedicated trade event for the DJ sector. The annual show is set to take place at Birmingham’s Cranmore Park from 12-13 October 2024, spanning the mobile, radio, club and karaoke DJ markets. The event offers a unique opportunity for professionals and enthusiasts to get hands-on with pro equipment and discover services available to support a successful DJ career.
The show’s acquisition by PLASA means that BPM will now align with the association’s market-leading trade events for live entertainment technology: PLASA Show and PLASA Focus Leeds. These events span the entire live entertainment technology sector, ranging from pro audio and lighting to AV technology, staging and rigging. PLASA Show has been the UK’s flagship event for over four decades, welcoming 6,500+ visitors and 200+ brands each year. Meanwhile PLASA Focus Leeds

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UK - Production Futures has confirmed that its next On Tour event will take place at the AO Arena, Manchester on Tuesday 30 April. The venue, recently underwent a £50m makeover, making it one of the most cutting-edge facilities (and the largest) of its kind in the UK. As its first Arena outing, this will be Production Futures’ largest and most ambitious On Tour event to date.
Set to attract a wide range of young people from across the North of England and beyond, this free-of-charge event will promote employability, transferable skills, diversity, free training, networking, and will present paid work opportunities to newcomers across the live event and broadcast production industry.
Manufacturers, supply and production companies, venues and distributors will have representatives present at the event to provide advice, information and insights, and discuss specific

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Europe - Claypaky continues its efforts to improve its environmental performance with the CP Green project launched in 2022. The company has already implemented several aspects of the long-range project, which is constantly revised to make Claypaky’s sustainability strategy more effective and efficient.
The main objective of the project is reducing Claypaky’s impact on climate change and mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To achieve this goal, the first and most important step is calculating GHG emissions, since it is not possible to improve what is not measured. For this reason, for the second consecutive year Claypaky obtained in November 2023 the ISO 14064 certification, which calculates impact on climate change at the organizational level for the year 2022.
This study, performed with the support of Spinlife, spin-off of the University of Padova, has b

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Spain - #WeMakeEvents BikeFest returned to Spain with the 18-strong team cycling over 360km towards ISE in Barcelona. Together, they have so far has raised £16,000 for industry charity Backup Tech but are hoping to reach £20,000 with your donations.
This year, the BikeFest team included representatives from AELTC, Autograph Sound, AVIXA, Clair Global, Equipson, FLUX Creative Consultancy, PLASA, Reclaim Audio, Sharp, Stage One Creative Services, and Wonder Works. Furthermore, due to the strong community element of the event, BikeFest is now seeing familiar faces returning each year, including Backup Tech chair Piers Shepperd who was cycling for the second year running.
Starting in Valencia, the team cycled along the Mediterranean coast, stopping off in Valencia, Peñíscola and Tarragona. On day three, the exhausted riders finally arrived at Fira de Barcelona ready
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