UK - The quest to find the SPARKS Learner of the Year 2024, supported by lighting sponsor, Luceco Lighting, is well underway with the six regional heats set to power up throughout January and February.
From the north-west to the south-east, Level 2 and 3 students will compete in a number of practical tasks, with Luceco Lighting products being used in the heat and final assessments, judged by NAPIT’s Technical Team, the official judges for the competition.
The winners from each of the six regional heats will then progress to the Grand Final, to be held at the Schneider Elec

USA - The Struts’ recently concluded North American tour was supported by a dynamic lightshow by Carlos Katsurayama that moved seamlessly through dramatic mood shifts with help from a LIT Lighting supplied rig that featured the Maverick Force S Profile, Strike Array 4 and Rogue Outcast 1 BeamWash from Chauvet Professional.
Reflecting the UK band’s bold emotional swings, Katsurayama played light and darkness off one another to rev up the crowd. For example, his show started out in darkness, before moving to a lighted backdrop, and then busted out with intense blinding effects.<

USA - Jam band Goose eased into the 2023 festive season with four special concerts staged over two days at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia, all completely sold out.
Lighting designer / director Andrew Goedde chose Robe moving lights as the principal fixtures and worked closely on developing his design with lighting programmer / technical director Tony Caporale, using their 2023 touring rig as a starting point. From this they evolved some new concepts for the tenth annual Goosemas event.
They were then both delighted to hear that the band and their creative director Will Th

USA - ARRI is the official lighting provider for the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival which takes place this month.
ARRI, together with wholly owned subsidiary Illumination Dynamics, is providing the Sundance Film Festival with ARRI’s lighting solutions, including SkyPanel S30-C, SkyPanel S60-C, and ARRI Orbiter fixtures. These professional and innovative luminaries are shining the best light on personalities, stars, and emerging filmmakers at premiere event venues, stages, and lounges at Sundance Film Festival’s 40th edition.
“As we mark our 40th Sundance Fi

UK - Over 300 Astera NYX Bulbs and 80 x Titan Tube wireless LED lighting fixtures dazzled festive guests visiting the Neverland Illuminova Christmas trail at Wellington Country Park near Reading. This was a special lighting and visual experience concept developed and delivered by the team at show production and technical specialist, Zeal.
The 1.5km trail followed the journey of the character Hope as they discovered their imagination travelling through various areas of visual interest with land, features and foliage speckled, coloured and bathed in light that could be absorbed, in

USA - One of America’s best-known monuments, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, shines more brightly than ever thanks to a new and improved lighting system from Technical Productions, Inc. (TPI) that features 76 Proteus Brutus lighting fixtures from Elation.
‘The Arch’ has stood on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis since 1965 as America’s symbolic ‘Gateway to the West’. The Gateway Foundation, a private non-profit that first lit the structure in 2001, funded the lighting upgrade. Under its direction, TPI spearheaded the specification, design, and installatio

Italy - The 13th edition of Italia's Got Talent was lit by Prolights products. Broadcastfor the first time in Europe on the Disney+ streaming platform, the series relied on AMG International s.r.l. for stage lighting.
The lighting setup, consisting of 113 Prolights fixtures, included SmartBat Plus, HaluPix, and VersaPar. This combination ensured an engaging visual effect, both for the studio audience and for viewers watching the show via streaming.
The production team expressed great satisfaction with the use of Prolights devices, particularly highlighting their versa

The Netherlands - Full Frontal is a new dance piece by choreographer Juanjo Arqués billed as ‘a ballet about real people and actual feelings’ set to Weather One, a musical score by Michael Gordon. It was presented by the Dutch National Ballet and staged at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. It explores the stresses and tensions of our fractured and often polarised society as it faces physical obstacles that swap - ironically - with psychological projections of challenging conditions.
Full Frontal was the final work in Four Temperaments, a perf

UK - ETC has announced the promotion of Matt Cowles to associate regional manager for the UK and Ireland. In his new role, Cowles will continue to manage sales activities for key accounts in the region whilst assisting regional sales manager, Jeremy Roberts in developing stronger relationships with ETC’s dealers and specifiers.
Matt joined ETC in 2019 as a field project coordinator, managing projects across the UK and providing technical sales for ETC’s customers. Prior to this, he had over 17 years of experience working in the industry.
Jeremy Roberts commen

Spain - The Obsidian Control Systems team from Europe and the U.S. head to the ISE tradeshow with additions to its popular and award-winning Netron data distribution range, including a comprehensive line tailored for system integrators and fixed installations, plus the world's first IP65-rated devices for entertainment signal distribution. Lighting professionals are invited to explore these latest innovations on Stand 5C150.
Obsidian is showing a comprehensive line of Netron products in smart form factors optimised for system integrators and fixed installations. Two new compact de

USA - ACT Entertainment has a lot to celebrate as 2024 begins. In addition to launching a new corporate logo and forthcoming website, the company heads into the year with new brands and divisions. Included among its latest acquisitions and partnerships are Visual Productions, PK Sound and, most recently, tvONE - the combination of which will see ACT dive more fully into the fixed installation, professional sound and video production markets.
“At ACT Entertainment, we are passionate about helping our clients realise their creative vision and are continually on the lookout for cut

Australia - A $140m redevelopment programme by the state of Victoria’s government has transformed the Geelong Arts Centre into Australia’s largest dedicated regional arts centre, boasting two new theatres alongside new bars and event spaces.
The upgrade includes the installation of 28 Claypaky Sinfonya Profile 600s, low-noise LED-based fixtures conceived and developed exclusively for the theatre market.
Ben Van Dillen, technical operations manager for the venue, comments: “we needed a fixture that had shutters and an excellent colour profile. I also wanted a moving l

Europe - The Neutrik Group’s Contrik brand has expanded its CKPE series range of power multicore cable assemblies. The Harting E16 and Socapex SL 419 compatible Power Multicore connection cables, and Socapex SL 419 compatible single-phase powerCON TRUE1 Power Multicore Split cable configurations enable the streamlining and increased cost-efficiency of cabling processes.
The rewireable power multicore cable assemblies are specified for use in video wall, lighting and audio applications, in indoor and outdoor event, theatre, and other media production environments. Complementing C

Spain - Elation will feature a line-up of integration lighting solutions that ‘blend art and innovation’.
Highlights in the Proteus series of multi-environmental luminaires include the IP66-rated Proteus Hybrid Max, a hybrid fixture with pioneering technology that launches as the torchbearing successor of the Proteus Hybrid.
New in Elation’s popular Fuze series is the Fuze Teatro, a fully-automated yet fanless framing fixture for completely silent operation and the first fanless automated luminaire incorporating an additive colour engine.
New luminaires in the so

Spain - At ISE 2024, KSCAPE will celebrate five years of merging technologies with its professional lighting and audio product: RAIL. The brand, which is part of the wider K-array group, has announced the launch of RAIL S, a family of alternative solutions designed to complement and enhance RAIL. As part of this announcement, KSCAPE introduces RAIL S Track to the market, which aims to seamlessly blend lighting and integrated professional sound within a traditional track system.
With a 1.2m design, this linear architectural lighting system combines projectors, changeable optics and

USA - Eric Nam is a “natural born performer” wrote one admiring critic when describing the US-born and South Korean-based star’s recently concluded House on a Hill North American tour.
Matching Nam’s passion and reflecting the nuances of each song on the 39-date tour was a far-reaching and evocative Julien Reux lighting design that was programmed by Matt Reynolds, and featured Chauvet Professional COLORado PXL Bar 16 and Color Strike M fixtures supplied by Kinetic Lighting.
Like the music of Nam himself, the lightshow was an inspired blend of boldness and sub

UK - The Chauvet Professional UK Road Show that begins on 6 February will wind its way through 11 cities in England, Wales, and Scotland.
Developed for install, touring and theatre markets, the new products featured in the traveling show incorporate a range of advanced technologies that make them suited to take designs to the next level in standard lighting projects as well as VR, AR, and AI applications, says the company.
The road show begins 6 February at the Beacon in Bristol and ends 26 February at The Place in London. The stops in between include 7 February in Surrey (

Europe - CAST Group of Companies has announced Controllux as an exclusive distributor of BlackTrax in Europe. Controllux will cover key areas in the Benelux region including the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Expanding on its established role as a key distributor of CAST’s software solutions, wysiwyg and Vivien, Controllux has further expanded its portfolio with the inclusion of the entire BlackTrax hardware range.
BlackTrax is a vision-based tracking system that connects to different third-party applications, such as lighting consoles, media servers, immersive audio sys

Slovenia - Crt Birsa from Slovenian design studio Blackout recently utilised Robe moving lights to realise the raw lighting aesthetic wanted by Slovenian vocal orchestra Perpetuum Jazzile for a video shoot in Ljubljana.
The artists have won international acclaim for their acapella versions of famous songs and for their lively and invigorating live performances.
This video shoot was directed by Rok Maver and took place in the new VPK Mediapark Media Centre nightclub in Ljubljana which has just opened. The Robe elements were 16 x Fortes, 28 x MegaPointes and 22 Spiiders, all s

Japan - Hiromi Go celebrated his 50th anniversary in 2022. He toured all the country throughout the whole year to meet his fans and share the celebration. In the final month, December 2022, a special prestigious tour - Hiromi Go 50th Anniversary Tour - The Final Countdown in 2022 - took place. Mainly composed of his ballads, this proved extremely popular, and was performed with an especially luxurious stage setting.
This special concert was revived in 2023 for a special one-night show at Nakano Sun Plaza Hall, this time not only to celebrate Go’s 50th anniversary, but also to co

USA - Lighting industry professional Koy Neminathan, who joined Elation as director of business development in May of 2023, has now transitioned to a business development position with Obsidian Control Systems, the company’s lighting control brand.
Neminathan is now wholly focusing on the Obsidian range of lighting control and data distribution products. “As the company continues to invest in Obsidian, I find myself naturally gravitating towards control and I see huge potential for Onyx and Netron,” he commented. “I want to use my experience and knowledge to expand the gl

UK - The Academy of Live Technology confers Honorary Fellowships upon individuals in recognition of their significant commitment and contribution to the live entertainment and creative industries. The 2023 Graduation Ceremony, hosted on Saturday 2 December in Production Park’s Studio 005, saw the Honorary Fellowship awarded to Sarah Rushton-Read.
Her career spans over 30 years. Having initially stepped into the creative industries as an actress, she moved into stage management in 1985 and then successfully into lighting design and management for theatre, opera and ballet, worki

USA - Big Nite DC, which bills itself as the largest NYE convention hall party draws around 10,000 party goers, spread out over two ballrooms and 12 additional spaces. The main ballroom, which serves as the hub of the evening’s festivities, measures 45,000sq.ft and has 270-degrees of floor-to-ceiling glass windows affording stunning views of the Potomac River.
Animating the big event this year, as it has in the past, was an upbeat and colourful lighting and video design from Evan Kirkendall and the team at Harford Sound LLC.
“Every year we challenge ourselves to create a

France - Naostage has released its Kratos software to the public as a free download. KRATOS serves as the central hub for Naostage’s K System, the automatic beaconless 3D tracking solution, and allows users to manage automations and output tracking data in real time to AV systems (sound, light, video and any third-party system). Its multiple functionalities help users create fully automated and interactive live events and visitor attraction shows, as well as immersive spaces for the public.
In the software, users can design their own stage, set up zones to automate AV effects i

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