UK - Now in its third consecutive year, the 25th of April saw the return of the hugely successful PLASA charity golf day. Since its inaugural competition in 2012, the popularity of this event has snowballed, drawing in suppliers and manufacturers from all over the UK to the leafy suburbs of Surrey where giants of the theatre and events industry do battle to become PLASA golf champions. With more teams competing than ever before, this year's competition raised a phenomenal £7,500.00 for Behind the Scenes - a charity which provides support to entertainment technology industry professionals when they fall upon hard times.

Teams were entered from Autograph, Sennheiser, Shure, d&b Audiotechnik, PSCO, Blitz, Sound By Design, Delta Sound, ATG, White Light, Martin Audio, Meyer Sound, Entec, CSE Cables, PLASA, Philips, Crewsaders, Creative Technology, and Stage Technologies.

With

UK - Over £2.5 million in seed finance has been released to fund approximately 400 new start-up businesses in London over the next 12 months. The cash, available through Start Up Direct, a direct delivery partner of the Government's Start Up Loans scheme, will help make the dreams of budding entrepreneurs in the capital a reality in 2014, as the hiatus in bank lending continues. The scheme is targeting the TV and Events sectors.

Start Up Direct, which has recently established a base in the heart of London's Tech City, is targeting talented individuals who wish to start a business but lack the capital and often the experience to make it happen. As well as offering loans of up to £15,000, Start Up Direct matches every entrepreneur with a mentor who will be on hand to help and guide them as they develop their business over the first year. Entrepreneurs also have access

UK - Each April teams representing the two oldest universities in England, Oxford and Cambridge, meet on the Thames for one of the toughest challenges in rowing. A very popular event, this year's race, which was covered by BBC Sport, saw Oxford claim an emphatic 11-length victory over their old rivals. Hire company Presteigne provided all the RF and special camera facilities, and enabled comprehensive coverage by implementing a new wireless mesh technology to route a large number of differing sources over one RF network.

The course, from Putney to Mortlake, stretches along 6.8km of the river in west London, and crowds pack both riverbanks to watch the action. CTV was the outside broadcast company charged with this year's television coverage, and needed to get fixed camera positions along the length of the course, plus a number of mobile cameras, back to the production vehicles n

USA - The second in a series of three training DVDs presented by ETCP Recognised Trainer Richard Cadena is now available at http://bit.ly/EEonVid2. Entertainment Electrics on DVD Part 2 is a series of 22 video modules with a 10- to 15-minute presentation covering a single topic related to live event production electrics, followed by a short quiz to test your knowledge and retention.

Part 2 covers electrical safety and practical aspects of power distribution for the live event industry. It covers topics that are listed as being in the content outline for the ETCP Entertainment Electrician Certification Exam. ETCP Certified Electricians and ETCP Recognized Riggers can get recertification points for taking this video course.

"I honestly thought producing this series of videos would be a three-month project, and now, nine months later, we're only releasing the second o

UK - The Health and Safety Executive has recently held a briefing meeting for interested parties within the entertainment industry to layout the changes to the 2007 Construction, Design and Management Regulations and their decision to include the entertainment industry within the scope of the new Regulations. The meeting coincided with the release of the 10 week consultation document which started at the beginning of April and closes on 6 June (D- Day!!!).

Please take a moment to read through this report and decide if this applies to you and your undertaking. The PLASA Technical Resources cannot stress how important it is that those who will be affected, read the consultation and comment on the proposals. If you do any work that sees you installing equipment within live events, theatre, exhibitions, conferences etc. CDM 2015 will apply to you and your work will fall under the sc

Royal Record - London's Royal Albert Hall enjoyed a bumper year in 2013, posting record audience numbers of 1.71 million and operating income of £18.6m, up 10.4% on the previous year. The figures represent the most successful year of trading in the venue's 143-year history with 390 events driving a 7% increase in audiences. The venue recorded its highest ever operating surplus of £5.3m. The Hall's own promotions - which included performances of Carmen, Swan Lake and live orchestral accompaniment to films including Fantasia and Singin' in the Rain - generated £600,000 more in ticket sales than in 2012. The figures were released to coincide with the unveiling a new large-scale mural by artist Peter Blake featuring more than 400 artists who have performed in the hall since it opened in 1871.

Eurovision 2014 - The first of the Eur

UK - Specialist electrical contractor, The Technical Department, has recently moved to larger offices in Guildford, Surrey and has strengthened their team by appointing two new technical managers.

Jerry Singleton, MD, comments, "Our move to larger premises brings together under one roof our office staff, warehouse facilities and workshop, allowing us to have instant access to the equipment and respond to requests for dry hire immediately. In addition, we are delighted with the appointment of both Jeff Jones and Phil King who bring to the team a great depth of knowledge and experience.

"Our installation of the pixels in the stadium at the London 2012 Olympics raised our profile considerably and we are continuing to see the benefits of this. We are particularly proud to have provided the generators and electrical services at G8 in 2013."

The Technical Department

USA - Christie Lites is moving this week to a larger location in Las Vegas to accommodate increased demand for its entertainment lighting and rigging services. This expanded location further strengthens Christie Lites' multi-office network supplying full service stage lighting equipment rentals across North America.

Mike Gaynor continues as the operations manager. The new address: 4850 Statz Ave - Suite 103, North Las Vegas, NV 89081. The phone number remains the same at 702-222-0363.

Said Christie Lites VP rentals Ken Alexander, "The Christie Lites Vegas operation services the full gamut of market sectors with an emphasis on corporate, trade shows and concert touring. We look forward to a substantial increase in our capacity to support our growing client base from this important hub. The new larger space will also allow us to provide much better prep space to the master

Rural Mayhem - US metal veterans Metallica have been announced as the Saturday night headliners on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. They will join the previously announced headliners Arcade Fire and Kasabian at the event in Somerset on 25-29 June. It marks Metallica's debut appearance at Worthy farm and it is the first time a heavy metal band have headlined the event.

Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis says, "[Metallica] wanted to play for a long, long time and they're one of the most amazing rock bands in the world, everywhere I go people say 'When are Metallica going to play?' I said, 'They will be here one day' and this is their time now...We've done it before (with Rage Against the Machine in 1994). People think that we're prone to have Radiohead and Coldplay and Oasis but when we had Jay Z a few years ago, people said he wasn't a Glastonbury act but we have al

UK - Backstage Academy students are currently confirming work placements for the summer season and invite employers to get in touch if they need extra skilled people to support existing crew teams.

The students, who are half way through the Academy's 16-month FdA Live Events Production, are available to work in June, July and August and are seeking either ad hoc events work or three-month placements.

Most students have already gained experience at live events in a variety of backstage roles and all have completed modules in Introduction to Working in Live Events Production, Concept Design & Presentation, Staging, Live Sound, Lighting and Live Visuals.

During the Introduction to Working in Live Events module, students undertook a range of industry-based certificates to prepare them for working safely on site: Event Safety Passport; Emergency First Aid; Stage Pyrotechnics; Pra

Eavis Honoured - Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis is to be honoured for his contribution to the music industry. The Music Industry Trusts (MITS) award recognises his achievements in staging live music and supporting charity. Eavis first held Glastonbury festival on his Somerset farm in 1970. Profits go to Greenpeace, Oxfam and WaterAid. "When I set out on this crazy hippy trip 44 years ago, little did I know how this rollercoaster would run," Eavis said."But now I have to pinch myself every morning when I wake up to the excitement of another day - heading up a team of the most creative artists anywhere in the world."

David Munns, chairman of the MITS Award committee, said Eavis was being honoured "as the creator of the world-renowned Glastonbury Festival, the largest greenfield festival in the world, attended by over 175,000 each year and raisi

UK / USA - Le Maitre Ltd, a leader for over 35 years in the manufacture, design and development of pyrotechnics, smoke and haze machines and other special effects, announced that it has hired Bruce Baum as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

Baum will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of Le Maitre's US operations and the oversight and management of Le Maitre group's financial team. He will be based at Le Maitre's US location in Las Vegas, Nevada. Baum's efforts will be to support the current management team in the development and implementation of Le Maitre's growth strategy and continue to improve the company's delivery of products and services to Le Maitre's worldwide customer base.

Most recently, Bruce was the chief financial officer of Pyrotek Special Effects, Inc. a leader in providing special effects for concert touring, live perfor

UK - Showforce has opened a dedicated office in Glasgow ahead of the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup this Summer. Amongst the services that the Glasgow operation will provide are event, site and seating crew, overlay support, qualified plant operators and specialist labour.

The office will deal with enquiries and bookings along with recruitment, training and accreditation to ensure that their usual high standards of service are maintained.

Showforce's operations director Chris Martelly explains, "We have already secured a contract with a leading power provider and have a number of other projects in the pipeline. Having a base in the city where the Commonwealth Games will be hosted that also has excellent transport links to St. Andrews makes sense. We have started to receive enquiries for crew in Scotland and having the people and the right operations team in place to ser

USA - PLASA will host the Behind the Scenes Happy Hour, a pre-LDI party with music, food and drinks from 6pm-8pm on Thursday, 20 November 2014 at The Las Vegas Hotel.

The goal of Behind the Scenes Happy Hour is not only to throw a great party but also to raise money for Behind the Scenes, which provides financial support to entertainment technology professionals when they are ill or injured or to their surviving family members. Funds are granted which can be used towards medical care, basic living costs and funeral expenses. Behind the Scenes, an initiative of the PLASA Foundation (formerly the ESTA Foundation) brings help and hope in times of great need. At this time, it will replace the Rock Our World Awards and Cocktail Reception, as that program is being evaluated and updated for the future.

Current sponsors include Altman Lighting (Diamond). Sponsorship opportunities are

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd. has announced that well-known industry figure, Ian Muir has been appointed as TV & film development manager for the company's UK and international sales territories.

Ian brings a wealth of TV & film lighting industry experience to the new role from his previous position at Gekko, where he worked for over six years as business development manager for the LED lighting brand. Prior to this, Ian has also held various sales roles involving managing relationships with customers and suppliers in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Based in AC-ET's High Wycombe head office, Ian will work alongside the sales, marketing and purchasing departments to develop and implement the company's business plan for the TV & film market, to exploit their growing presence and customer base in this sector.

Ian will also be responsible for helping to raise cus

UK - The Theatres Trust has announced that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has appointed six new board members and reappointed five board members to The Theatres Trust.

New appointments include Dara Ó Briain, Professor Gavin Henderson CBE, Peter Roberts, Simon Ruddick, Ann Skippers and Anna Stapleton. Trustees reappointed for a second term include Nicholas Allott OBE, Ruth Eastwood, Oliver Goodwin, Jerrold Katzman, and Judith Mellor OBE.

All Trustees will be on the board of The Theatres Trust for a term of three years.

(Jim Evans)

Ivor Novello Awards - Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie has been honoured with a lifetime achievement at this year's Ivor Novello songwriting awards. McVie played with Fleetwood Mac for 28 years and wrote some of their most famous songs, including Don't Stop and Little Lies. Other winners at the ceremony in London included London Grammar, The Chemical Brothers and Nile Rodgers. The annual awards, now in their 59th year, are voted for by songwriters.

Picking up her award, McVie confirmed she had rejoined Fleetwood Mac after a more than 15-year absence and would join them on a world tour. "We are in the process of making another studio album which should be out next year," she added.

Alt-pop trio London Grammar won the award for best song musically and lyrically for Strong. Last year's Mercury Prize winner James Blake received the best contemporary s

UK - Visitor registration for PLASA London 2014 is now open and for a limited time attendees can register for free.

PLASA London is offering free four-day passes for attendees who register before Tuesday 1 July. The show, which has been a pivotal date on the international entertainment technology tradeshow calendar for more than three decades, will return to ExCeL London for the second consecutive year on Sunday 5 October until Wednesday 8 October.

Exciting developments to the show's format mean that the registration offer is just one of many visitor incentives for 2014, as PLASA's director of events, Christopher Toulmin explains: "Having relocated to ExCeL last year and enjoyed a very positive response from exhibitors and visitors alike, we have no intention of resting on our laurels. As an organisation we're always looking at ways of improving what we offer - this will

UK - Dark Arches Holdings, owner of LS-Live, Perry Scenic Creative and founding investor in Backstage Academy, has acquired Brilliant Stages and Litestructures Projects from Prolyte Group.

This move will allow both entities to focus on their core activities in order to better service the marketplace. For Prolyte this means dedicated concentration on the manufacturing and sale of truss, staging and complementary products like the ProLyft hoists.

Dark Arches Holdings meanwhile remains an independent family-owned group and has identified synergistic opportunities in the three project businesses of Brilliant Stages, Litestructures Projects and Perry Scenic Creative alongside its studio and equipment services business, LS-Live, and the Backstage Academy training model in Wakefield.

As Lambert Bouwmeester, CEO Prolyte Group states: "As a result of this latest phase in the str

UK - Star Events, an award-winning UK staging, seating and rigging specialist, has become part of a multi-national business as Altrad Group acquires a majority shareholding.

The seven-figure investment spearheads Altrad's move into the entertainment sector via Altrad Beaver 84 Ltd, which operates from 12 UK locations. Star Events becomes a subsidiary of Altrad Beaver 84 but will stay based at its own Bedford premises.

Chairman Dr Mohed Altrad, whose philosophy is to create 'a collegiate group of companies, embracing their differences', says his group's financial commitment will not change the make-up of the successful Star Events team, or its methodology. The same philosophy has been applied to the six previous Altrad acquisitions in the UK.

Star Events' director, Roger Barrett, comments: "For some time now we have been aware of the need for substantial investment to en

On The South Bank - Arts Council England is to fund the lion's share of a £24m repair and maintenance programme for the Southbank Centre's music venues and gallery after warnings by English Heritage that restorative work "could not be further delayed". The Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery will benefit from work aimed at improving workshops and backstage areas, disabled access for audiences and artists and restoring building interiors to their original appearance.

ACE is to provide £16.7m - equivalent to 70% of the total cost - with the London venue intending to raise the remainder through trusts, philanthropists and audiences. The work had originally been announced in March last year and was planned as part of a larger, £120m redevelopment of the complex following significantly increased attendance numbers to the Thames-side comp

UK - Nick Gray of London-based live performance design practice Renegade created an inventive lighting and visuals scheme for the highly acclaimed Atomic Bomb tour by a new international super-group led by David Byrne to honour the work of obscure Nigerian funk musician William Onyeabor.

Onyeabor's distinctive rhythmic, funkadelic, spacey synthesiser-orientated grooves were composed in the 1970s and 1980s when he was a prolific composer / performer, highly original and forward thinking. Since then he has gained a cult following amidst musicians and music aficionados.

An anthology of his old work Who is William Onyeabor? was released by David Byrne's Luaka Bop record label last year, and this was recently followed by a live concert tour to bring the Onyeabor experience to an inquisitive public.

Gray was approached directly by Luaka Bop who had seen his lighting

Production Issues - Jennifer Lopez has pulled out of performing the official World Cup song at the tournament's opening ceremony in Brazil, Fifa has announced. Officials said the singer could not attend Thursday's show because of unspecified "production issues". Lopez was due to perform alongside rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte, with whom she has recorded the song We Are One (Ole Ola). Pitball and Leitte will go ahead and perform accompanied by drummers Olodum.

"For production issues, Jennifer Lopez, one of the artists of the official song We Are One, will not be able to perform at the Fifa World Cup opening ceremony," said a statement. The 25-minute ceremony in Sao Paulo will feature 600 artists, including acrobatic gymnasts, trampolinists, martial arts-style performers and stilt walkers.

Fringe Matters - The Edinbur

UK - Paul Nunnington, product manager at Sennheiser UK, passed away peacefully on 9 June - his 42nd birthday - after a brave six-year battle with cancer.

Paul ('Nunners'), began his career at Project Music in 1987 and went on to work for Shuttlesound, Sound Technology and Sennheiser. Close friend Stephanie Dell of Sound Marketing told LSi: "He loved his work and spoke warmly of the great friends he had made in our industry. His dry-witted story-telling was legendary - his observations were funny and sharp but always affectionately delivered. Nunners was an incredibly popular guy. In the ten years I knew him, I never heard a bad word said about him. He loved nothing better than to be with his people, at home and at work. First and foremost Paul was a family man who absolutely adored his wife Karen and children Alex and Cara. Paul approached his illness from the outset with e

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