UK - The Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre in Watford is a thriving hub for local and national performing arts and emerging talent and a busy receiving house with a lively programme of drama, musicals and dance, working to provide “arts for everyone”. The intimate 124-seat venue has just upgraded its power distribution and dimming system with the installation of three 24-channel Zero 88 Chilli Pro bypass dimmers.
The theatre has both a resident youth theatre group and an adult theatre company and a raft of regular and occasional external companies and clients who hire the space for their productions and events, all of which use the house technical facilities.
Jason Brameld, who is technical director at Torpedo Factory Group - a long-standing professional customer of Zero 88, has also been Pump House Theatre’s volunteer technical director since 1996, and he spec

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) has supplied over 11,400 items of professional equipment to P&J Live at TECA, the new events venue in the North of Scotland (see full report in LSi February 2020).
Replacing the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC), P&J Live offers world-class conference & exhibition facilities for organisers and delegates across the globe.
Located next to Aberdeen International Airport, the £333m, purpose-built development is operated and managed by ASM Global, and features 48,000 sq.m of flexible, multi-purpose floor space.
AC-ET was awarded supply of venue-wide loose equipment & flexible house lighting for the venue’s Baker Hughes Exhibiti

UK - The Factory Live is a new venue in the UK's south coast town of Worthing. Already attracting much critical praise, its audio system of Yamaha DZR and DXS XLF loudspeakers is impressing audiences and artists alike.
The 300-capacity venue is the brainchild of managing director Steve Gardner. Having taught himself to play piano upon retirement from a successful corporate life, Steve was approached by an old school friend who had an empty building in the town of Worthing, formerly used by the local college as a music and dance training centre. Spotting an opportunity, Gardner started the successful Soundhouse and Dancehouse rehearsal businesses.
It was natural for him to approach nearby high-end audio retailer The Audio House when equipping the rehearsal studios, developing a close working relationship with company founder Gerry Heeley.
As Soundhouse and Danceho

The Netherlands The Nationale Opera & Ballet creates, produces and presents both traditional and innovative opera and ballet productions of the highest quality. Seeking to replace a number of outdated fluorescent fixtures with something more modern, in 2018, the organisation contacted leading lighting supply company Ampco Flashlight to set up a demo of several possible solutions.
Elation’s key account manager for Benelux, Bert Schmeits, brought a Seven Batten 72 to Bas van Schelven of Ampco Flashlight for the demo at the venue. “Overall they were impressed with the light but they had some concerns about the dimming,” Schmeits explains. “That was an issue we were glad to address so we produced new software that met their criteria and a new demo took place at the opera in May 2019. This time it was with the Seven Batten 42, which was preferable for them in terms o

South Korea - TechDataPS and Arnion recently performed a complete overhaul of the outdoor performance venue at Mungyeon Provincial Park, equipping it with an end-to-end Harman audio system.
Mungyeong Saejae, a mountain pass located 642m above sea level on Mount Joryeong, is one of the oldest surviving parts of an ancient road that once connected Seoul and Busan. Three fortified stone gates dating from the Joseon dynasty still stand at the site, making it a culturally significant landmark. Declared an official provincial park in 1981, Mungyeong Saejae is now a major tourist destination featuring hiking trails, a sculpture garden and a stage for open-air performances and other events.
With the venue’s sound system in dire need of an upgrade, park officials hired TechDataPS and Arnion to completely overhaul the stage with a Harman Professional Solutions audio system and

Canada - The history of Knox Presbyterian Church in Toronto stretches back to 1820, and it has been in its current building across the street from the University of Toronto since 1909. Its ornate, high-ceiling sanctuary accommodates 550 people.
The AV integration department at local music store Sherwood recently installed a new sound reinforcement system that leverages the pattern control of Danley Sound Labs SBH-Series loudspeakers. The new Danley system keeps energy off the walls and treats congregants to crystal-clear, point-source fidelity.
“We started work on Knox Presbyterian’s troublesome sanctuary after completing several other projects that they were really happy with in other areas of their facility,” explains Craig Ritchie, project manager at Sherwood. “They had some thirty-plus year-old loudspeakers way up in the ceiling that were firing above the s

USA - An extensive package of ADJ lighting fixtures has been installed in the new contemporary worship centre of First Baptist Church in Stockton. Amongst other fixtures, Vizi CMY300s serve as the main moving head luminaires, creating beam effects and GOBO projections on stage, while COB Cannon Washes cover both stage colour and house lighting duties.
When the opportunity arose for the thriving First Baptist Church in Stockton, CA to acquire a neighbouring building they embraced it to create a dedicated space for their growing contemporary worship services. The church’s leadership worked with local supplier Nor Cal Pro Audio to specify a modern lighting system that would allow maximum flexibility for the space, allowing it to be used both for services and as a community centre.
Headed up by Jorge González, Nor Cal Pro Audio specialises in providing audio and lightin

UK - Technical event production company Sterling Event Group has announced a partnership agreement with multi-purpose Manchester venue, Victoria Warehouse.
As part of the supplier agreement, which commences today (31January), Sterling Event Group will be the venue’s preferred technical production supplier and provide exclusive in-house rigging services for corporate clients across the venue’s wide array of unique spaces.
Richard Bowden, MD of Sterling Event Group, comments: “We are really excited to be back working with the team at Victoria Warehouse, a venue with their strap line ‘We are what you make us’, which for our projects team opens up a world of options for creativity.”
James Cohen, MD of Victoria Warehouse, adds: “We are thrilled to be partnering again with Sterling Event Group for production and rigging, their team have a genuine passi

USA - Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship (OCBF) was founded in 1976 by renowned pastor and author Dr. Tony Evans. Since those early days, the upward trajectory of the church in Dallas has blossomed it into a mission-driven mega-church with nearly 10,000 congregants.
The venue seats around 3,280 people, shaped in a semi-circle, with large balconies and unobstructed sight lines. But as time passes, so too does the efficiency of audio components while the need for increased acoustical quality grows. The bottom line: the old equipment was outdated and no longer up to par. Along with upgrades to its lighting and video systems, installed by master AVL integration firm Clair Solutions, the church determined its best path forward to meet current and future needs was to install a new sound reinforcement system.
“The existing system was installed in 1995, and many of its parts were fa

UK - The Warehouse in Leeds will bring back live music to the fore later this month, building on a legacy that includes performances by U2, Oasis, The Stone Roses and Soft Cell.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, The Warehouse has had a quarter of a million pound investment into the production infrastructure and now boasts three rooms with a capacity of 600 for live music and 1100 for DJ-led events.
Curated by TEG | MJR, the live music 2020 programme will showcase a mix of touring artists and local musicians on a regular basis, with the first events kicking off later this month.
The Warehouse relaunch weekend will kick off with a live performance from singer-songwriter Badly Drawn Boy on 23 January, followed by two sold out performances from Terrorvision on 7-8 February.
TEG | MJR has added a new L-Acoustics sound system which brings the live and club exp

UK - Arena Birmingham is set to be renamed Utilita Arena Birmingham as a part a new partnership with Smart Pay As You Go (PAYG) Energy provider, Utilita. .
Utilita has a growing presence in the UK live events industry, having partnered with a number of major music festivals in recent years including Parklife, TRNSThe city centre venue will take up its new name on 15 April 2020MT, Creamfields, V Festival, Bestival and Camp Bestival – as well as Newcastle Arena (now Utilita Arena Newcastle).
Utilita’s customers are set to receive exclusive access to pre-sale tickets at the 15,800-capacity venue, which has recently hosted the likes of Ariana Grande, Jack Whitehall and Take That, as well as VIP experiences and exclusive ticket offers.
The energy supplier will also use the Arena’s pre-show entertainment areas to get audiences thinking about their energy usage as

UK - So successful has been the debut of Martin Audio’s new WPS line array on the Eddie Izzard tour that Capital Sound has taken the opportunity to extend its inventory, after winning the bid for the Tim Minchin tour - since the two UK itineraries overlapped.
WPS is the latest model in the Wavefront Precision series, which features scalable resolution for greater flexibility in amplifier management and optimisation of coverage, consistency and control. WPS comprises 2 x 8” LF drivers, 4 x 4” midrange drivers and 4 x 1” exit HF compression drivers loaded by a moulded HF horn which occupies the full width of the enclosure.
In addition to stand-up comedy, WPS this time also needed to reproduce a full band, with the artist’s grand piano supported by brass, keys, bass and guitar, requiring 56 inputs at the sound desk. FOH engineer would be the experienced Dave Rod

France - After more than two years of renovations, the celebrated Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris has recently reopened its doors to the public. With the intention of restoring the venue to its original splendour, the project saw the inclusion of an array of products from ETC and High End Systems.
Christophe Leuba - one of the venue’s two lighting managers who assist lighting director Renaud Corler - recognised the potential of ETC Eos consoles after attending an ETC training session. “I loved the event and as soon as I got back to the Châtelet I arranged an ‘Introduction to Eos’ session for our entire team,” says Leuba.
Subsequently, two Eos Ti consoles were installed in the theatre’s control room - one of which is used in the audience during creation phase - and a more compact Ion Xe 20 was chosen for use elsewhere.
Even though decision-making for

Croatia - The historic Istrian People’s Theatre (INK) in Pula is now hosting international music ensembles as well as dramatic productions, thanks to a major audio upgrade. It has recently replaced all of its sound reinforcement and monitoring systems with L-Acoustics Syva and X Series technologies, as well as LA4X amplification.
This European venue has had an eventful life. Its origins lay with the much smaller Teatro Nuovo (New Theatre), built in 1854 when Pula was part of the Austrian Empire. That was replaced in 1879 by a much a grander version, which itself has stood the test of time through various governments.
In 2004, the theatre was officially renamed the Istrian People’s Theatre, City Theatre Pula, and is now generally branded as 'INK' (Istarsko Narodno Kazalište). Its main auditorium has a capacity of 699, spread across the main siting area, lodges for

Sweden - ELC Lighting has announced that Stockholm Stadsteater (City Theatre will benefit from a new ELC Lighting network distribution system based around the dmXLAN Node8GBx range of DMX-to-network converters.
The system, including 63 dmXLAN node3 units purchased from ELC Lighting distributor mLite AB via local dealer Intersonic, is being installed across multiple performance spaces as part of the Stadsteater’s technical renovation.
Situated at the heart of the city in the bustling Kulturhuset cultural hub, the Stadsteater is one of Sweden’s most popular theatres, producing up to 40 productions each year on its various stages. Its new ELC dmXLAN system, which operates over Art-Net, sACN and Shownet as standard protocols and offers remote programming and monitoring via ELC’s dmXLAN software, is set to provide a new level of flexibility throughout the site.

Spain - In a move to a more sustainable future, the Teatro Calderón has chosen to upgrade its lighting systems with ETC products, supplied by the company’s dealer in Spain, Stonex.
Based in Valladolid, the Teatro Calderón has long been recognised as one of the best theatres in the country. It was decided that over the next few years the theatre will renew its lighting equipment in order to allow both LED and conventional luminaires to work together as effectively as possible. In order to do this, the Calderón chose ETC’s power control and entertainment consoles.
ETC’s Sensor3 power control system and ThruPower modules were installed into the theatre, replacing a Smartrack model which was in place for the previous 20 years. The Teatro Calderón now has five Sensor3 ESR3AFN-48 power control racks, filled with ETR15AFR and ETR25AFR ThruPower modules, in addition

USA - Situated in the heart of New York’s Times Square, seven floors up amid the luxury of the new Edition boutique hotel, is nightclub and performance space Paradise Club. The ‘brainchild’ of Studio 54’s Ian Schrager and home to an immersive dinner theatre and modern-day cabaret called The Devouring: A Marriage of Heaven and Hell Paradise Club hosts an Elation Professional lighting rig specified by AVL design and integration firm Clair Solutions with input from Yossy Marquez of J. Marquez Consultants.
Paradise Club is a fully-immersive experience with an attention-grabbing starburst LED ceiling, depth-producing upstage video wall, enchanting décor, and atmosphere-generating dynamic lighting system. Following the multi-sensory Devouring cabaret show, performed by resident artist company House of Yes, the space transforms into a colourful nightclub with

UK - Stage Electrics has supplied, installed and commissioned new LED lighting to replace the existing house lighting at Kings Place, London.
Originally opened in 2008, Kings Place is a multi-purpose venue including a concert hall as well as the home to The Guardian and The Observer newspapers. Stage Electrics were contracted by Paul Russell, technical project manager for Kings Place, to replace the lighting in Hall 1 which is the main concert hall, a system originally installed by sister company Northern Light.
The new feature Lighting in addition to general auditorium lighting provides illumination, with full colour mixing, of the acoustic void around the upper walls of the auditorium as well as the stage and seating areas. This additional feature allows the venue to offer corporate clients the ability to customise the room in their corporate colours so

South Africa - Few holiday traditions are more treasured in Joburg, South Africa than the annual pantomime, held at The Mandela Stage at Joburg Theatre in Braamfontein.
This year, writer, director and South Africa’s queen of pantomime, Janice Honeyman has brought to stage the story of country boy Jack the Joller, and his adventures with a family cow, some magic beans, an enormous beanstalk, an unfriendly giant and an enchanted hen that lays golden eggs.
Long-standing technical manager at the Joburg Theatre and industry veteran, Enos Ramoroko, points out that the panto is one of the biggest draws for the Joburg theatre over the December holidays, and is a highlight in the year for cast and crew alike. “The characters on stage are always larger than life, and everyone has a leading role. In some productions, you can switch the followspot from one lead to another –

Germany - The German theatrical tradition has always relied on colourful and vivid productions to convey the intricacies of the nation’s intricate language and rich culture. For more than two centuries, this tradition has flourished at the Stadttheater Aschaffenburg, which has played host to countless seminal productions since first opening its doors in 1811.
As part of a long term renovation of this bastion of German theatre, Siegbert Blattner, technical director at Stadttheater Aschaffenburg, oversaw the creation of a modern and versatile lighting system that is comprised entirely of Chauvet Professional fixtures, including 26 Maverick MK3 Spots, 28 Maverick MK2 Washes, 56 Ovation E-930VW variable white ellipsoidals, 10 Ovation E-260WW warm white ellipsoidals and 34 Ovation F-915FC Fresnel units.
The Stadttheater Aschaffenburg traditionally presents audiences wit

China - Hangzhou, the capital of the Zhejiang province, is home to a new One Third club destination located in a former locomotive depot, another of the NOA’s Arc Group’s entertainment ventures.
The third in the chain (including one in Beijing), the 2,500-capacity dance venue, specialising in Hard style, has been equipped with Martin Audio’s MLA Multicellular Loudspeaker Array.
This was supplied to the Dutch creative team, Live Legends, and their creative director Daan Oomen by Martin Audio’s Chinese distributor, Sino Hui Feng, who worked hard to win the project with the Martin Audio bid to ensure One Third Hangzhou stands out in a competitive marketplace.
The One Third vibe is all about the story of an old locomotive factory that comes to life. Live Legends delivered all creative elements from concept to execution, including show production, interior and

Poland - Teatr Narodowy (National Theatre) in Warsaw has invested in 40 Robe DL7S Profile moving lights which are part of a lighting upgrade to replace over 100 halogens and gel-scrollers in their rig with new LED light sources, a graduated process taking place across all three of the theatre’s performance spaces.
In addition to modernising their house lighting systems - including some previous moving lights that had been in place for nearly 20 years - they were essentially looking for quieter fixtures, stated head of lighting, Zbigniew Szulim.
They considered all the options, and apart from the silent running of the DL7S, also liked the colour rendering and the smoothness of its dimming. They also wanted a luminaire that could replicate the effect of halogen lamps.
The National Theatre Warsaw, one of five in Poland, each associated with a major city, stages ne

China - Grace is a national chain of bar/restaurants with live entertainment. The latest venue is in Yangjiang city, Guangdong province, where an Alcons Audio pro-ribbon system has overcome architectural challenges to serve up an appetising audio menu.
Grace in Yangjiang has a 400sq.m main area and a 100sq.m mezzanine, with internal architecture that created significant acoustic challenges. Its classical Chinese style features a tiled roof decoration with varying heights, producing multiple reflections. Additionally, a tall decorative column was likely to cause issues with sound coverage from one side of the stage.
The live performances feature vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards, drums and have a wide dynamic range. Guangzhou-based EAD was asked to design and install a sound reinforcement system that would make sure diners throughout the venue enjoyed high quality sound.

UK - Success is serving the independently owned, 1,700 cap Electric Brixton well, a two-step refurbishment programme refining the venue’s image and functionality.
LED fixtures light the building’s front wall, which has been resealed and repainted, amplifying the Electric’s standing on Brixton Hill.
Through the doors to the main space the second room wall has gone, improving sightlines and bringing more flexibility in terms of operating the area. It also makes for a much larger bar stage left and quicker service.
An LX console front of house, with additional motors above stage and across the room, and new fixtures, gives LDs easier access to the venue’s lighting equipment and more capacity to shape the image of a performance/club.
Production manager, Tom Cull, comments: “This is all brand new, state-of-the-art equipment. It was about improving the

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