USA / Europe - ETC is now accepting video submissions for its 'Show us your ETC' student video contest. Student participants can post their videos to YouTube, fill out ETC's submission form at showusyouretc.com, and show off their 'ETC' - enthusiasm, talent and creativity.

ETC will give away three demo stock Eos line lighting control desk prizes: one to each of the three best student-submitted videos. The homemade videos will be judged for their 'ETC-ness' (enthusiasm, talent and creativity) and their use of ETC as a theme and motif. Each video must be under five minutes and appropriate in subject matter.

The 'Show us your ETC' challenge ends on 21 February, which is the final day for video posting/form submission. Throughout the submission period, a panel of judges - ETC's Jon Ironside (the contest's originator), as well as ETC's CEO Fred Foster, industry luminary Richard Pil

UK - The Royal Shakespeare Company's new adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda arrived in London in November after opening in Stratford last year - and the show has immediately been hailed as a five-star smash by the critics and audiences alike.

The show has been created by the long-established team of director Matthew Warchus, designer Rob Howell and lighting designer Hugh Vanstone. Vanstone described his aim as being to make the lighting "playful and colourful, to extend the wonky angled Flintstone-like quality embedded in Rob Howell's superb design."

The show was first created on the thrust stage of the RSC's Courtyard Theatre; some re-thinking was therefore required for the show's transfer into the pros-arch Cambridge Theatre. "While the spirit of the design remained the same, given the opportunity for a re-vamp I re-shaped and improved my design as we m

Germany - After the major success of X-Factor 2010, the German version of the popular talent show has just completed its second season, which ran between 30 August and 6 December.

Among those lining up for casting, the new impression Wash One appeared on all eight live televised shows for the first time, with LD Jerry Appelt and his team responsible for the show's lighting design.

Appelt had already used impression series moving heads for several projects in the past - more than 300 impression 90 and impression XL fixtures featured at the European Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf - and again Jerry turned to the energy-saving features of the GLP devices. At least 40 impression Wash Ones were integrated in the stage design this time around.

"The Wash One is a real all-rounder," observes Jerry Appelt. "You can use it to create crunchy beam colours, but als

USA - Philips Lumileds has announced the appointment of Pierre Yves Lesaicherre as CEO of Philips Lumileds, effective immediately. Mr. Lesaicherre succeeds Michael C. Holt and will report directly to Philips Lighting's acting CEO Frans van Houten.

"Pierre Yves' tremendous experience at NXP Semiconductors, most recently as senior vice president & general manager of the business lines Microcontrollers & Logic, make him uniquely qualified to lead Philips Lumileds into the new world of lighting," said Frans van Houten. "I'm confident Pierre Yves will drive Philips Lumileds performance and actively shape the fast changing LED illumination market.

"At the same time, I also thank Mike Holt, Lumileds' first CEO, who for more than a decade has led the company as it invented and introduced high power LEDs and opened entirely new lighting segments. Mike is retiring to

UK - Due to continued demand for its lighting console training courses Cooper Controls has increased the number of UK training sessions for 2012. Taking place every Thursday, the first six months of training sessions are now available for booking:

For ORB Series Training - based in the factory in Cwmbran: 2 February, 1 March, 5 April, 3 May, 7 June; For Solution Series Training in Cwmbran: 12 January,9 February, 8 March, 12 April, 10 May, 14 June; For Jester Series Training in Cwmbran: 19 January, 16 February, 15 March, 19 April, 17 May, 21 June; For ORB Series Training - based at the Phoenix Artist Club in London: 23 February, 22 March, 19 April, 24 May, 21 June.

Scheduled Zero 88 courses are free of charge and include a light lunch. Attendees will receive a training certificate at the end of the session. Cooper Controls also offers onsite training on request. These tailored

UK - Black Light has worked with Graham Construction and North Lanarkshire Council to install a full package of stage lighting, sound, audio visual and recording studio equipment at the new Coltness High School in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire. This is the first of six similar projects Black Light is involved with.

"Black Light did an extremely professional installation," said Derek Johnston, head of music and drama at the school. "The entire system looks incredibly neat and tidy and operates in an extremely effective and flexible manner."

To achieve the required outcome for the end users at the school, Black Light developed a detailed project proposal that completely met the requirements of the Local Authority. The company's installation team then carried out the on-time and on-budget full package installation. The new facilities allow the school to make high

UK - Lighting designer Grum Leesmith recently showcased PixelRange's new SMART technology luminaires on Example's latest tour. The rig included six PixelSmarts and six SmartLines from the new intelligent range.

Grum Leesmith states:,"The new PixelSmart is special. Being able to take control of every cell on the PixelSmart allowed me to give texture to what would normally be a flat wash. The addition of the narrow beam, warm white LEDs gave me an alternative to a traditional ACL, two lights in one fixture, saving me weight and space both on the truss and the truck.

"I was also incredibly impressed with the SmartLine, having used PixelLine many times I was keen to see how PixelRange would improve on the design. The RGBW colour mixing blew me away, I was able to get a really nice warm white that worked together with my tungsten lights perfectly. Only at very low outputs

Belgium/USA - ArKaos will be bringing its successful new protocol, Kling-Net, to NAMM 2012. Kling-Net will appear in the new ÉPIX range of LED lighting fixtures from Chauvet - one of the first manufacturers to recognise the qualities of Kling-Net on its launch at PLASA 2011, and has collaborated with ArKaos to incorporate it into its pixel-based products, launching ÉPIX Bar and ÉPIX Strip at LDI 2011.

ÉPIX Bar is an independent batten-style fixture that incorporates 160 brilliant tri-coloured SMD LEDs for dynamic video displays. ÉPIX Strip is a 1-pixel wide strip of 40 SMD LEDs, designed for video and pixel mapping applications with countless of layout options. Both of these new products, and the ÉPIX Drive 640 power and data supply, are operated exclusively by ArKaos Kling-Net.

"We are very excited by Kling-Net as the protocol is

UK - The PLASA 2012 free registration website is now live. Show organiser PLASA Events expects around 6000 visitors to take advantage of the special free registration offer over the next 48 hours, with early bookers saving £20 on the standard ticket price for this year's PLASA Show, which takes place at London's Earls Court on 9 - 12 September 2012.

All previous PLASA Show visitors have been sent the special offer via email, and free registration for new visitors is now live at www.plasashow.com.

"We have been offering free registration for early bookers for the past three years and each year the number of registrations soars," comments events manager Sophie Atkinson.

"PLASA 2012 will be the first show to take place after the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and it will be a celebration of our industry's contribution to this summer's events. We'll be

Czech Republic - An energy saving Anolis LED lighting scheme designed by Petr Kolma?ka has been installed to highlight the famous City Hall Tower in Ostrava, the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the administrative hub of the Moravian-Silesian region.

The city has a strong commercial heritage based on the heavy industries that grew up around its high quality black coal deposits, discovered in the late 18th century. More recently it has launched a big initiative to clean up the environment and control the many years of accumulated pollution, reinventing itself as the 'City of Colours', highlighting its equally rich history as a centre of innovation, creativity and education (as a major university city).

This, the city's first civic lighting scheme, is part of the process of helping to create a new cultural identity for Ostrava. Its numerous creative and entertainment

Italy - Robe Robin MMX Spots, LEDWash 300s and ColorWash 575 AT Zooms were the core lighting elements for LD Paolo Firulli's eye-catching design for the recent Meraviglioso Modugno, a tribute show to Domenico Modugno, one of Italy's best known actors and singer/songwriters from the 1950s.

The show was staged in the new Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the largest theatre in the city and the fourth largest in Italy, well known for its stunning interiors and colourful history. It starred 13 different contemporary artists all of whom performed one of Modugno's most popular songs.

The main lighting challenge was to give each one of them a totally different look and feel for their performance for which was able to take advantage of the flexibility and scope brought to the occasion by using Robe fixtures.

There were 20 each of Robe's new MMX Spots and LEDWash 300s, plus 20 Color

UK - Scottish lighting and sound supplier The Warehouse has recently completed a seven-week temporary installation commissioned by the City Of Edinburgh Council.

The project required the illumination of four specially selected 'iconic' buildings in the city centre over the Christmas and New Year periods. The buildings chosen were the City Chambers, New College, The Royal Scottish Academy and St John's Church in the West End.

The brief required the sites to be linked to allow synchronised colour changing using the theme of 'Fire and Ice'. Lighting hire manager and lighting designer Dave Morris chose a combination of Studio Due City Color 2500W, and Chauvet Colorado IP 1s and 2s for the sites. The Warehouse used their extensive stock of Wireless Solutions W-DMX units and aerials to establish the radio links across the City, which performed flawlessly over the entire period. With

USA - A flurry of new exhibitors and a wide-ranging seminar programme are creating a buzz around this PLASA Focus: Austin 2012 (22-23 February), organisers PLASA Events report.

Texas lighting guru Richard Cadena comments, "I have been overwhelmed by the wide range of reasons to visit PLASA Focus: Austin 2012. In addition to the world-class line-up of manufacturers and new products, the side-shows will undoubtedly make this a memorable first event for Texas."

While new audio, staging, lighting and AV products will top the show floor agenda, The Professional Development Programme will see educational sessions from PLASA's partners in the event: The Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas, The Broadway Green Alliance, Austin City Limits Live, The Production Equipment Rental Group, and the Long Centre for the Performing Arts, among others.

Joining an already packed floor pla

USA - Old news isn't good news, at least not for a TV station's news broadcast ratings. That's why Univision 41 TV in San Antonio recently decided to update the look of its news sets with sleek new furnishings and bright, colourful lighting. The station is part of the Univision network, which is the largest Spanish-language television network in the US in terms of viewership, according to Nielsen ratings.

"Univision's old set had an outdated conservative office look with dark wood veneers everywhere. For their new look, they really wanted to push the envelope and be completely different by having a lot of brightness and color," said Frank Burton of Event Ignition (San Antonio), which designed and installed the lighting in Univision 41's news sets, using LED products from American DJ and its sister company Elation Professional.

The station's management wanted lighting

Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden AB is starting the new year with a makeover to their W-DMX website, www.wirelessdmx.com, providing the latest material on their line of wireless DMX products.

The revamp has addressed some of the most common items that users look for when visiting their site including an easy to navigate product page with all their latest products in the G4 line including transceivers, receivers, repeaters, antennas, tools and accessories. The site also lists W-DMX OEM partners, a worldwide map of distributors and a current list of upcoming trade shows. Case studies and current news are also available.

Most importantly, the new site has updated and simplified an area to download software, manuals and catalogues, which the company considers important to access on a 24-hour basis. The company also worked with search engines to make this information easy to find

USA - Hip hop kings Jay-Z and Kanye West teamed on a second, eight-week leg of their Watch The Throne North American tour where Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures are playing a key role. The tour, which ended in Vancouver just before Christmas, supported the rappers' joint LP released in August and featured solo cuts from their own catalogues.

Solotech, which is providing all the tour's lighting, rigging and specialty lighting fixtures, supplied 130 Clay Paky Sharpys from its inventory to lighting designer Nick Whitehouse. "The design of the tour is very modern and eclectic," says Richard Lachance, at Solotech, which is headquartered in Montreal. "The lighting, lasers and staging are very different - there's a centre module that's a B stage which is very prominent, and the show is laden with LED products."

Karl Gaudreau at Solotech, adds, "The first time

UK - GDS were recently commissioned to develop a flexible lighting solution in a disused area of London's Southbank.

As part of the Festival of Britain anniversary celebrations, GDS were approached by Roger Hennigan technical Manager at The Southbank Centre, to assist with the redevelopment of disused outside area of the Queen Elizabeth Hall roof. The space was to be part of the centre's redevelopment project, with plans to build a garden and green event space for the festival celebrations.

From April - September 2011, the Southbank Centre site was transformed for the Festival of Britain 60th Anniversary celebrations, celebrating British talent and creativity with the biggest cross-arts festival South Bank had seen since the original festival in 1951.

After completing a site survey and taking into consideration the long and difficult cable routs on site, coupled with the inc

Australia - Yiwarra Kuju: Canning Stock Route, a landmark exhibition celebrating the lives and stories of Western Desert Aboriginal people, was held in the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in October especially for CHOGM.

The exhibition explored the impact of the 1750km stock route on Aboriginal people, through an innovative blend of contemporary art, oral history, photography, film and interactive multimedia.

Clifton's Perth was engaged to supply the overhead rigging and lighting for the exhibition which prompted them to purchase 72 ETC Source Four Juniors which allow maximum field-angle flexibility.

"We chose the ETC Source Four Juniors mainly for their zoom capability," commented Ed Matthews, managing director of Clifton's Perth. "Plus they are a good compact size and sell at a reasonable price. They certainly are the benchmark light in that category.

USA - Five grandMA2s featured in the 12th Annual Latin Grammy Awards telecast live on the Univision Network from the Mandalay Bay Events Centre in Las Vegas.

Pennsylvania-based Atomic Lighting provided three grandMA2 light consoles with three grandMA2 fader wings to control the show's lighting and another two grandMA2 full-size consoles to run 16 universes of Art-Net for the video content. Fifty Clay Paky Sharpy formed part of the lighting inventory. Carlos Colina was the lighting designer of the show.

Since its debut on Univision entirely in Spanish in 2005, the Latin Grammy Awards show has consistently increased its ratings worldwide; it is also one of Univision's highest rated shows as well as the most watched and highly regarded awards event by Hispanics.

Atomic's vice president of operations Brett Puwalski, who has served as the show's gaffer for the last five years, re

UK - The Mayor of London's New Year 2012 celebrations started with a bang thanks to a spectacular pyrotechnic and light show produced by creative events experts, Jack Morton Worldwide. As in previous years, this show featured VariLite VL3500WashFX fixtures in each of the capsules on the London Eye, together with Syncrolite and Clay Paky Alpha Beam fixtures.

Technical event specialists Stage Electrics who have successfully been supplying all the lighting for this landmark event for 10 years proposed the use of Zero Wire CRMX product from Cooper Controls to lighting designer Durham Marenghi as the solution to enable wireless control of each of the 32 pods fitted to the London Eye. Zero Wire CRMX was first launched at PLASA in 2011 and features the CRMX wireless DMX technology designed by LumenRadio.

Stage Electrics approached Cooper Controls together with LumenRadio at PLASA to

USA - Just a block away from The White House in Washington DC, The Hamilton has kick started a creative renaissance and is fast becoming the American capital's hot destination for sophisticated live music and dining - presenting local, national and international bands.

Contracted to provide the production lighting design, Paul Hoffman of Pulse Lighting LLC deployed 18 of GLP's Volkslicht Zooms to help build the atmosphere.

Hoffman first became involved in the project around two years ago to consult on the lighting and other aspects of the technology for owners, Clyde's Restaurant Group.

Having worked with the operators on previous events (and impressed them with their production work for bands such as Widespread Panic and Furthur), the LD knew what was expected.

With a 500-seat upscale restaurant at street level and 400-seat live music venue below - with its own food and b

Hungary - When dance guru David Guetta rocked Budapest's Hungexpo in front of 8000 enthusiastic fans, the producer of anthems like Sexy Bitch, Who's That Chick and numerous others, was illuminated by a rig of Robe moving lights supplied by locally based lighting rental company, Colossal Rental.

The Robes were an integral element of the automated lighting on Guetta's worldwide touring spec, originated by lighting designer Jonathan 'Leggy' Armstrong, and were operated on the night by touring lighting director, Alex 'Junior, Cero who is based in the UK.

Colossal Rental's client was Deadcode Productions, who delivered the show's technical package, working for show promoters Burn. They all collaborated with Guetta's own production team led by production manager Al Green.

The lighting rig featured 29 Robe LEDWash 600s, 18 ColorSpot 1200E ATs and 12 ColorWash 250E ATs

UK - Justin Bieber featured in a Christmas Day special for ITV called This Is Justin Bieber. The special was filmed before a live audience at ITV's London Studios.

Lighting director Oli Richards designed the lighting for the show with support from London-based suppliers Richard Martin Lighting (RML).

Richards' spectacular lighting rig comprised of well over 100 moving lights, with Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s and Sharpys chosen to help transform the studio into a live concert environment.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light has confirmed its appointment as an Authorised Philips Vari*Lite Service Centre. The appointment was confirmed on 7 December and became effective immediately.

As an Authorised Service Centre, White Light now offers service and support of all Vari*Lite automated lighting fixtures, from the long-established yet still popular VL500 andVL3000 families to the VLX range of LED fixtures. The company's technicians can now carry out routine maintenance and servicing or repair work, including warranty repairs, for other Vari*Lite owners across the UK and Europe. White Light's staff has already completed extensive training, and the company has $100,000 of spare parts on-hand allowing most repairs to be carried out immediately.

"We are delighted by this appointment," comments Dave Isherwood, White Light's technical director. &qu

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