Fundraising Fellowship - The Arts Council is to fund a new fellowship programme to train arts fundraisers of the future. The Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Fellowship will offer 11 places for entrepreneurial graduates at organisations including Opera North and Tate Liverpool. The programme is the first of its kind in the UK. With continuing spending cuts it is thought fundraisers will be increasingly important for the arts. A recent study by the charity Arts & Business suggested a growing divide in donations to the arts between London and the rest of England. Philanthropic giving to theatres and galleries rose 10% in London between 2011 and 2012. while donations elsewhere fell 3.5%. The trainee fundraisers will take part in an intensive 12 month training programme and it is hoped that they will go on to be leading directors of arts organisations in the future.

Budget Cuts<

Australia - Canberra's National Science and Technology Centre Questacon has become the first Australian institution to invest in Philips Selecon's fully tuneable high output LED PL1 luminaires.

The centre - which attracts more than 420,000 visitors each year - has purchased 20 of the PL1s, which draw on Philips' pioneering technology to meet the everyday challenges of illuminating the museums, art galleries and stages.

"As an interactive Science Centre our requirement for lighting is based on more of a theatrical approach than traditional museum lighting," says Christine Hendry, creative manager at Questacon. "We use a combination of focused light and colour washing luminaires and needed to have an integrated approach to our gallery lighting with a plan for implementation over several years. The PL1s were seen as the perfect solution for us.

"Our main cri

UK - White Light has announced the appointment of Rebecca Fellows as venue relationship manager, providing a key contact for events venues in London and across the UK. Fellows, previously events administrator at White Light, joined the company in 2011. She sees her new role as an opportunity to further develop White Light's ties with established venues while also seeking to connect with new and emerging events spaces.

"White Light has a strong history with many venues across the UK," she said. "My role will be to help those venues and clients make the most of our services and to understand how we can better serve them. I will also be investing time with newer and smaller production spaces, looking at how we can help achieve great events in any space."

"We are very excited to have Rebecca move into this new role," said Stuart Crane, head of events

India - Leading south Indian rental company Nitin Speakers & Electrical has invested in Robe moving lights to upgrade their lighting inventory.

Run by Sachin Naik - who has connected with many politicians, dignitaries, VIPs and celebrities in the course of his work - the Pune based operation supplies technical production to events of all types from vast political rallies for half a million people or so to concerts and musical extravaganzas to corporate presentations.

Known for many years as a high quality audio rental company and also for building large portable venue superstructures, Nitin Speaker's & Electrical opened its Intelligent Lighting division a year ago.

"We were being asked more and more frequently if we could supply lighting," explains Naik, "So we decided to do it properly and make a substantial investment so we could stock and supply the very be

Russia - Moscow's Teresa Durova Teatrium na Serpukhovke performance venue has invested in Philips Selecon's colour changing PLCyc1 luminaires in a major upgrade to its lighting equipment, replacing 121250W asymmetric tungsten cyc floods.

The Theatre's head of lighting, Vladimir Evstifeyev, invested in the PLCyc1s after testing them in the venue in early 2013.

"Vladimir and I were amazed at the PLCyc1's brightness and homogeneous filling without coloured shadows, and also absence of visual crossings of the light flows from adjacent fixtures," says Andrey Isotov, lighting designer at the Maly Theatre. "I was keen to be able to use the latest in LED lighting technology while working on The Scarlet Flower show, and the PLCyc1s do the job perfectly."

"Each PLCyc1 LED luminaire can replace the equivalent of a traditional four-colour, 500W per circuit cyc l

Denmark - Just in time for the shipping of Harman Martin's new flagship lighting console, the M6, Martin has released a new software version for M-Series consoles with hundreds of improvements and a new user-interface, built from the ground up to make programming performances easier and more efficient.

The new v3 software is all about speed with faster start-up time, show loading and more efficient access to functions. The clean and modern user-interface has been optimized for touch and gesture technology, which allows the user to work in an environment where everything is accessible from a single finger touch. Users can simply swipe to move from view to view, access other playback banks quickly or change parameter selection. Double tapping on playback status accesses its functions and options. Additionally, users can enlarge the quick slide out for visual parameter control.

&

South Africa - Philips Vari-Lite's LED VLX Wash luminaires have been used to deliver 'breathtaking' lighting to celebrate the launch of Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone in Johannesburg.

Event production manager Victor Vermaak and lighting designer Renaldo Van Den Bergfrom AV Unlimited (AVU) specified 12 of Vari-Lite's 14,000 lumens output VLX luminaires for the spectacular show at the city's Sandton Convention Centre, which was attended by more than 2,500 guests.

"We used the VLXs in the Presentation area to light the Honeycomb roof. We chose them because of their colour richness and punch," says Vermaak. "The VLXs were used to create colour and mood changes and worked perfectly. The lights were positioned quite a distance from the roof and no other LED wash light in our company would have created what we were looking for over that distance. Plus the awesome zoom

Brazil - Paul McCartney's Out Thereworld tour kicked off in Brazil with three shows and a lighting design created by Roy Bennett.

The shows were supervised by Bennett and operated by lighting director Wally Lees. Lighting equipment for all three was supplied by leading Brazilian rental company LPL Professional Lighting and included Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash luminaires, together with other moving lights and generics.

LPL's Erich Bertti project managed all three Brazilian dates which saw McCartney perform for the first time ever in Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais), Goiânia (Goiás) and Fortaleza (Ceará).

The production used 12 x Robe ColorWash 2500E ATs located on the stage floor, nine ColorSpot 2500E ATs on overhead trusses and 20 x ColorWash 1200E ATs distributed on the side and followspot trusses. "As usual the Robe fixtures worked really reliably," said

UK - The 2013 Olivier Awards saw the new Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330s take charge of their first event since they became a recent addition to White Light's ever growing arsenal of entertainment technology.

For the third year running the Awards, which were broadcast from the Royal Opera House's glittering auditorium, were lit by respected lighting designer Ben Cracknell.

Lighting designer Humph McDermott continued the lighting theme outside on the Radio 2 Stage, where special live performances and live streaming of the Awards were watched by hundreds of theatre fans on the Covent Garden Piazza.

And it was outside that the brand new Sharpy Wash 330 came into its own. McDermott used them, alongside Sharpy Beams, to cut through the daylight and complement the sparkling theatrical atmosphere inside the Royal Opera House.

McDermott needed a super bright fixture to cut through the

UK - GLP, German Light Products, has announced the launch of the Impression X4S - the latest product in this award-winning series. "The Impression X4S brings a whole new level of functionality to compact LED wash lights, complete with RGBW homogenous colour mixing, a 7 to 50 degree zoom range and a high output level," says the company.

A smaller version of GLP's popular Impression X4 fixture, the Impression X4S utilises seven high powered 15W RGBW LEDs at its source. These LEDs give a single homogenised colour output from its unique looking front lens across a wide spectrum and with high output for a very compact fixture.

"Adding flexibility, the Impression X4S turns things up considerably for such a small fixture with an expansive 7:1 zoom ratio that ranges from 7 to 50 degrees," says GLP. "At its narrowest, the Impression X4S features both a hard and

USA - When the annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival got underway, with its 24/7 schedule and desert location, Clay Paky lighting took centre stage for the Main Stage performances of California rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Lighting designer Scott Holthaus had 70 Clay Paky Sharpys and 23 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500s in his inventory for the Chili Peppers' night-time shows on both festival weekends. "The Sharpys were on moving pods on the stage while the 1500s were on top of my vertical towers, on the floors and screamers; eight 1500s were front of house," he explains.

Holthaus recounts how "one show was nearly cancelled due to a sandstorm. There were sand dunes on the stage. Our video portion and many of the fixtures were disabled. All I had was Sharpys and Alphas." With so many particulates in the air Holthaus wanted fixtures "that throw a beam

Sweden - Woodlite is a leading Swedish lighting, trussing and rigging dry-hire rental operation founded in 1995 by Magnus Jansson. Headquartered in Karlstad, the company now has around 150 Robe fixtures in its rental fleet and over 1100 moving lights in total.

In March 2012, a new office and warehouse was opened in Stockholm to enable Woodlite to service its clients and the generally buoyant business in the area even more quickly and efficiently.

Midway through 2012, Woodlite started purchasing Robe's Robin LEDWash series fixtures - both 300s and 600s - and more recently it has invested in the new Robin DLX LED Spot fixtures.

This increase in business with Robe has been prompted by the demands of their rental partners ... and in turn their clients who are specifying Robe increasingly frequently for shows, concerts, tours and events.

"We also like to be proactive in ou

The Netherlands - Wireless Solution Sweden AB was part of the recent Queen's Day banquet hosted by the Dutch Royal Family in honour of Queen Beatrix at the famed Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Queen Beatrix has stepped down after her 33-year long rule so that her son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, can be King.

W-DMX BlackBox ran Luminair and controlled GlowUp fixtures during the dinner, which was attended by royal heads of state from 18 countries. Among the many notables on hand were Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, and the Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako. W-DMX for the banquet was supplied by Keylight Design & Supply in The Netherlands.

Later that day, the Ahoy arena in Rotterdam hosted a very special concert marking the interval between the Queen's abdication and the new King's induction, featuring the Dutch national song, specially written

UK - PRG teamed up with Harvey Goldsmith promotions at Twickenham in June to supply the rigging and lighting for the massive Chime for Change concert headlined by Beyonce and Madonna.

Dubbed a 'feminist Live Aid', the production was complex, featuring a 12 strong line up of big name stars and a 50,000-strong audience to campaign for improved education, health and justice for women around the world.

In charge of the logistics and operations was production director Jim Baggott from promoter Harvey Goldsmith: "I immediately involved PRG because I knew this was going to be an extremely complex and time restricted set up. We needed a company we could rely on 100%. For something like this we would expect eight days to set up and rehearse - but PRG had just 4.5 days to build the stage and put in all the infrastructure before rehearsals, so it was tight."

With such

Italy - The Raptor is the latest development in beam fixtures technology from D.T.S. At beam moving head on the market.

Raptor features the FPR system (D.T.S. patent), a breakthrough in moving-head technology. The FPR system allows limitless pan rotation. The Raptor head rotates freely on its vertical axe without interruption, in either direction, never having to go into reverse motion. Raptor's ability to quickly and precisely select any point within its sphere of movement means faster looks and scene changes, offering unmatched creative control to the lighting designer, says the company.

Additionally, new Tri-phase stepper motor technology allows ultra-fast and silent pan and tilt movements.

(Jim Evans)

France - Traveling through France for a two-month tour, singer, songwriter, musician and producer Benjamin Biolay entertains thousands of fans every night, lit up with the help of nearly 2,000 Harman Martin VC-Dot LED's for a stunning backdrop.

For this fast-moving tour, Barcelona-based Dushow and Alabama lighting companies developed a video and lighting system, designed to be quickly installed for efficient execution. Using strings of Martin VC-Dot 9's for backdrop lighting, the product's versatility allows for the use of various lighting arrangements for each number. More than 1,700 VC-Dot 9's shine behind the stage to accentuate Biolay's performance.

VC-Dot 9 is a lightweight string made up of individually controllable LED pixels, designed to create LED video solutions with maximum artistic flexibility and minimum effort. The lighting system was designed with proficiency in

UK - More than 70 substandard or even illegal LED-based products have had to be withdrawn from sale in the four years since Europe began phasing out incandescent light bulbs in favour of higher quality and more sustainable light-emitting diodes (LEDs), reveals lighting firm Osram.

These products, many of them substandard imports, range from individual LED bulbs to complete lighting solutions for industrial, professional and consumer use. They were removed as a precautionary measure by the European Commission (EC) to protect buyers from potential risks including electric shock, burns or even fire.

"LED lighting products have transformed the lighting industry. Genuine, high-quality LED products are up to 90 per cent more energy-efficient and offer lower total cost of ownership," says Jason Ford, UK controls manager at Osram. "However, it can be difficult for custo

USA - The Dave Matthews Band hits the road for an extensive national tour with Clay Paky lighting along for the ride.

The band commenced its 45-date cross-country swing in mid-May and wraps after Labour Day. They will be supporting last year's hit LP, Away From The World.

Theatrical Media Services is providing the lighting gear and consoles for design company and video vendor Filiment Productions. Fenton Williams is the production designer and lighting designer for the tour; Aaron Stinebrink is the lighting programmer and designer.

"The overall concept is to continually augment the look of the show as the evening progresses," says Stinebrink. "Everything is mounted on automated curved trusses that can move around during the show. We also have a large curved LED videowall upstage."

Twelve Clay Paky Sharpy Wash lights hang from the sub grid and shi

Czech Republic - Robe lighting's CEO Josef Valchar and staff at the company's HQ in Valasske Mezirici, Czech Republic, have mobilised to help contribute to humanitarian aid relief in the wake of the worst floods to hit the country in a decade.

The floods which affected vast swaths of the Czech Republic and other central European countries including Germany and Austria, claimed several lives and caused chaos as tens of thousands were evacuated from their homes.

One of the areas affected in CZ was ?eský Krumlov, host to the recent 2013 Showlight conference. Many houses were flooded due to the surging water levels of the Vltava river - normally a small unobtrusive creek which became a raging torrent - with possessions destroyed by the surging waters.

Robe, based in Moravia which luckily escaped the flooding, has formed a close link with ?eský Krumlov in the four years run up

UK - Tring-based rental and technical solution specialist Universal Event Productions (UEP) has invested in 12 of Robe's new Pointe moving lights together with another 10sq.m of Glux-12 LED screen.

This adds to its already substantial stock of Robe moving lights, bringing the total to around 100 fixtures, and to its existing stock of Glux, bringing the current total to 60sq.m.

The Pointes will make their debut on the two-day 2013 Chilfest music festival staged in Tring on 5 and 6 July. The production design will also feature 60sq.m of Glux, which UEP first had designed and built last year.

Chilfest, the first UK music festival to be promoted by an industry rental company, sees UEP celebrate its 15th birthday in style, with two nights of action packed entertainment and fun for the capacity audience of 7,000 people.

UEP has been buying Robe moving lights for the last 10 year

South Africa - After training and product orientation, the SABC crew were pleased to use their new lighting gear, including Robins, Sharpys, Tiger Touch and Prolyte trussing, on the second season of the television game show, Fan Base.

"This was the very first time they used the equipment they recently bought," said Kagiso Tiro Moima from Blackmotion, who helped specify and supply the gear to the SABC. On this occasion Moima notably wore different hats. As a lighting designer and operator for Fan Base he simultaneously managed to instruct staff on how to rig, patch, operate and safely hang lights.

"I love training," explained Moima. "The more people we have in lighting the better. I don't just want to get a cheque from the SABC for work done. For me it's nice to share knowledge so that the team can sustain themselves and build their own skills.&q

UK - "The client was really surprised about how we totally transformed the room using just six Alpha Spot QWO 800s and four A.leda Wash K10s," comments Presentation Rentals' director, Justin Hammond. "At our very first outing with the new Clay Paky stock we knew that the decision to purchase from Ambersphere Solutions was the right one. The event was The Evening Standard Film Awards and the venue was The London Film Museum so this was a high profile show with a knowing audience in terms of theatricality. The Clay Pakys definitely didn't disappoint."

Presentation Rentals services the ever expanding corporate market from their base in South East London and have recently chosen to invest significantly in the Clay Paky brand as Hammond explains, "A lot of clients and freelance designers are already very familiar with the Clay Paky brand and love worki

India - Pune- based wedding and event specialists Wadhwa Decorators has opened a new lighting division and invested in Robe moving lights - Robin 1200 LEDWashes, MMX Spots and 300 Beams - in order to offer a premium service to their many high profile clients.

The company operates Laxmi Lawns, a large wedding and celebration / party venue in central Pune comprising a selection of different buildings, gardens and exterior spaces with the capacity to stage events with up to 10,000 guests. There is a constant stream of celebrations taking place throughout the year including around 40 weddings and 15 - 20 other events.

Wadhwa Decorators is a well-established and very successful business providing designs ideas and infrastructure for a diversity of productions. With the demands becoming ever more complex, and wanting to be able to offer the best services, it made commercial sense to

USA - Clay Paky lighting fixtures were out in force at the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, which honoured inductees such as Aerosmith, The Doors, James Taylor, Albert King, Donna Summer, Rush and Quincy Jones at a gala event at LA's Nokia Theatre.

The celebrity-filled ceremony, which was taped for broadcast on HBO, featured 40 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash lights, 28 Sharpys and 7 Alpha Profile 700s controlled by two grandMA2 lights and one grandMA2 full system, all supplied by Atomic Lighting of Lititz, Pennsylvania.

"The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame usually focuses on six or seven performances in the multi-camera show, and the tone was very vibey, not overly glammy," says Kevin Lawson who programmed the lighting with Felix Peralta. Lawson handled the key lights and audience lights for lighting designer Allen Branton while Peralta programmed the scenic lig

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