France - The world-renowned flagship exhibit of Paris' National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), The Grand Gallery of Evolution, celebrated its 20-year anniversary by updating its lighting system that was originally implemented in 1994. The Gallery's centrepiece, which recreates the natural environment of the African Savanna with a caravan of animals, uses a sound and light show to recreate day/night cycles of the Savanna.

With outdated technology, high power consumption and the show playing twice a day for the past 15 years, the old system was in desperate need of an upgrade. To help revitalize the visitor experience, the MNHN brought in Martin Professional and over 200 Martin Tripix fixtures were installed throughout the gallery.

The MNHN wanted the lighting and sound to help create a sense of movement to the animals and Martin then developed a solution for the three main a

UK - Boston-based lighting designer Jeff Maker has utilised Avolites' Sapphire Touch consoles to control 'epic' looks, both pre-programmed and on the fly, for All Time Low's recent UK arena tour.

Co-headlining with You Me At Six, the American pop punks played such major venues as the Manchester Phones 4u Arena, and London's O2 and Wembley Arena.

Maker specified a powerful rig which included Clay Paky Mythos, Showline SL NITRO 510C and Robe BMFL fixtures, all controlled by an Avolites Sapphire Touch, alongside a second Sapphire Touch as backup.

Maker also used two Avolites Sapphire Touch consoles on the Wembley show. For the 'enhanced' Wembley performance, Maker worked with Video Design, RES and the band's camera director Richard Shipman to specify two Avolites Ai S4 media servers, with the second Sapphire Touch triggering media and effects from the S4.

"I've been usin

UK - The 2015 Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) has launched and submissions are already coming in for Television and Concert Touring and Events.

This year marks the eighth KOI Awards, which celebrates the creative talents of international lighting and digital content designers working in the UK in the sectors of TV, Theatre and Concert Touring and Events.

With a new award category in Concert Touring and Events for smaller club venues, this year's KOI will widen its reach to celebrate LDs from all stages and scales of touring. Concert Touring and Events is also welcoming a new member of the judging panel in the form of Total Production International magazine editor, Kelly Murray.

Submissions are open for the Television and Concert Touring and Events categories and shows performed or broadcast between 1 August 2014 and 31 July 2015 in the UK are eligible. As with pre

UK - Stage Electrics' hire department has announced a Product Showcase at its Bristol headquarters to give customers an opportunity to try out some of the latest in professional audio, lighting and video technology.

The event is being held on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th April. Products being put through their paces include: Clay Paky Mythos & Sharpy Wash, Martin Professional MAC Quantum Profile &

MAC Aura XB, the Roland V-800HD vision mixer, L'Acoustics ARCS Wide & Focus system, as well Yamaha and DiGiCo audio consoles plus two new lighting consoles; the Zero 88 FLX and the MA dot2.

Business development manager Mark Burnett commented: "We have made some significant investments in the Stage Electrics hire inventory in the last few months and customers have been asking for an opportunity to get their hands on the equipment and really put it through its paces. The aim of

UK - Neg Earth has announced that the company remains operational following the fire which devastated its Park Royal warehouse during the early hours of Thursday 2 April.

A statement issued by the company says:

As you may be already be aware, Neg Earth Lights Ltd's building in Western Road, NW10 was subject to extensive fire damage in the early hours of Thursday 2nd April 2015.

Fortunately, no one was hurt and despite the damage, you can be assured that Neg Earth Lights remains operational.

Email and phone contact details are unchanged.

If you have any questions please contact Lindsey Markham at lindsey@negearth.co.uk or on 07557 430908 in the first instance.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support, good wishes and offers of assistance which have been truly appreciat

Australia - The original Australian Outback Spectacular was the first show of its kind in Australia and the newest production High Country Legends takes the exciting evening dinner show to a new level.

In the new multi-million dollar production, guests experience a captivating journey to the snow peaked mountains of the high country where enchanted whispers and legendary yarns come alive.

"High Country Legends will be the most breathtaking arena show ever produced under the Australian Outback Spectacular roof," says Shane Phillips, Australian Outback Spectacular general manager. "The bravery, beauty and courage of the greatest Australian stories never told are brought to life through the biggest display of special effects ever implemented."

With lighting upgrades to be made, Clint Dulieu, lighting and technology supervisor for Village Roadshow Theme Parks

Germany - Over 40 Elation Professional DW Fresnel white light LED fixtures along with 170 Elation Opti Tri White LED PAR lights were used by electronica event technologies GmbH to illuminate bathroom furnishings company Duravit's booth at ISH 2015, the world's biggest showcase for innovative bathroom design and technology.

electronica event technologies GmbH, a lighting and technical services company based in Hofheim near Frankfurt, has partnered with Duravit for some time, having provided light, sound and video for Duravit trade show booths worldwide since 2000. This was the first time however that they have incorporated Elation lighting into the booth design.

ISH 2015 was held at Messe Frankfurt and ran from 10-14 March. Lighting design for the Duravit booth was by Peter Völker of electronica event technologies GmbH, who tested several fixtures in a shootout in their compan

USA - All eyes were on the Worldwide Stage at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, and why not? With a superstar studded line-up of the crème de la crème of the EDM world performing, plus a surprise two-song appearance by Ariana Grande, the thousands of fans at the Worldwide Stage pavilion were transfixed by the scene on stage. This year, the awestruck crowd did more than look at the stage, they had their collective vision funnelled into it, thanks to a commanding lighting and truss design by Steve Lieberman of SJ Lighting.

Lieberman's design concept was developed around a massive double winged truss structure that resembled an arched bridge. The abutment at one end of this bridge started at the edge of the concert pavilion; the other end was anchored behind the stage itself. This end of the bridge ran across the entire 60ft width of the stage.

A line of 12 intense Nexus Aw 7x

USA - Martin Professional will be hosting exclusive open house events in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

Martin will be showcasing both its recent and classic lighting products for the entertainment and installation markets. Available for demonstration will be Martin's MAC Quantum series, MAC Viper series, and RUSH by Martin series as well as Martin's creative LED video solutions, lighting consoles, and haze/smoke machines.

Lighting and staging professionals from around the United States are cordially invited to attend any of the following events (please RSVP in advance):

Chicago, 7-8 April, Four Points by Sheraton O-Hare Airport; New York, 23-24 April, New World Stages (Stage 1); Los Angeles, 6-7 May, Swing House Studios.

Guests are encouraged to stop by the events at any time during open hours. Complementary food and drinks will be available throughout the day.

(Jim

USA - WrestleMania 31 was held on 29 March at the new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Billed as the "Grandest Stage of Them All" WWE employs the latest entertainment technology to produce its annual WrestleMania event.

Syncrolite has a long history with WWE and the WrestleMania event. This year lighting designer Jason Robinson chose to place 62 XL and 42 SXL fixtures in his rig. Programming the show for him was Troy Eckerman. Both are very familiar with the Syncrolite product and know well that the Syncrolite tag line - "the brightest lights for the biggest nights" - was most appropriate for this annual pinnacle of professional wrestling.

TJ Benton was the Syncrolite crew chief responsible for ensuring that the 104 fixtures spread across the stadium functioned perfectly during the live pay-per-view show that was witnessed by the WWE's largest aud

USA - Avolites will appear on the popular US TV series World's Greatest!... next week after having been recently selected and filmed to appear on the show by its creators, How2Media.

Avolites, which works with New York-based Group One as its exclusive US distribution partner for lighting, was chosen for the show thanks to its innovative Titan and Ai range of lighting and video control products.

"Avolites was a true pioneer in the field of portable lighting control systems, founded in 1978 and soon providing to the likes of the Rolling Stones, Rush, and Queen. The Avolites Titan operating system is now the world's favourite lighting control interface with more than 300,000 specialist users, and Avolites 'Ai' video control interface produced the world's largest landscape video surface at the London 2012 Olympic Games, and the world's largest hologram effect in Madis

UK - There's another tool in the Source Four LED toolbox. ETC is announcing a new optic, the Source Four LED Fresnel adapter, which attaches to the front end of a Source Four LED Series 2 or Series 1 light engine, turning it into a superior washlight.

The Source Four LED fresnel adapter's highly tuned optics help create smooth light with soft edges. Its light blends evenly and uniformly from fixture to fixture. And it allows barn-dooring and the addition of 7.5-inch accessories, so even the most discerning designer can sculpt the light to the right specifications.

Because the Source Four LED light engines benefit from the extensive colour-mixing research ETC has done, the Source Four LED Fresnel can output tuneable white light that flawlessly illuminates people or objects, or the most expansive range of bold colour possible from an LED source.

"The Source Four LED Fresn

Brazil - As of 1 April, Clay Paky products will be distributed in Brazil by HPL. A company with a firm market reputation, HPL is a leader in the lighting, audio and professional show product distribution sector. Established in 2000, the company has always pursued and distinguished itself for providing quality service in addition to tailor-made customer support.

HPL has always strived to provide its customers with the latest lighting and audio equipment line. Various European brands are already included amongst those distributed on the Brazilian market by HPL, also thanks to its capillary domestic coverage with numerous dealers spread throughout the country.

Francesco Romagnoli, area manager for the Americas and Adalberto Silva, HPL owner, reached the agreement after reciprocally visiting each other's headquarters. Francesco Romagnoli stated, "We were able to personally ob

Argentina - Bailando por un Sueno (Dancing For a Dream), a segment inside the wider Showmatch programme on El Trece (Channel 13), is one of the most popular reality / talent series on Argentinian TV.

For the latest series, lighting designers Pablo Leguizamon AKA 'La Nutria' and Esteban Leguizamon specified Robe Robin Pointes to help capture the action.

The series ran its ninth season in 2014, produced by Ideas del Sur, it was recorded in Romina Yan Studio in downtown Buenos Aires in front of a very enthusiastic live audience of 500. Non celebrity amateur dance 'dreamers' are paired with celebrities and have to demonstrate their talents in various dances, which have included K-POP and Aquadance. In addition to their dancefloor skills they also have a chance to interest viewers and the cameras with various extra-curricular activities of their choice. This is a rand

Keeping Music Live - Small music venues are "operating under significant pressures, both financial and regulatory", a new report has found. The report, called Understanding Small Music Venues, also highlights concerns over the negative public perception of small venues. It has been created by the Music Venue Trust, which was established in 2014 to protect and support independent music venues in the UK.

Chief executive of the MVT Mark Davyd said that the research would contribute to the MVT's understanding of "what we can do to ensure we act together to protect, secure and improve the UK's grassroots music venues". In total, 109 venues across the UK responded to a survey as part of the research, of which almost 80% were dedicated music venues. The report said that small music venues were suffering from a negative image as well as from financial pressure

UK - Aurora Lighting Hire has been working once again with award winning lighting director Chris Rigby on the latest series of Alan Carr's Chatty Man.

Now in its 14th season, the show has gained a host of industry accolades including wins at the National Television Awards and BAFTA. Continuing these winning ways, LD Chris was also recently honoured by the Royal Television Society with a Craft and Design Award for his work on the show.

For this latest season, recorded in front of a live audience at the ITV London Studios, Aurora provided an extensive LED package for ambience across the interview area. A selection of floor mounted Pulsar Chromabatten 300 and Chromastrip X3s light up the set pieces with additional wash added to the set flats using Martin Aura Wash units hung above.

Aurora also armed Chris with a more 'rock and roll' selection of fixtures including Martin

USA - Barry Manilow is in the midst of a memorable and extensive 'Farewell' US tour for which creative director Seth Jackson specified 12 x Robe BMFL Spots as part of an elegant and stylish design to help ensure the legendary artist exits an incredible performance career on a high note.

Manilow, one of the most prolific and successful singer/songwriters and producers is also celebrating 40 years at the top in show business.

Seth has enjoyed a long-standing working relationship with the artist dating back to 1998 when he started as a 'fill-in guy'. Over that remarkable 27 years, he's also taken on the lighting, set and production designer roles, and has enjoyed the various challenges of creating fresh and invigorating performance environments each time.

Knowing the tour was approaching, Seth 'auditioned' 10 x BMFL Spots during the Austin City Limits Music Festival towards the

UK - Central Hall Westminster has appointed White Light as its new production service partner following a competitive tender. The new contract will commence on 1 July 2015, following a three month transition period.

Central Hall Westminster (CHW) is central London's largest purpose built conference centre, combining historical elegance with cutting-edge technical capabilities. The Edwardian landmark building situated adjacent to Westminster Abbey has engaged high profile conferences, special events and local business meetings since 1912. The architectural features of the building include the iconic dome, spacious entrance foyers and hallways, marble flooring and a sweeping grand staircase, the design of which is based on the Paris Opera House.

Central Hall Westminster offers 22 event spaces, including The Great Hall which seats up to 2,200 delegates and features Europe's large

China - Software developer Nemetschek Vectorworks has released the Chinese-language version of the Vectorworks 2015 line of design software, including Vectorworks Designer, Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, Fundamentals and Renderworks.

The Vectorworks 2015 software contains more than 100 updates and new features in the areas of architecture, BIM, urban planning and entertainment design. In previous versions, the power of 64-bit was only available in the platform's photorealistic rendering engine, Renderworks, but has now been integrated throughout the entire Vectorworks 2015 product line, providing designers with the ability to handle larger projects, as well as better performance and stability. In addition, designers will observe a revolutionary graphical experience from advances made to the Vectorworks Graphics Module (VGM).

"Updates for the 2015 Vectorworks software hav

Germany - ArKaos PROwill exhibit at Prolight+Sound, Frankfurt in Hall 11.0 Stand A49 and will introduce and demonstrate the latest version of its successful professional MediaMaster software.

MediaMaster 4.2 now adds an integrated cue player and 4K support to the many tools already offered by this ever-popular software.

The new Cue Player is an important addition for users who require reliable, accurate playback of visual sequences, for example, on shows or installations requiring repeated automated playback. The Cue Player is built on top of MediaMaster's Theater Mode interface and can also be driven by Time Code as required. MediaMaster 4.2 is available as a free upgrade to MediaMaster 3.x or 4.x

ArKaos PRO's complete range of media servers will be exhibited. Comprising the Stage, Studio and Stadium servers, this range offers up to two-, four- and six-outputs respectively

Germany - Laserworld has released a direct text show laser light system for easy text projections that can be controlled by a keyboard and an IR remote control.

The Laserworld EL-200G KeyTEX is a green colour laser projector especially designed for text projections. It can be operated in normal stand-alone mode or sound to light, where it plays preset patterns and animations. But the main feature is the live text feature and the laser countdown.

The text mode offers the possibilities to either type text live and animate it (scroll, rotate, flip, draw, etc.), or save text to cue keys so they can be played back later - triggered through the keyboard or though the infrared remote control. The EL-200G KeyTEX laser is a great tool for advertising purposes on a smaller scale. Mobile DJs could use this to congratulate the happy couple or birthday boy/girl. Nightclubs could project dr

Germany - Robert Juliat will be out in full force at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt, where the company will exhibit alongside its German partners, Lightpower GmbH, in Hall 11 Stand D76.

Robert Juliat will celebrate the official launch of Roxie, its new 300W LED followspot. Roxie was previewed at JTSE 2014 and LDI 2014 and is the first LED followspot in the Robert Juliat portfolio.

At the opposite end of the scale, the rugged Merlin 2500W HMI touring spot - launched at PLASA 2014 - will be shown for the first time at Prolight + Sound. The first shipments of Merlin will soon be delivered to customers across the world through RJ's international distributor network.

Robert Juliat will extend its popular ZEP Fresnel range with the presentation of the new 360LF 300W LED Fresnel, a complement to its 150W little sister, the 340LF.

Finally, Robert Juliat will introduce a completely

Germany - MDG, manufacturer of fog, haze and low fog generators, will celebrate its 35th anniversary at Prolight+Sound.

Serving entertainment, industrial, fire-fighting and military customers since 1980, MDG will mark the occasion with the release of limited edition models of a new product line.

Throughout its history, MDG has developed the MAX Series of fog generators, the world-famous Atmosphere haze generator, winner of LDI's Best Lighting Product in 1997, and the award-winning theONE digital atmospheric generator, LDI's Best Debuting Product in 2010. These were followed in 2013 by the e-series which brought increased efficiency and total electronic control to the product range. Now, Prolight+Sound 2015 will see the launch of three new products, the latest in MDG's evolution of fog which will expand the range still further.

MDG's anniversary will also be marked by the lau

Germany - Ayrton will be "pushing the envelope once again at Prolight+Sound 2015" with the release of "a truly new innovation in LED luminaire design".

Code-named the A61 Project, the details of this new product are a tightly kept secret until the first day of the show when all will be revealed to visitors to Ayrton's stand (Hall 11.0 Stand D67).

A foretaste has just been released by Ayrton and can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/123426064. More details will follow soon.

"We are enjoying the speculation around our latest development and will be very excited to hear the reaction of our customers when we finally spring this surprise on them at the show," says Ayrton's Valère Huart-Gyors. "We believe that it is destined to be a real inspiration to lighting designers."

Following its successful launch at PLASA 2014, Ayrton's NandoBeam S9

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