Argentina - Buenos Aries-based Sophya Acosta Lighting Design Studio recently embarked on a project to highlight the plight of local venues affected by the ‘cultural emergency’ resulting from restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project, entitled Espectador-Luz (Spectator-Light) set out to demonstrate how new protocols approved by state agencies – such as social distancing measures and the proposal to limit audience numbers to 30% of capacity – ignore the needs of small and medium-sized venues with limited space.
Batons of white light were placed in auditoria around the city to highlight the lack of spectators, shows and life. Venues taking part in the project included La Gloria Espacio Teatral, El Excéntrico de la 18, and Teatro Anfitrion.
“Until the beginning of the year we’d considered these theatrical spaces our second home. When we

Kazakhstan - Earlier this year, lighting designer, Dmitriy Karabetskiy utilised Vista by Chroma-Q’s Vista 3 lighting & media control system to deliver spectacular lighting for the inaugural series of Central Asia’s Got Talent.
A spin-off of the Got Talent TV show franchise - one of the world’s most successful reality TV formats, with versions in over 68 countries - Central Asia’s Got Talent showcases acts from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Season 1 premiered on the Khabar, Zo'r TV, KTRK, and Safina TV channels.
Dmitriy, who had previously worked on The X Factor Kazakhstan, was brought in to oversee the lighting production.
Dmitriy needed to create a lighting design tailored to the particular aesthetics of each performance, which ranged from dance and vocal acts, to magicians and acrobats. An important factor i

South Africa - The tallest building in Africa – The Leonardo, a 234m mixed-use property development in Sandton, Johannesburg – was lit up for the South African launch of the new Microsoft Xbox Series X console – standing out against the night sky highlighted in green by Robe BMFL moving lights, with the Xbox logo emblazoned onto the top of floors of the tower.
The lighting, crew and technical production were delivered by event technical specialists MSTARR working for event producers Penquin.
Amassed media, press and VIPs watched the spectacle unfold from the rooftop balcony of the nearby Radisson Blu Hotel on Rivonia Road, a vantage point offering the best views, with the event also clearly visible from all around the Sandton CBD and beyond. It brought plenty of positive energy and vibes to the city amidst a challenging year.
The launch lighting scheme was

UK - In celebration of their upcoming new album For Those That Wish To Exist, Architects performed an exclusive livestream show at The Royal Albert Hall on 21 November.
PRG supplied all lighting, rigging, media server (D3) and LED for the live performance which was streamed globally via the streaming service Veeps.
Production designer Paul McAdams utilised the space, creating a high energy design to showcase the venue and ensure viewers watching the stream could experience that same live energy from behind their screens.
“The team at PRG were extremely professional and supportive as always, constantly coming up with creative and effective solutions to any issue that arose on this show,” explained McAdams. “It was great to call on all members of the team’s vast wealth of knowledge to help deliver the design as intended. The shoot went off without a

Italy - When opera singer Andrea Bocelli performed on the steps of the impressive baroque cathedral in the Sicilian city of Noto this October, the UNESCO world heritage site was turned into a unique stage, full of atmosphere and historical splendour. The artist was accompanied for the performance by the orchestra and choir of the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, directed by Alberto Bartalini.
The televised event, adapted for COVID-19 health guidelines, aimed to celebrate the island’s seven UNESCO sites and to promote the region to the wider world. Italian lighting designer Massimo Tomasino was responsible for creating the atmosphere and enhancing the features of the cathedral for the occasion.
Tomasin chose to use 40 units of ArenaCob 4FC - a full colour LED flood and blinder fixture - in his rig. 10 where used under the orchestra as back-lighting, 20 for the high

UK - Back in September when it was announced that theatres could play to socially-distanced audiences, this saw a range of venues prepare for their re-opening. One of these included the Charing Cross Theatre which re-opened with the world premiere of GH Boy. The lighting designer was Tony Simpson, who approached White Light to supply the lighting equipment.
Prior to its Charing Cross run, the show was originally going to play at The Vaults. Tony explains: “We were initially supposed to be opening in April and heading into the Waterloo tunnels. We had site visits, meetings and I’d even formulated a design. Then the outbreak of Covid happened and the entire production had to be pulled.”
Like many other freelance designers, Tony found his entire workload for the rest of the year suddenly disappear. He remarks: “It was an incredibly worry time as overnight

Australia - During the Covid-19 era, production companies have sought many ingenious ways to keep clients satisfied and the work coming in. In June, Australia’s Big Picture launched its’ premium live event studio offering a technologically advanced and connected virtual event space. This high-tech studio supports clients in delivering a broadcast-quality online event, corporate theatre, and live performance experiences.
Big Picture’s flexibility and technical prowess recently led to a mammoth two-day shoot with country superstar Keith Urban. Keith’s production house Human Person approached Big Picture to facilitate and coordinate the ambitious project.
Keith recently launched a new album The Speed of Now Part 1 and he was keen to produce a bunch of different performance videos, shot at the same time, for various television shows. These shows included

UK - Popular UK rockers Nothing But Thieves recently played a series of Live from The Warehouse pay-per-view live stream concerts, designed by Warren Hutchison and directed by Tim Perrett, that traversed three time zones - USA, UK and Australia / Asia Pacific - having just released the new single Impossible and announcing a major UK, Ireland and European tour for autumn 2021.
The warehouse was Fareham, UK-based lighting rental specialist Liteup’s premises - part of which has been repurposed and energised for streaming activities since the first coronavirus lockdown started in March.
Warren – who specified Robe fixtures as the majority of the lighting rig and is also a regular freelance LD and technician for Liteup – pitched a production design to the band for the streams which showcased hits, plus new music from their forthcoming album, Moral Pa

Germany - Madrix Aura provides standalone capabilities for dynamic lighting, allowing the running of sophisticated light shows and effects independently from a compact controller with fully customisable scheduling.
Lighting effects create the right setting for media facades, retail applications and point-of-sale eye catchers, backdrops, entrance areas, office spaces, gyms, bars and lounges, theme-park attractions, and many more.
Madrix Aura is a powerful recorder and standalone playback unit from SD card for fully automatic lighting control.
As an easy-to-use and energy-efficient unit, it replaces lighting desks or bulky computers with their need for regular maintenance, updates, and administration in projects where no live control is needed, says the company. Available in three versions, it outputs two, eight, or 32 universes of control data over Art-Net or Stre

The Netherlands - Transformed into an online experience, the 2020 edition of Defqon.1 still attracted considerable interest. The three-day festival saw more than 80 artists preform and featuring every key element of Defqon.1 resulted in ‘one of the most spectacular live streams so far’. Together with the Q-Dance team, LD Robbert-Jan Vernooij was in charge of lighting. The design features a significant amount of CLF fixtures, supplied by Rent-All.
The 360° perspective asked for a full waterproof lighting package. Since the design was based on a flat surface of 160x200m, rain-covers and domes were not required. Placed on this surface is the well-known Defqon.1 sign, fitted with 96 CLF LEDbar PRO fixtures. Q-Dance’s Jonas Schmidt, Dennis van Harten and Tamil van Draanen were responsible for set design.
In order to create spectacular aerial and geometric effects, L

South Africa - grandMA training is in full swing, with numerous grandMA3 Basic Training days taking place in Johannesburg and a grandMA2 Basic Training course recently hosted in Durban. The workshops, all presented free of charge, form part of the official MA University training programme.
Whilst there are currently only a few grandMA3 consoles in South Africa, it has not stopped lighting designers and technicians from keeping up to date with the latest trends and technology. DWR Distribution’s Jannie de Jager has orchestrated and presented grandMA3 Basic Training in Johannesburg, where three workshops took place in November (including a workshop dedicated to the UJ Theatre crew), and a date has been pencilled in to host the Jo'burg Theatre at the sta

UK - A.C. Special Projects (AC-SP) supplied all the show lighting, as well as the power and data infrastructure for Bodmin Jail’s new immersive visitor attraction, designed and delivered by Sarner International.
Built in 1779 for King George III, Bodmin Jail has played an important role in Cornwall’s history and this bold redevelopment gives visitors the chance to delve into an intriguing hidden history. A massive investment in Cornwall’s tourism and visitor economy, this was the biggest attraction opening in 2020 with its state-of-the-art technology allowing for a more immersive experience.
The new attraction has used the latest technology to create a fully immersive experience, bringing back to life the chilling stories of this medieval prison’s dark past. Each part of the experience tells its own gruelling tales - visitors can walk along the jail's original

UK - “If you’re planning to create atmospheric effects, these are the entertainment industry’s go to products,” states television and film lighting hire company, Limelite Lighting about the MDG fog and haze generators in its inventory.
Located in Goudhurst, Kent, within easy reach of television studios in London and Maidstone, Limelite has been an advocate of MDG haze generators since it was founded in 2007. Directors Ed Railton and Matthew Mountier, both with long-standing freelance careers in theatre touring and television lighting respectively, purchased 10 MDG Atmosphere haze generators at the outset and are still using the same machines 13 years later.
“We both had extensive experience of MDG through our freelance careers and knew them to be the best,” says Railton. “We liked the level of control, the fineness of the haze and the smooth, even disper

USA - Magmatic atmospheric effects is now shipping Crisp Max, a high-output snow machine in Magmatic’s Polar series that makes it easy to create scene-setting wintry settings.
Crisp Max is capable of producing high volumes of naturalistic snow with the capacity to adjust snowflake size for greater versatility. Small flake or large, short throw or long, this 1250W high-volume snow machine can project snow up to 12m meters (40ft) with the flexibility to adjust to the occasion. An optional 120-degree pan motor is available that increases the coverage area.
Crisp Max includes a 20-litre fluid tank hidden inside a road case with durable casters for extra protection and easier portability. The unit’s 10m long hose can be rigged on a standard truss or tripod stand and fluid can be extended up to 50 meters horizontally or vertically using 10m extension tubes with coupler

USA - It was “like riding a bike” is how John Garberson described his experience working the lighting console for the opening acts at Arizona Bike Week. The president of Creative BackStage, Garberson hadn’t run the boards at a show in six years (his work managing his business prevented that, when he sat down at the desk for this four-day festival.
Given the way Creative BackStage was growing, Garberson really didn’t expect to be running boards again. But in 2020, few things have gone as expected. With his festival and event business halted in March, he occupied himself by turning his home office into a viz suite and “relearned“ programming.
On Wednesday 7 October, Garberson got the chance to put his resharpened skills to work when the festival’s first act, Threefold Fate, took the stage. Like the proverbial bike rider, his comfort at the console came righ

USA - The University of Tennessee, Knoxville held 10 in-person commencement ceremonies 19-22 November at Thompson-Boling Arena for spring, summer and fall 2020 graduates. Bandit Lites supplied a lighting system for the socially-distanced event which included additional health and safety protocols, allowing graduates and their families the opportunity to safely gather to celebrate their momentous accomplishments.
“Though the ceremonies will look a little different, we have worked to preserve the spirit of a typical commencement so we can celebrate all our graduates, who have worked so hard for this moment,” said Provost John Zomchick.
Bandit Lites donated nearly 100 fixtures including VL 3000 Spots, CUEPIX Blinder WW4s, Chauvet COLORdash Block Lights and Bandit’s GRNLite Moving Washes. “Much of the lighting we do for commencement could be considered utilitarian,

UK - London’s latest 1Rebel fitness centre features a lighting system, which was designed by Durham Marenghi of Durhamld Limited, and includes 54 Chauvet Professional COLORado 1 Solo and 11 COLORado 2 Solo LED fixtures supplied by Middlesex Sound and Lighting.
“I was approached by Giles Dean and his team at 1Rebel to create some impactful night club style lighting for their gyms around London,” said Magenghi. “Working alongside Ryan Hopkins at Lights Control Rigging, we created a virtual animation to present the concept to our client. They were very supportive of the ideas we laid out.”
The RGBW COLORado fixtures were suited for Magenghi’s plan to balance the fitness centre’s video walls and moving fixtures with intense fields of coloured light. “Our client was especially happy with the COLORados smooth, homogenous colour source,” he said. “In the p

Europe - The next Elation Coffee Break will feature the SEVEN Series, outlining the advantages of Elation’s 7-color multi-chip LED technology with hosts Alistair Smyth and Frederik Afif.
Elation’s line of linear SEVEN Batten and SEVEN Par IP lights house RGBAW + Lime + UV LEDs for ‘an even wider spectrum of colour options to paint stages, sets, scrims and scenery’.
The Elation Coffee Break with a focus on the SEVEN Series will air live on Thursday, 26 November at 11:00 a.m. CEST. Tune in at www.facebook.com/ELATION.Pro.Europe/live/. No registration is required.
The Elation Coffee Break is an online presentation series from Elation’s European office in Kerkrade, the Netherlands that takes an up-close look at some of the company’s most popular product series. To view previous Elation Coffee Break webinars, visit www.facebook.com/ELATION.Pro.Europe/liv

UK - GoboPlus.com has partnered with Rosco to bring to market a new range of gobos in support of our technical entertainment charity, Backup. Designed by Exactly13 LTD and exclusively licensed to GoboPlus.com, the new gobo designs are all inspired by elements of the Backup logo and are a practical addition to GoboPlus.com’s existing Backup logo gobos and the expanding range of charity gobos available from GoboPlus.com.
The new range comprises 15 aerial, breakup and texture designs, each of which will generate a £3 donation to Backup for every glass gobo sold and £1 for every metal gobo.
Paul de Ville, CEO of GoboPlus.com, explains the reasoning behind the initiative: “The aim is to create a legacy income stream for Backup which stretches far into the future, beyond current troubles, and to emphasise the importance of continued support for those in need within our

USA - City Theatrical’s Multiverse wireless DMX/RDM technology is now available for film and video projects with a new line of Multiverse Studio products, including the Multiverse Studio Receiver, Multiverse Studio Kit, and Multiverse Studio Add On Kit, now available in dual band 900MHz/2.4GHz functionality for North America, and 2.4GHz band usage worldwide.
As the newest hardware building block to the Multiverse product line, the Multiverse Studio Receiver brings the advanced features of the Multiverse wireless DMX/RDM system to the film and video world with fast setup and reliability. It contains a long-life lithium-ion polymer battery giving 20 hours of use, and its full four button user interface with a backlit LED display makes setup easy and gives feedback on system performance. Each Multiverse Studio Receiver includes a DMX corded connector, which allows the extern

USA - There is a special joy the production team at Life Challenge Church, Odessa, Texas, takes in putting together Sunday morning children’s services. Creative spirits run a little more freely, and new ideas are explored more deeply in a bid to make bible stories come to life for young worshippers.
“The kids service gives us an opportunity to go a little more outside the box,” said Gabriel Loera, technical director at Life Challenge Church. “We do more immersive and moving fixtures and contrasting colours across the crowd. We use more upbeat and themed EP backgrounds during the full service rather than just during worship. The kids really respond well to the full immersive environments.”
On 18 October, the church gave adult worshippers the opportunity to channel the childhood imagination that resides inside them with a Sunday Nights Kid Service, an event tha

UK - Vestel Visual Solutions reports that it has been selected by Reading Football Club as its official visual technology partner. Vestel’s digital signage, interactive screens and video walls have been deployed throughout the club’s training complex at Bearwood Park in order to support a number of activities, ranging from tactical analysis to providing players with fitness and nutritional advice.
The new Bearwood Park facility is home to Reading FC’s men’s and women’s first teams, young professionals (Under-23s and Under-18s) and Academy players from ages 8 to 18. It also houses the coaching staff and management team, alongside a significant proportion of the club’s administrative staff.
Reading FC has now equipped the facility with Vestel’s screens to digitally enhance areas such as the yoga room and first team gym, the media room - which includes an i

South Africa - The newly refurbished Seabrooke’s Theatre at Durban High School (DHS) is making waves and delighting audiences with one successful comedy after the next. After a seven-month entertainment famine, the theatre was launched with Sylvia, presented by KickstArt Theatre Company, which ran from 23 October to 1 November.
Seabrooke’s Theatre is a 100-seater auditorium used by the schools Dramatic Arts Department as well as by amateur and professional companies and groups. Thanks to a generous contribution by DHS old boy and theatre lover, Chris Seabrooke, a much-needed renovation and equipment upgrade was made possible and commenced at the start of the Covid-19 South African lockdown. The theatre has been repainted, seats reupholstered, a green room/dressing room is currently being built, and on the technical side, a lighting and audio system has been suppli

USA - After 15 years at their original location in Orlando, FL, Discovery Church outgrew their space's ability to effectively support their ministry. Purchasing a former Sports Authority retail space, the church renovated the building to support their needs for worship services. Headlining the new lighting rig are fixtures from Prolights distributed by A.C. Lighting Inc.
“The Prolights fixtures are a major upgrade for Discovery Church,” says church lighting designer Anthony Stofflet. “We went from very simple systems that really put us in a box as far as creativity was concerned, to a lighting rig that significantly opens up the creative options for us. We weren't that familiar with the Prolights brand of LED fixtures, but A.C. Lighting Inc. set up a lighting shoot-out for us, and their fixtures truly blew the competitors away.”
Discovery Church installed EclPr

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