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Rigging / Staging

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Poland - The first Rigging Conference to take place in Poland will be held at the Giliwice Arena from 19-20 February. Attendees can look forward to learning about ICOPER (International Code of Practice for Entertainment Rigging) and the National Rigging Certificate, the leading industry certification from PLASA.
Additionally, PLASA’s managing director Peter Heath will present a keynote talk on the importance of European collaboration. Heath comments: “It’s good to see initiatives such as this encouraging industry standards and safety. I am looking forward to speaking at the conference to play a part in promoting professionalism across the entertainment rigging sector in Poland.”
For more information please go to: http://www.riggingconference.pl/
(LSi Online)

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Europe - The QL52 double pitch roof from Litec is an evolution of their popular QL40A single pitch roof and is the right choice for your medium-sized outdoor events.
Thanks to its double pitch construction, and use of QL52A load-bearing truss with fork connections, it looks great and provides stability you can count on, even when encountering winds that increase loading requirements.
Key benefits include: 15 x 12m roof structure (up to 11m’s height); grid constructed from Litec’s QL52A high load, anti-torsion fork connection truss; six Maxitower 40 towers; 7,000 kg UDL; optional PA/LED wall wings; covered technical areas available on request, and eight-hour set-up time with five riggers.
(Jim Evans)
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Luxembourg - Trussing and staging systems manufacturer SIXTY82 has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Codex Events.
With immediate effect, Codex will be SIXTY82´s exclusive partner responsible for the distribution of the full SIXTY82 product range in Luxembourg, which enables, SIXTY82 to guarantee full distribution coverage to its Luxembourgian customers.
“We look forward to working with a company of Codex’ standing, and our partnership will help meet increased local demand for technical know-how from experienced people,” says SIXTY82 executive account manager, Date Jonkman. “We believe that Codex is well positioned to further develop our existing customer base and that with their market presence and sales support network, together we can make a real impact,” says SIXTY82 CEO, Fokko Smeding.
Patrick Risch, CEO of Codex, comments:

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UK - White Light will be returning to London’s VAULT Festival once again this year to supply the complete lighting and rigging solutions. This will mark the seventh consecutive year that the company has worked on the Festival, having supported it from day one.
Located inside the Waterloo tunnels, this year it will run from 23 January to 17 March, with more than 400 shows from over 2,000 artists. It features the best new writing in theatre and comedy along with immersive experiences, late night parties and much more.
The event is produced by Mat Burt and Andy George of the Heritage Arts Company. Andy, who is also head of production, comments: “When we first started the festival back in 2012, we had no idea it would grow to become what it is today. We initially thought it would be a one-off yet the more people heard about it, the more who wanted to came along and ge

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Canada/USA - Christie Lites has made a major commitment to Kinesys automation with the purchase of Elevation Liftket 500kg chain hoists as their flagship automation products going forward – both 200V and 400V systems - for North America and Europe.
The initial investment has also included Kinesys LibraCELL load monitoring and Mentor 4 E-Stop aggregators to provide a full Kinesys safety architecture as well as the powerful and flexible Kinesys Vector control.
This will be available to clients worldwide throughout all of Christie’s 13 shops.
The move coincides with the appointment of Mark ‘The Drifter’ Desloges to head up Christie’s new Automated Motion Control & Rigging division, established to co-ordinate this specialist area of technical production.
Extensive specialist Kinesys training will be implemented for all Christie crew working on the

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Europe - Eurotruss is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month. Martin Kuyper, company founder, states; “I am extremely proud and grateful for all the love and support I received from great people, partners, and users during this incredible Eurotruss journey. Together with all of them, we have built a world leading brand representing not only high-quality truss and stages but also an amazing team of dynamic people who, on a daily base, do great work for our users and partners.
“It all started in a small barn in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Today our truss finds its way into 97 countries, represented by 40 distributors, three Eurotruss sales offices and three factories including Total Structures, leading brand in the USA. A lot happened since that 17th of January 1994, but it flew by and the journey has been full of energy, joy, and happiness. I feel blessed.
“

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The Netherlands - Blumano, engineering consultancy for design and safety in the entertainment Industry is expanding its operation with the announcement of Blumano Netherlands. This prime west European base will work in close collaboration with the existing offices of Blumano in the UK and in Italy.
Michiel van der Zijde is joining the ever-expanding organisation, who in addition to his extensive knowledge of stage machinery, brings a background in project management to the dynamic equation. He is an industry professional and has an impressive track record in production design and product development spanning over 20 years with experience working as a technical producer with industry leading brands.
“We share the same core values - a commitment to excellence, a passion for what we do and a dedication to making our industry a safe working environment. It’s the art o

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UK - Lighting and visuals rental specialist HSL supplied lighting equipment to 32 Qdos pantomime productions across the UK for their 2018-19 season, together with a full rigging – truss and motors package – plus Kinesys automation for Cinderella at Glasgow’s SEC.
Lighting the colourful fantasy environments that characterise this genre of comedic melodrama is huge fun for lighting designers, and this year HSL worked with 17 LDs and liaised with 25 production LX’s who made it happen on the various sites which included Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London.
HSL’s 2018 panto team was led by Jordan Hanson, assisted by Emma Turner, and included account handlers Sean McGlone and Mark Shakeshaft, all well-known for their multi-tasking and number-crunching abilities.
Jordan comments: “Fluid communication, having a cool head for logistics and being orga

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The Netherlands - Prolyte Group has made a number of appointments as it continues its international expansion.
Eddie Slotboom has been appointed projects director, responsible for determining the strategy on large structures and seeking cooperation with global event organisations. Slotboom has previously worked at Stageco for over 21 years.
Lambert Bouwmeester, CEO of Prolyte Group, comments: “Eddie shares the same vision as Prolyte in terms of safety and professionalising the business. I’m convinced that his role will be instrumental to the ambitions of Prolyte.”
Meanwhile, Ralph Stockley will move on from his position as chief commercial officer to chief business development officer. Stockley will be tasked with realising business opportunities in new areas for the Group whilst also supporting sales director North America Juan Kopinsky in further strength

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Europe/Asia - Two teams will take part in the 2019 Mongol Rally to raise money for technical entertainment charity Backup.
The rally, which takes place in July and spans 10,000 miles from the Czech Republic to Ulan Ude in Russia, requires participants to ride a very small vehicle, with no support or set route to the finish line, which must be crossed in four to eight weeks.
Team Backup, comprising Salvador Avila, Ethan Forde and Duncan McLean, are aiming to raise £50,000 for the charity, with team The Nomadic Numpties of ‘Turbo’ Anthony Hall and ‘Henri’ Abby Cooper targeting

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USA - The Crosby Group has completed the acquisition of Straightpoint UK (SP), a manufacturer of load cells and force measurement equipment.
The acquisition, effective 2 January, includes SP’s Hampshire-based manufacturing facility and headquarters, which will become Crosby’s 'centre of excellence for load monitoring and measurement'.
David Ayling, formerly CEO at SP, will step into a new role overseeing sales, marketing, and product development functions for all load monitoring equipment. He will report to Robert Desel, chief commercial officer at Crosby.
Ayling comments: “SP has built a very strong team focused on innovation and high service levels and we wanted to ensure we could maintain and capitalise on these important features of the company. Crosby’s brand, its channel strength, global reach, and management team will enable us to build on our st

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UK - Def Leppard continued their 2018-19 Hysteria tour in UK and Irish arenas just before Christmas, celebrating 31 years since the release of their seminal Hysteria album, which was played in its entirety in track order.
HSL supplied lighting equipment plus rigging, with over 100 motors including a 25-way Kinesys automation system, to the tour which features a striking lighting design by Kenji Ohashi, who has lit the band for 17 years.
The lighting and rigging - which also included supplying motors for video and PA - was co-ordinated for HSL by Jordan Hanson, who comments that they “were delighted to be back working alongside production manager Chris Adamson and ‘universal’ lighting crew chief Kevin Cassidy again. It was really interesting to see Kenji’s work and the vitality and energy his lighting brought to a great looking and sounding product

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UK - The Maestra Group in London and Dubai have switched from their existing server-based equipment rental software to HireHop’s cloud-based rental equipment software to manage their productions, hires and inventory.
Maestra is an international event production and AV rental company based out of London and Dubai, with a large portfolio of iclients and events under their belts.
HireHop’s director Keith Jacobs says: “We are delighted to have such a prestigious and well-respected company on board, and we look forward to facilitating Maestra’s growth in the future.”
Justin Hammond, managing director of Maestra London, adds: “We had encountered numerous limitations with our previous rental software and needed a replacement. We switched over to HireHop because it could do everything we needed and more, due to its speed and the wealth of functionality, ma

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South Korea - Star Events’ VerTech Ultra system provided for a production at Riot Games’ League of Legends World Championships final in South Korea.
The opening ceremony at Incheon Munhak Stadium, Seoul, used augmented reality (AR) to fit virtual/in-game band K/DA onstage, and across over 2,000sq.m of screens, for the first musical performance, alongside Madison Beer, Miyeon and Soyeon of (G)I-DLE, and Jaira Burns later in the show.
The 85-minute multi-player League of Legends final was broadcast across more than 30 platforms and TV channels and saw China’s Invictus Gaming beat Europe’s team Fanatic 3-0 to take the trophy and $834,375 in prize money.
Total production ‘frontage’ for the live event stage was 165m wide and 27m high, Star T-towers built on top of the Ultra structure lifting audio hangs fully clear of the screens with a hook height 32m ab

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USA - Mountain Productions named Shawn Sack as director of North America Development for Rigging Sales. In his new role, he will be responsible for developing sales and enhanced customer relations across North America in all sectors of the entertainment industry.
Sack began his career at Mountain and has now returned after 10 years working across the entertainment rigging industry. He has almost 30 years’ experience holding positions that span staging supervisor, rigging shop manager and rigging sales. Most recently, Sack acted as a product specialist for rigging sales at A.C.T Lighting and previously with market leader Columbus McKinnon Corp within their Entertainment Business Development team. He also holds an active membership of ESTA Rigging Working Group.
Ricky Rose, CEO, Mountain Productions, comments: "Shawn is the complete professional with extensive product

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UK - Given the time of year, chances are, if you told your friends you saw two 8m slugs flying above the skies of Chelsea, they'd think you'd had a few too many drinks at the office Christmas party. But this is exactly what happened earlier this month as Unusual Rigging was brought on board by Tate Britain to help install their seasonal decorations.
Sam Carter, Unusual's rigging project manager, says: "Every year, Tate Britain commissions an independent artist to come up with a scheme for its Winter decorations. This year it was the turn of artist Monster Chetwynd, whose gastropod inspired artwork also includes swathes of blue and white LED slug trails across the facade of the building."
The Turner Prize nominated artist took inspiration from Sir David Attenborough's 2005 nature series Life in the Undergrowth. The piece also reflects "her interest in alternative ener

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UK - S+H Technical, specialists for LED visual effects, drapes and starcloths, supplied around 350sq.m of its LED Animation cloth and 450sq.m of standard RGB starcloth drape for the BBC’s 2018 Children in Need telethon, broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Two.
Featuring a star-studded line-up, the event raised over £50m for the 2018 appeal in what was the crescendo of this year’s fundraising activities for disadvantaged children and young people in communities across the UK.
The telethon production design was created by Alex Craig - working on his 10th Children in Need - and this new look for 2018 featured some threads from the previous design to keep a strand of continuity, together with some spectacular new elements including lots of LED and a large upstage LED wall, 14m wide by 5m high, which split in the middle and opened for performer entrances and exits.

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USA - The Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) has announced changes to its examination rules.
From 15 December, candidates who purchase the ETCP practice examinations will have 90 days to complete the web-based exams, increasing from the previous one of 30 days.
There is no application process with the practice exams and any interested candidates will be able to take the exams remotely.
Candidates may grade the answers as they go or keep the practice exam available to study for the full 90 days. Those who have already purchased one of the practice exams are locked into the current window of 30 days.
“The practice exams were one of the greatest tools I used for preparing for the rigging exam. They helped me understand test layout and what I needed to spend more time on. I would suggest everyone takes one, if not all, the relevant pract

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South Africa - Gearhouse Splitbeam, the South African theatre equipment rental company, has invested in 53 new ProLyft Aetos motors and three Aetos 24 way remote controllers to keep up with demand of upcoming theatre productions. The company was established by Alistair Kilbee and Ofer Lapid in 2010, who realised the challenges of long-term rentals and who wanted to provide the best professional gear at the best possible prices to their clients.
“We have sent the 53 new Aetos motors, along with 47 of our existing stock - a total of 100 Aetos motors - to the Philippines where they will begin a world tour,” explains Alistair Kilbee, managing director. “I will be joining the production in Manila in January 2019 as technical director, but will not be touring with the show, only flying in for load in / load outs as required.”
In addition, Splitbeam has invested in

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UK - The festive season is well underway and Triple E has gone underwater to provide a magical window display in the centre of the West End.
You wouldn’t usually associate Shaftesbury Avenue with a yacht-chandler, but Arthur Beale has been situated here for over 400 years. Traditionally known for manufacturing ropes for ships, climbers and explorers the company often takes advantage of their central London location to supply the local West End theatres with specialist rigging.
Under the leadership of Alasdair Flint, a theatrical chandler who also has a passion for sailing, the company has revived itself in recent years to provide rigging and ropes to the theatre sector alongside their more traditional sailing business. And each Christmas the company draws on this theatrical side and puts on a window display to rival any other shop in Bloomsbury or the West End!

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Canada - Solotech has announced the appointment of Nicolino Iannotti as vice-president, finance, effective 7 January, 2019.
Iannotti holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Concordia University, and the CPA, CMA and CA professional designations. He has 20 years of experience in accounting, external reporting, audit, and financial planning & analysis in large-scale companies such as Gildan and Deloitte.
“As a leader in financial management in the United States and Canada, Mr. Iannotti will be a great asset to support Solotech’s growth on a global scale”, said Nicolas Lavoie, chief financial officer.
(Jim Evans)

Details
UK - Temporary and permanent installations specialist Setsquare Staging has invested in print and interior design company Enigma Visual Solutions and event and print production company, GTMS.
Enigma and GTMS will both continue to operate from their Marlow and Waterlooville bases respectively but the companies will combine their services.
John O’Gorman, creative director and founder of Setsquare, comments: “We are extremely excited to embark on this new venture. Both Enigma and GTMS are specialists within the print, build and staging industries, delivering creative solutions to clients on an international level. We will combine our services to produce industry leading solutions. We will be building branded environments second to none.”
Reno Macri, founder of Enigma Visual Solutions, adds: “I founded Enigma in my parents’ spare bedroom as a sign company

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UK - Rope Assemblies has worked with Castleford Heritage Trust to create a safe footbridge at Castleford's Queen's Mill - part of a major restoration project to restore the historic building which is used as a venue for local events.
One such event, the Castleford Beer Festival took place last month - a community event drawing in the crowds with musical art, food and of course beer. James Knowles, project manager at Castleford Heritage Trust reports: "The venue was all ready for the festival which was set to attract over 1000 visitors. However, we had an issue with the function room - it only has one emergency escape and so we had to install a bridge so that, should visitors be required to leave the building in an emergency, they could do so safely. Without the bridge, we would not have been able to use the room."
Thanks to a recommendation from a rigging company worki

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Germany - Despite strong gusts of wind in cold and rainy weather conditions, around 600,000 people celebrated German Unity Day in Berlin that featured several event stages and the worldwide debut of two Milos Steel PA towers.
The motto for the celebration was Only with you and consisted of numerous events that took place at historically significant sites in the city. A highlight of the three-day celebration was the Citizens' Festival at the Brandenburg Gate, which included a concert and fireworks display. With artists such as Nena, Namika and The BossHoss, freedom, tolerance and cultural diversity were celebrated.
The company responsible for putting together the stage areas was Germany’s Black Box Music.
An advantage that Black Box Music brings to the table is their own fleet of vehicles, workshops, case building, and other services like tailoring and pa
  1. Unusual acrobatics at Musée d'Orsay
  2. Chris Toulmin joins Entech Roadshow
  3. SXS Events streamlines with Current RMS
  4. Doughty debuts Heavy Duty Boom Arm
  5. Royal Opera House sings Unusual praises
  6. Four ESTA standards approved
Page 29 of 230
Robe - Large MPU
GLP - Large MPU - Nov 2024
Showlight - MPU - June-July, Oct-Nov 2024

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