The one-day events were held at the Peter Sarah Theatre in the Performance Academy of Newcastle College, Newcastle Upon Tyne and the newly opened Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in the grounds of Cardiff Castle, where Stage Electrics also recently completed a major sound, production lighting and communications installation in the concert hall and theatre.
Brands on show were Arri, Avolites, Chauvet, Clay Paky, DiGiCo, ETC, Highlite, MA Lighting, L-Acoustics, Lee Filters Le Maitre, Martin Professional, Panasonic, Philips Strand, Selecon and Vari-Lite, Pulsar, RCF, Rosco, Roland, Sennheiser, Shure, Yamaha and Zero 88.
Some 230 people attended on the day, with students from each venue forming the backbone of the event production teams as part of their performing arts course work. Stage Electrics staff from the company's Bristol HQ and Tyneside branch oversaw the projects and, said marketing manager Adam Blaxill, both events "ticked a lot of boxes for all involved".
He added: "On the one hand it brought together around 230 key customers per event with the people behind the brands we distribute and their latest products. From an event production point of view, it was exciting to have the next generation of industry professionals working with us and learning about corporate event and tradeshow production in a real working environment.
"The cooperation of both colleges' students and their management teams was fantastic and with a great response from visitors and exhibitors to these small and user-friendly shows we're already planning next year's events."
Among the products exhibited were Martin Professional's MAC Aura, L-Acoustics ARCS II, Avolites Tiger Touch, Stage Electrics' 20mm LED Curtain (as featured on the recent Portishead tour), K-Array loudspeakers, ETC Source Four Fresnel, Prolyte staging and trussing, the DiGiCo's SD11, Le Maitre Pyro (complete with a well attended live outdoor demonstration) and Clay Paky's award-winning Sharpy.
(Jim Evans)
