NEW YORK — The Joint Training Initiative of The ESTA Foundation and USITT have announced a new course, Fall Protection and Rescue System Requirements and Methods, to be taught in Bowie, Md., with one session set for April 6-7, and the same session repeated April 8-9, giving potential participants two chances at attending the course.
NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA—The Long Reach Long Riders and the ESTA Foundation will once again hold their annual raffle to benefit Behind the Scenes at the USITT conference. This drawing will be held on March 21, 2009 at the Behind the Scenes booth (#1321) on the trade show floor of the USITT Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Tickets, which are $5 each or 5 for $20, may be purchased at the booth throughout the show.
CINCINNATI — The lighting designer for both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the costume designer for the closing ceremonies will be part of the upcoming USITT Annual Conference & Stage Expo. Lighting designer Sha Xiaolan has been called the most influential lighting designer in China and has won numerous awards. He has designed many national events in China as well as lighting for theatre, opera, dance, and television.
KORTRIJK, Belgium — Barco announced its results for its fourth quarter and for all of 2008. While incoming orders booked in the company’s fourth quarter were, at 203.9 million euro, actually up 11.1 percent compared to the previous year, sales for the quarter declined to euro 207.9 million, down 6.6 percent compared to the same period of 2007. Earnings for the quarter were down 24.2 million euro after restructuring and impairment provisions. Before the same provisions, EBIT was down 2.0 million euro.
SYRACUSE, NY — The US Patent Office has issued patent 7,461,500 to J. R. Clancy for a “System for Determining Wear to Rigging System Lines,” more commonly known as SureGrip™ rope. The company says this is the only theatrical rope with a wear indicator, to tell users when the rope should be replaced.
NEW YORK — Disney Theatrical Productions (DTP) has accepted a seat on the Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) Council. The Council is the governing body that manages the development and implementation of ETCP, the certification program for entertainment technicians.
CAIRO — For a special episode Italian RAI TV2’s Voyager, Franco Rondana, photography director, used 60 Clay Paky projectors to shed light on some ancient mysteries along the Nile. “For the ‘Night of the Pharaohs,’ we took modern technology to ancient Egypt to create a unique meeting of cultures that are millenia apart,” Rondana said.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — The Living Room nightclub chain, with locations in London, Paris, Tokyo and New York, added a new 11,000-square-foot location on Fort Lauderdale’s Las Olas Riverfront in October, and the location has proved popular enough to warrant plans for a 10,000-square-foot expansion, with additional LED fixtures from Chauvet.
NASHVILLE- Bandit Lites is working with the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business again in 2009 for the fourth year in a row, providing equipment and assisting in the lighting design and direction for the six-concert showcase series.
ZEIST, The Netherlands — The Figi Hotel is using Anolis LED fixtures as a practical lighting solution for six multi-functional rooms, three conference rooms, the hotel’s restaurant and the separate espresso bar. The hotel’s management approached Arnhem-based lighting supplier Relight when they wanted a change of lights for the six multifunctional rooms that double as bedrooms and conference suites with the aid of a movable partition, foldaway beds, electric roll-down screen and beamers.
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Global Truss America has launched its first-ever lighting product: a color-changing LED truss warmer designed specifically to fit inside the company’s square truss. Powered by nine 1-watt LEDs (three red, three green, three blue), the new TW-RGB9 Truss Warmer uses RGB color mixing for a wide array of colors and color changing and fade effects for concerts, stage productions, nightclubs, DJ shows or other entertainment applications. The units use DMX-512 protocol for control and come with preprogrammed color macros and a built-in microphone for sound-active operation. Built with truss-warming in mind, the units are designed with a compact triangular shape, allowing them to be inserted into F34 and F44 square truss. The silver finish is also designed to blend in with steel or aluminum trussing. The TW-RGB9 Truss Warmer has an MSRP of $358.95.