Peter Hind is leaving Total Structures after three years at the California company but will continue to act as a consulting engineer and will also continue his involvement with Total Structures. He has contributed to the development of ESTA Technical Standards, and he has been at the core of a working group that has seen the adoption of an ANSI truss manufacturing standard and the development of a stage roof standard that has recently completed its first public review. He will continue to see this latter project through to completion. (www.totalstructures.com)
Electrosonic and Scharff Weisberg Systems Integration Inc. have signed a joint venture agreement creating Electrosonic New York, an audio video systems integration organization that will operate from 36-36 33rd Street, Long Island City, NY. The office is within a newly renovated space adjacent to Scharff Weisberg's offices. (www.swinyc.com; www.electrosonic.com)
Lift-Turn-Move hasappointed Jenny Hobday as sales administrator. Hodbay will be working with John Jones, Paul Hadfield, and Dave King. (www.liftturnmove.co.uk)
Luc Lafortune will be honored with the USITT Distinguished Achievement Award in Lighting Design. He is being recognized for his work on Cirque du Soleil productions for more than 20 years. The USITT 2005 Conference & Stage Expo will have several strong connections to Cirque du Soleil. In addition to two sessions by Lafortune, Cirque's entire creative process and production cycle will be explored at a session on March 16. (www.usitt.org)
Andrew Nikel has joined the City Theatrical sales staff. Nikel was most recently an account manager at PRG Lighting. He will be working specifically to increase sales of the WDS™ Wireless Data System, CTI's accessories for Color Kinetics products, the AutoYoke®, EFX Plus2™ and CTI's line of lighting accessories for ETC Source Four®. (www.citytheatrical.com)
Strand Lighting has announced two new appointments in Europe. Peter Sherrington is returning to Strand UK after an 18-month leave. In Germany, Walter Thomsen returns to Strand to manage sales in Southern Germany as well as for Austria and Switzerland. (www.strandlighting.com)
MDG has appointed Andre Girard to the position of international product advisor responsible for sales and marketing. Girard has worked as a lighting designer with MA Lighting, Clay Paky, and most recently with A.C.T Lighting Inc. In addition, MDG has been named the exclusive Canadian distributor for ELC Lighting. (www.mdgfog.com; www.elclighting.com).
Design & Drafting has acquired AutoBlock2000 from MSZDesign, a developer and marketer of theatrical lighting plug-in software for AutoCAD. The product will continue to be sold under the name AutoBlock by Design & Drafting. The new AutoBlock2000 website is www.autoblock2000.com. (www.design-drafting.com; www.mszdesign.net)
Prelite New York has moved to a larger space in the same building: Suite 806, 347 Fifth Ave, NY, NY. (www.prelite.com)
Future Electronics will distribute Color Kinetics' Digital Light Engines (DLEs), including controllers and power/data supplies, via its North American distribution network. As a result, manufacturers will be able to integrate Color Kinetics' LED control technology and system infrastructure into their own product lines, backed by support and services from Future Electronics. (www.FutureElectronics.com; www.colorkinetics.com)
TOMCAT UK has appointed Patrick Lockwood as sales engineer and Paul Jordan as technical manager. TOMCAT UK will now be able to offer a wider range of services including technical appraisal, site surveys, theatrical installations, and the supply of industrial lifting and mechanical handling equipment and structures. (www.tomcatglobal.com)
Production Resource Group (PRG) has given David Keighley additional responsibilities as head of all PRG UK operations. Keighley has worked in the industry for over 25 years, previously as managing director of the company's European operations. In his new role, he will oversee the lighting, rental, and sales group of companies in the UK and Europe. (www.prg.com)
Permlight Products and Tempo Lighting have announced that they have reached a settlement in the patent infringement lawsuit filed on April 30, 2004, claiming infringement of Permlight's US Patent Nos. 6,416,200 and 6,082,870. Tempo will license Permlight's patented theatre lighting technology for its Sentinel and Sentry products. Terms of the license were not disclosed. (www.permlight.com, www.tempoindustries.com)
Super Vision International, Inc. has announced that it has signed license agreements with Illumination Management Solutions (IMS) and LED Power, both of Irvine, CA, for its Variable Color Lighting System patent #4,962,687 and its recently acquired Laidman Technology. Illumination Management Solutions is known for its applications of LED technology for the production of LED light engines for industrial and commercial applications. LED Power produces LED lighting systems for commercial applications including aerospace, automotive, commercial signage, marine, traffic control, and utility control systems. (www.svision.com; www.cadresearch.com; www.ledpower.com)
Strong Entertainment Lighting has named Jack Gallagher followspot sales product manager. Gallagher comes to Strong from Applied Controls & Entertainment Systems where he spent 17 years as the company's president. (www.strong-lighting.com)
Starlite Productions has announced that Joe Masciangelo has joined the company as a lighting sales associate and systems integrator. He will handle retail and systems sales. Masciangelo comes to Starlite from Barbizon Electric Co., Inc. where he worked as a systems salesperson selling dimming and rigging packages in the New York and New Jersey markets. (www.starlite.com)
Creative Technology Chicago has announced the promotion of Michael Wohlitz to director of operations. Wohlitz served as project manager since joining the company in January 2004. Now, he will be responsible for the supervision of CT Chicago facilities, inventory, equipment flow, and personnel. (www.ctlosangeles.com)
The owners of the Spectra companies and Diroco have formed jointly owned Spectra Stage & Event Technologies AB. All operations will be run from the new company from offices in Stockholm, Malmö, Göteborg, and Gävle. (www.spectraplus.se)
Digital media solutions specialists Projected Image Digital has been appointed as the exclusive reseller for High End Systems' Catalyst™ digital media server software as well as an authorized Apple Limited reseller. (www.apple.com; www.highend.com; www.projectedimagedigital.com)
Rigging Seminars will conduct three classes in 2005. They will be in Las Vegas from February 8-11 and May 2-5 and in Chicago from June 3-6. Each class covers the principles and operation of both stage and arena-style rigging. There is also a full day of hands-on training.(www.riggingseminars.com)
Baldinger has appointed The Dulanski Group in White Plains, NY, as its new representative in the commercial and architectural markets for the New York City Metropolitan area. The Dulanski Group can be reached at 914-328-5557. (www.baldinger.com)
New York-based Ingram Associates, Inc. has changed its name to Unlimited Visibility Lighting Design-UVLD. The company will continue the core business of Ingram Associates — lighting design services for live entertainment, live television, corporate theatre, themed environments, and display work. Additional services will be added for architectural and retail projects and in the trade show market. (www.uvld.com)
John Lethbridge, who has been handling sales in the Middle East for Pulsar for the past three years, will be expanding his role, supporting technical sales manager Snowy Johnson and sales manger Jon Petts in the UK and head of sales and marketing Andy Graves in certain overseas territories. (www.pulsarlight.com)