Anyone planning to be in Prague, Czech Republic on June 15 is invited to wear a silly costume and wander the streets of the ancient city.

All Prague Quadrennial and Scenofest attendees are invited to celebrate in an extraordinary festival of design. A coordinated theatre and carnival parade will begin from the grounds of Prague Quadrennial at the end of the first full day activities. Organizers are expecting about 3,000 participants from 59 countries, starting from the Vysteviste at 7 p.m. and reaching the Old Town Square in Prague at 8 p.m., where the parade will continue until 9 p.m. After that people will be free to eat, drink, and be merry.

Participants can assemble costumes during a two-day workshop or bring costumes or native dress to wear. Organizers will create objects, banners, giant flying beings, and oversized carnival costumes June 14 and 15, 2007. All is loosely centered on the theme of "The Birds."

International speakers include: Clary Salandy, from the UK about Trinidad Carnival Rollie de Leon, from the Philippines about giant Foam Costumes Elio Miralles, from Cuba showing his Hombres Carozzas.

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It is summer and time to think about all the projects neglected during the school year. Projects for Teaching Costume Design and Technology is still accepting submissions for Volume 2. Share ideas and participate in this endeavor. The submission form is accessible through the Costume Commission link from the USITT website.

The editors also are looking for educators who would like to try projects in their classrooms and provide feedback. For a list of teasers, contact Judy Adamson at jadamson@email.unc.edu.

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The second annual Behind the Scenes Tony Awards Party is set for Sunday, June 10 in New York City. Continuing a long-standing tradition, the shops that work on Broadway gather together for an evening of food and drink to cheer on their Tony-nominated shows. Last year over 125 professionals and industry talent had a fabulous evening.

The 2007 Behind the Scenes Tony Awards party will be held 7 to 11 p.m. at Cibo restaurant, 767 Second Avenue, between 41st and 42nd Streets. The evening includes an open bar, served hors d'oeuvres, dinner buffet, and dessert buffet. Tickets are $200 each, and $105 of each ticket is tax deductible. The reservation form is available online here, by e-mailing info@estafoundation.org, or by calling 212-244-1421.

Behind the Scenes, an initiative of The ESTA Foundation, provides financial assistance to entertainment technology professionals who are seriously ill or injured. For more information visit here.

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ESTA, the Entertainment Services and Technology Association, announced the addition of LEDs and Media Servers to its Market Research Program for Manufacturers. The program provides manufacturers with accurate market information for business planning, product development, trend charting, financing, and business valuation.

Since 2000, participants have reported quarterly sales figures for moving lights, fixed luminaries, followspots, lamps, dimming, control and networking, and fog and haze to an independent third party accounting firm to ensure complete confidentiality. The resulting data is available only to those reporting.

To join the program, contact Lori Rubinstein at 212-244-1505 or lrubinstein@esta.org. More information about the ESTA Market Research program may be found at here.

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Two draft standards -- for projection quality and for safe use of tungsten-halogen lamps -- are available on the ESTA website for public review through June 25.

BSR E1.35-200x, Standard for Lens Quality Measurements for Pattern Projecting Luminaires Intended for Entertainment Use, describes a method for measuring stage and studio luminaire lens quality with emphasis on contrast and sharpness. It also offers a way to present these results on a datasheet in a format readily understood by a typical end user and to allow the user to directly compare lenses. Standards currently exist for projection lenses, but these are not applicable to the lower quality stage lenses and studio luminaires.

BSR E1.36-200x, Model Procedure for Permitting the Use of Tungsten-Halogen Incandescent Lamps and Stage and Studio Luminaires in Vendor Exhibit Booths in Convention and Trade Show Exhibition Halls, is a model set of procedures convention center and exhibition hall staff can use to mitigate the perceived risks associated with using tungsten-halogen lamps and stage and studio luminaries. This draft standard offers a procedure to permit or prohibit the use of these lamps and stage and luminaires, and helps promote their use in a safe manner.

Reviewers also are asked to look for protected intellectual property in the draft standards. Any protected intellectual property in the document should be pointed out in the public review comments.

For more information, contact Karl G. Ruling, technical standards manager, ESTA, 875 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1005, New York, New York 10001; phone 212-244-1505; fax 212-244-1502; or e-mail standards@esta.org.

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