Trizart-Alliance upgraded its membership level in USITT from Supporting to Sustaining. The company, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is a professional arena and theatre design and consulting firm offering a full range of integrated services as well as audio video design. Francois Morrison is Principal and General Manager of the company.

To learn more, visit www.trizart-alliance.com

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Wybron, Inc. recently named Aaron Retka as public relations and marketing coordinator. Mr. Retka, an-award winning writer and musician, has a background in arts journalism and alternative media and brings a unique perspective to the Wybron team. He will generate press materials, case studies, and communication, including education and outreach, for Wybron.

Wybron, Inc. is an industry leader in innovative lighting products for entertainment, church and architecture.

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After exploring flying, fog, fresnels, and frequencies, students at the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas ended the summer with a make-up session that oozed with excitement! Kris Hanssen, professor at Sam Houston State University took students headfirst into the world of Moulage Make-Up. Don Holder, lighting designer for The Lion King, provided a quick break from make-up when he spoke about the importance of realism in lighting design and the use of color. The end of the week was all about making life masks and using the life-size concrete faces to make custom fit molds out of cold foam.

What an exciting way to wrap-up an absolutely outstanding summer! The year was all about exploring new ideas and taking risks. Students learned about live entertainment technology from an unparalleled group of teachers from all over the world.

Visit Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas online for more information.

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The Bird’s Nest Summer Concert was held at the Beijing National Stadium last month, the first major event at the venue since the 2008 Summer Olympics. The visual spectacular featured performers from China, Taiwan, and Spain and a massive stage set including six 80 foot columns wrapped in low-res LEDs, plus 19 large LED screens. Production companies Kingsmark Enterprises Ltd. of Hong Kong and ETG Staging Connections China installed the equipment, including eight Hippotizer HD media servers provided by TMB.

Manufactured by Green Hippo Ltd. of the UK, Hippotizer media servers are continually specified for high-profile events worldwide and are recognized by many to be the industry standard for real-time creative content delivery and manipulation.

For more information about Hippotizer, visit the TMB Hippotizer web page.

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Sapsis Rigging, Inc. provided the rigging package for the inaugural Castleton Festival, held in Castleton, Virginia.

The festival, which will be an annual event, was held on the 550 acre estate of Lorin Maazel, who finished his final concert as music director of the New York Philharmonic a week before the start of Castleton. The venue played host to four fully staged chamber operas by Benjamin Britton over the course of the month.

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The University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts announce the UNCSA Southeastern Regional Entertainment Technology Conference will be held October 8 to 10 on UNCSA’s campus in Winston-Salem.

The event is a three day conference presented by Cirque du Soleil Resident Shows Division and will include demonstrations of Cirque’s automation techniques, rigging, show creation, and digital projection systems. The conference also will offer training sessions on the unique production environment of Cirque shows.

Visit the event website to download the registration form. Registration is limited to the first 175 participants and details about the conference will be updated on the website.

For more information, contact Emily Nettnin Earle, conference administrator, or Dennis Booth, project administrator at techconference@uncsa.edu.

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Emily Jarrell has joined the StageLight organization, a lighting systems, supply and service company, as a sales and rental associate in its Dallas office. She can be reached at emily@stagelight.com or 214-446-1700.

A recent graduate of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and discovered by StageLight at the USITT Conference Employment Service, Ms. Jarrell has experience in a wide range of theatrical disciplines but her ability to grasp the big picture and bring a team together led her to stage management.

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Four more designers at Schuler Shook are now LEED Accredited Professionals: Michael White, senior designer in the Minneapolis office; Paul Whitaker, lighting designer and theatre planner also in Minneapolis; Giulio Pedota, principal in the Chicago office; and Miory Kanashiro, lighting designer in the Chicago office.

The four recently passed the United States Green Building Council’s LEED Professional Accreditation exam. This rigorous test identifies individuals who have the necessary knowledge and skills to participate in the green design process and support and encourage integrated design. They join Jim Baney, partner; Emily Klingensmith, principal; Maureen Mahr, senior designer; and Jim Hultquist, project consultant, as LEED accredited professionals at Schuler Shook.

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