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The BBC, Media City UK and the Royal Exchange Theatre at PLASA Focus: Leeds 2009
With less than one month to go until PLASA Focus: Leeds 2009 opens its doors, PLASA Events has announced two high profile seminars to open and close the show.
The BBC will open the PLASA Focus seminar programme at 10.30am on Tuesday 28th April with a look at the UK's first Media City, opening in 2010 at Salford Quays.
The inspirational new Media City will cover two hundred acres and establish a new state-of-the-art media enterprise zone for the North. The new iconic building will hold a custom-built recording studio for the BBC Philharmonic, floating stages for theatre and concert venues, studio and technical facilities and a number of other offerings for media industries.
During the seminar, Jim Brown (portfolio director, production studio and technical facilities in BBC workplace) will explain what will be in Phase 1 of the project, what first attracted the BBC and how the project will change the media landscape in the UK. The seminar will also explore the opportunities it offers for partnerships, with the focus on the technical facilities being built and operated by Peel Holdings for the BBC and the wider creative community.
Closing the packed seminar programme on Wednesday 29th April will be Steve Brown, head of sound at the award winning Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.
Housing one of the most unusual theatre spaces in the country, the Royal Exchange Theatre is a seven-sided steel and glass module suspended from four pillars within the Great Hall of the Manchester Royal Exchange building. It is a pure theatre-in-the-round in which the stage area is surrounded on all sides, and above, by seating. Steve Brown is head of sound and also head of the Sound Design Working Group for OISTAT and sound design curator for the Prague Quadrennial 2011.
The seminar gives an overview of the current demands on sound design and the need for a more conceptual, rather than technical approach to this discipline. How can the role of the sound designer be developed away from a purely technical pursuit? And what are organisations such as OISTAT and the Royal Exchange Theatre Company doing in order to promote a more creative approach to sound design?
Confirmation of these two sessions completes the line-up of eight seminars across the two day show. Other topics covered include a debate on the issues affecting regional theatres, sustainable event management and the new British Standard BS8901, Working and Height and the National Rigging Certificate, and the challenges of freelancing in this industry.
The emphasis of networking and socialising opportunities and a continuation of the well-loved, informal show format of its predecessor, means PLASA Focus: Leeds 2009 is drawing a phenomenal response from visitors and both regional and international exhibitors alike. Pre-registration figures have broken all previous records. As with the show's predecessor, admission is free, the seminars are free - and yes - there is such a thing as a free lunch, with a buffet provided for all visitors and exhibitors.
PLASA Focus: Leeds 2009 takes place on April 28th & 29th at the Royal Armouries Hall and Saviles Hall, part of the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.
2nd April 2009
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