Major Events, Installations, Engineering & Gear, Service & People
‘A Summer of Sport & Events’ … The P.A. People deliver at home & away
Our Event Comms team’s summer season started in November with a return trip to Philip Island, to deliver two-way radio capability for the delayed 2022 Superbikes championship. Following the successful delivery of both Radios and our CCTV system for MotoGP in October, the Island is becoming a second home for the team.
The P.A. People are proud sponsors of both the Sydney Kings and the Sydney Flames, providing our Bose ShowMatch system and Communications package for every game at Qudos Bank Arena for the past four seasons. While the Flames did not make the finals this year, the Kings have finished on top of the home and away season, and are looking to defend their 2022 Championship over the coming days.
December saw the inaugural Noel Sydney Christmas Festival in the Botanic Gardens and surrounds managed by AGB Events. Our Event Comms team provided the complete entertainment stage audio solution for the 16-day event for a wide range of artists including the John Field house band, alongside David Campbell. Monica Trapaga, and Emma Pask. The stage system was augmented with systems for pre-show entertainment, sound scaping in the Botanic Gardens and a number of activations along Macquarie St.
Hot on the heels of Noel Sydney was the first year of a renewed five-year Contract for the City of Sydney New Years’Eve Fireworks communications and Data Services. Now in our eleventh year, we provide a comprehensive radio and communications package that supports the fireworks, projection, lighting and broadcast systems for the event. This year, after a five-year hiatus, we also delivered centrally managed crowd control pa systems throughout the City Centre.
Parramatta Lord Mayor, Donna Davis in the new Council Chambers
Over the top of New Years’Eve, our team also provided audio and LED screen support for the United Cup at Ken Rosewall Arena at Olympic Park for Tennis Australia, as well as a comms and data package for the Elevate Sydney Festival on the Cahill Expressway at Circular Quay, also for AGB Events. January ended with a small comms package and a couple of our crew jetting off to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a venue opening ceremony in support of event producer, FiveCurrents.
It has been a busy few months for the team, and in the midst of the event activity we also continued our support of Parramatta Council as they moved into their new home. The Event Comms team have provided the Council with AV support for every Council meeting since the demolition of their old Chambers in 2016, including a comprehensive remote access solution throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We wish the Council well in their new facility and thank them for their support over the past seven years. Read more
Staging Technology … a demand for relevant information
Some of our Venue Engineering staff recently attended the 2023 Stage Queensland Technical Conference in Townsville. During the conference, our Company hosted a very lively Staging Q&A session with the technical managers. This session ran well over time with many highly relevant questions being raised. One key takeaway observation from this session is a clear demand in the marketplace for non-brand-specific technical advice. The P.A. People Venue Engineering team will be publishing a series of Q&A technical articles, discussing topics that should be particularly relevant to venues when assessing the suitability or otherwise, of staging equipment. For more information, contact: venueengineering@papeople.com.au
Sutherland Shire Council Chambers
In Sept 2022, Council called for a refit of their Chambers, which required TV screens and physical changes to compliment a bigger room. Due to works and scheduling constraints, this upgrade was completed over the Christmas break and had to be operational by Feb 6th for the first Council Meeting. We started installing all the new equipment from the the 30th Jan and had eveything running in just three days, leaving 1 day for testing and tuning.
Stuart Lord, Project Coordinator, Information Management and Technology at Sutherland Shire Council said; “The P.A. People were exceptional in their ability to deliver a quality AV outcome in our Council Chambers in an extremely challenging timeframe over the Christmas break”. Read more
Sutherland Memorial Schools of Arts
As the oldest Council building in the Shire, officially opened in 1922, this has been a long-term home for performances by Sutherland’s local theatre and music companies.
The P.A. People was selected to work with Sullivans Builders for the project, with Jeff Bellingham from Sutherland Entertainment Centre supplying the specification. Renovations over the years have retained features of the period, and with this latest upgrade, various works required care in relation to preservation aspects. The upgrade now provides a level of AV spec to accommodate a greater range of end-users, with a stage, small orchestra pit, a wheelchair access lift – among other inclusions. Read more
The Pavilion Performing Arts Centre, Sutherland Shire NSW
This significant project is a re-development and re-scoping of the previous facility, Sutherland Entertainment Centre, now designed to attract touring theatre companies and other live performers.
The P.A. People were proud to work with builder, ADCO and theatre consultant Richard Stuart, in delivering a comprehensive new performing arts facility in the Shire.
The brief required solutions for audio, lighting, video replay, CCTV, stage management, venue engineering, av systems – across three spaces and building-wide paging across 16 zones:
The main performance space installation includes a 33-line counterweight rigging system, a stage management system – complete with a stage managers desk with functionality including BOH and FOH paging, talkback, vision of wide view and conductor’s (positional) cameras, clock and timers, and foyer bells. The stage management and paging systems, as well as control of the AV systems throughout the building are based around QSC Qsys systems. The Theatre audio solution includes an L-Acoustics A-series speaker system with arrays Left-Centre-Right plus front and under balcony ‘fills’, and P1 DSP amplifiers. The lighting solution includes Grand MA3 Compact desk, LSC GenVI dimming, Nexus NXS and NX1, and MDR DMX distribution.
End users potentially include a mix of community-based Theatre, Dance & Touring shows. Significantly, the venue recently hosted the first performance of Bangara Theatre as part of the Sydney Festival, and the first Sydney Festival event in Sutherland Shire. Read more
Service snapshot …a busy start to the year
Since the start of School Term 1, many requests have been made for service, whether a range of repairs to existing systems, requirements for additional PA equipment, or planning ahead for annual events such as school athletic and swimming carnivals. With our new Venue Engineering division, we are seeing a steep increase in the number of venues requesting a proposal for the provision of regular maintenance for stage hoisting systems, motorised stage platforms, chain motors and other staging equipment. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you need a service visit, or for an assessment (condition audit) of your existing systems; we’re here to help!
Angie Doyle – Manager, Service & Maintenance
Welcome Jim Parmley – Senior Mechanical Engineer, Venue Engineering
With 27 years’ experience as a mechanical engineer and 14 years industry experience, Jim has significant breadth of theatre engineering knowledge.
Experience includes designing and overseeing installation of around 30 stage orchestra moving platforms, various hoists, and design and install of the 6m diameter Oculus window covering at MCM.
Jim’s ability to manage a team and work on complex venue engineering technical systems is a significant skill-set and in joining our team of seasoned Venue Engineering professionals, Jim’s experience adds to the significant professional resource of The P.A. People.
The P.A. People continues to provide a comprehensive range of support services to the Events industry, the Venue Engineering sector, Installations for audio, AV and performance lighting, Theatre Systems and Service & Maintenance operations for a broad range of venues.
