As UK City of Culture 2025, Bradford is playing host to an extensive programme of events in the arts and entertainment field. With a rich and diverse cultural heritage as the backdrop to a year of celebration, Bradford 2025 has invested in a number of innovative creative spaces to provide opportunities for people to engage with cultural events. One of the most exciting and versatile of these is The Beacon, a custom-made mobile venue, which is being constructed, dismantled and moved between four different city locations Wibsey Park, Bowling Park, Cliffe Castle Park and Lister Park.
A packed programme of events at each site includes weekday shows and weekend festivals, featuring music, comedy, clubs, classes, family activities and more. Following a tendering process, Bradford 2025 engaged locally based Pro Audio Systems (PAS) to supply and install all of the unique venue’s technical requirements, drawing on all the company’s expertise and experience to meet its many challenges. Dave Simpson of PAS describes the scale and demands of the installation: “With the exception of the venue’s structure, drapes and trussing, we pretty much supplied and installed everything that could possibly be needed for what is a great concept, including stage decking. Everything had to be considered in terms of not only of the ways the venue was to be configured, but also to guarantee professional quality, robustness, and easy handling.” Having a maximum capacity of 300 for standing gigs, The Beacon is used at each site in a number of different orientations to accommodate its extremely busy and diverse programme. Layouts for cabaret, in-the-round, end-on, and even a central catwalk, were all required, which in turn meant that within sufficient time to de-rig between events, the sound and lighting systems needed to be designed and fixed to seamlessly cater for whatever activity (in whatever format) was taking place.
The PAS team collaborated closely with The Beacon’s technical manager, experienced lighting and sound technician, Sam McCarthy Robinson, who designed the systems to ensure optimal coverage and quality. Lighting throughout the venue is by Chauvet, including power and control, with more than 50 fixtures deployed from the COLORado, EVE, MaverickForce, Rogue, and SlimBANK ranges, for maximum flexibility. A Chauvet Amhaze EVO haze machine was also installed to enhance a variety of productions. A Panasonic PTVMZ71 portable projector was also included. The venue’s main sound system is by EM acoustics, comprising compact precision point source R8 and R4 loudspeakers driven by EM Acoustics amplification. Powered stage monitors by RCFcan also be used flexibly to create a simple portable PA if required. PAS supplied a wide variety of microphones, including headset units by DPA, handheld Shure mics, and AKG overheads, as well as Radial DI boxes. An Allen & Heath SQ6 console handles mixing duties, and a Sennheiser Mobile Connect system was installed to enable assistive listening and inclusive live audience engagement. Dave Simpson continues: “With PAS as effectively the sole supplier for the job, it meant that planning and delivery ould be efficient and straightforward so things could proceed without any delays. We worked ‘hand in glove with the team at the Beacon to achieve an excellent outcome. On top of the main elements of audio and lighting, we supplied all cabling, stands, power distribution, display screens, flight cases and even a mirror ball!”
