Canberra Grammar School – Centre of Music and Snow Concert Hall
Albany Senior High School, Performing Arts Centre
St. Michael’s Grammar School, St George’s Performing Arts Centre
Cranbrook School Vicar’s Centenary Building
The Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts, Monash University
The Pā, University of Waikato
Ian Potter Southbank Centre
The Roslyn Otzen Sports and Wellbeing Centre
Sydney Coliseum Theatre, West HQ
Shepparton Sports & Event Centre
RMIT New Academic Street Studios
Red Earth Arts Centre
Our completed projects are a testament to the passion that we bring to every performance space we work on.
Our consulting expertise spans a broad set of critical theatre design elements.
- + Client/Stakeholder consultation
- + Theatrical lighting infrastructure
- + Brief development
- + Lighting control system design
- + Venue planning
- + Production sound design
- + Stage & auditorium machinery design
- + Stage management systems design
- + Stage furnishings
- + Budgets
“At last someone’s built a theatre and got it right”
Denis Walter — Performer
The Drum Theatre, Dandenong
Micah Johnson —
Managing Director & Theatre Consultant
micah@entertech.com.au
Micah Johnson is a theatre planner, design engineer and project manager with fifteen years’ experience designing and implementing systems across the construction and performing arts industries. Micah uses his experience in construction and engineering to make theatrical spaces the best they can be for the people who work in them, and for the audience who come to experience their work.
Qualifications & Memberships:
Master of Project Management (Project Risk Management), University of Sydney, 2014
B. Mechatronic Engineering (Hons), B. Arts (Performance Studies), University of New South Wales, 2008
AVIXA Certified Technology Specialists (CTS)
Richard Hulston —
Senior Audio Visual Engineer
richardh@entertech.com.au
With over Forty years’ experience working in and on performing arts venues and entertainment technology integration projects nationally and internationally. His career includes roles as a touring Sound Engineer, Audio System Tech, an Installation Technician, Project Manager and system designer across diverse market sectors. He has held roles with several leading Audiovisual and Pro Audio manufacturers and has an in-depth understanding of AV system design and Electro Acoustic simulation and modelling.
Qualifications & Memberships:
Bachelor of International Business: Griffith University, 2002
Audio Engineering Society Member
AVIXA Certified Technology Specialists (CTS)
Edmond Binns —
Consulting Technician & Drafter
edmond@entertech.com.au
Eddy combines his experience as an AV technician in theatres and conference centres with his experience in construction drafting as part of the Entertech Team. He ensures that each of our detailed drawings are clear, understandable and reflects the reality of the use of installed systems.
Qualifications & Memberships:
Bachelor of Design, Swinburne Institute of Technology, 2020
Diploma of Sound, JMC Academy, 2012
Teresa Redrup —
Administration Manager
teri@entertech.com.au
Teri manages the administration for Studio Entertech. With a background in costume, millinery and fashion she has worked at Opera Australia, Anthony Phillips Costume and specializes in detailed embellishment. Having studied Interior Design she has an appreciation for elegant design solutions and insight into both theatrical and architectural worlds.
Qualifications & Memberships:
Associate Degree of Interior Design and Decoration, RMIT, 2020
Diploma of Costume, Ultimo TAFE, 2011
If you are a graduate or experienced consultant and would like to work for Studio Entertech, please send us your CV with a brief note explaining why you would like to work for us to careers@entertech.com.au
Since 1979 we’ve been enabling theatre makers, performers, architects, engineers, builders and contractors to do what they do best – create performances that lift people out of their everyday and into the extraordinary.
From the biggest stadiums to beloved local theatres, we focus equally on artistic excellence, operational success and system performance. Our collective experience and passion drive us to make sure every act is seen and heard as clearly as possible.
Today, Studio Entertech is a respected contributor to the performing arts industry and consults on some of the most exciting theatrical design projects in Australia and around the world.
Denis Irving
Denis Irving was the founder of Entertech, which he established in 1979. For over 30 years, Denis pioneered theatre design services for concert halls, theatres and cultural centres.
Prior to forming Entertech, Denis was technical and general manager for Strand Electric and had collaborated on the design of projects such as the Arts Centre, Melbourne; Festival Theatre, Adelaide; Seymour Centre, Sydney and the Suncorp Theatre, Brisbane.
As a consultant, Denis provided design advice to many major projects including the City Recital Hall, Sydney; Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay; Melbourne Recital Centre and the MTC Theatre Project, Melbourne and the State Theatre Centre, Perth.
Denis passed away in 2008. In his memory, Marshall Day Entertech, in conjunction with Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) and Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), proudly provide an annual scholarship to a VCA student. Denis believed that the people who work in performance venues are often the best placed to advise on how they should be designed. The annual scholarship has evolved from this notion with an aim of fostering the next generation of theatre designers.
VAPAC Industry Development Initiative Outcomes & Actions
Addressing chronic skill shortages in the performing arts.
Backstage technicians have always worked tirelessly in difficult conditions to make every production as good as it can be, and the impact of Covid saw support for their work devastated. The VAPAC Industry Development Initiative sees Studio Entertech and VAPAC work together with the industry, building sustainable programs that ensure technical skills are developed and supported – not just in the short term but long into the future.
Many people over the past year, including the VAPAC Industry Development Initiative Task Force and the VAPAC Technical Managers Network have been combining efforts and insights to culminate in VAPAC’s framework to address technical skill shortages. Below, we share the initiative’s pillars, a few of the advocacy wins so far and some of Entertech’s ambitions!
Pillar One: Training & Education
We already have had a great success with a new Subsidy for Traineeships – with Sound and Lighting technician roles added to the Federal Government’s Australian Apprenticeship Priority List this year.
This pillar is one, we at Studio Entertech have special enthusiasm in contributing to. Nurturing early interest within secondary and tertiary students can bring a strong pipeline of skilled workers into our industry – something we have front of mind when designing spaces and systems for learning environments. We feel a responsibility to set the scene for students to walk the boards, learn the ropes and be exposed to systems they would find in professional theatres. We want to have more in depth discussions with drama teachers, and Heads of Performing Arts – how can we assist in giving your students a clearer vision of entering our industry?
If you are a drama teacher and want to chat – please reach out to us!
Pillar Two: Health & Wellbeing & Pillar Three: Workplace Culture & Industrial Relations Reform
Another win to celebrate – Technical Theatre roles were included in a pilot program funded by the Victorian Government from 14 March 2022 – 30 June 2024 providing casual and contract workers with up to 38hours/yr sick and carer’s pay.
Pillar Four: Peak Body Investments
The workforce shortage needs increased and ongoing support from government and collaboration within industry bodies.
Data from a survey of VAPAC members on technical workforce vacancies in their venues was collated with interstate colleagues from Stage Queensland, Circuit West, NAPACA, SAPA and PAC Australia. The shared submission to the National Skills Priority List gives the government current data to better inform their training and workforce development priorities.
There is no denying that this skill crisis is significant and will take much work over time to overcome, but we have been so proud to add our support to VAPAC in their mighty efforts to ensure a sustainable future for our industry. We are proud to reflect back on what’s been accomplished so far.
Do you have any insights or recommendations we could feed back to a VAPAC meeting? Do you have students needing support to enter the industry? We would love to hear from you – please email entertech@entertech.com.au
If you have the skills to take on a pivotal role in the initiative, VAPAC are recruiting for the next Industry Development Manager. Please contact VAPAC directly if you have any questions, or look to the position description at this link: https://lnkd.in/gaS-dBDx
News: Melbourne’s St Michael’s Grammar School Installs L-ISA Immersive Technology
L-Acoustics shares our project at St Michael’s Grammar School featuring their L-ISA Immersive Technology Read the full article here
News: Inavate 40 Under 40 – APAC Class of 2023
Congratulations to Studio Entertech Director, Kate Kelly for being featured in the Inavate APAC 40 under 40 class of 2023!
Meet the whole class of 2023 through the Inavate Asia Pacific December 2023 online publication
Analogue vs digital: does it matter? And if so, why?
When it comes to technology, there’s a question that surfaces time and time again: when is it appropriate to implement the next big thing?
There are pros and cons to being an early adopter – you may be at the cutting edge, but you also risk encountering unprecedented issues compared with tried-and-true tech solutions.
This is as true of your mobile phone as it is of the systems we implement in a theatre, and we frequently find ourselves discussing whether a given technology has matured to the point that it could – and more importantly, should – be used in a performance space.
Often, clients ask us whether we recommend analogue or digital systems for video, audio and lighting. Here, we’ll consider their relative merits and suitability for theatre and performance venues.
Defining digital
First, it’s important to make a distinction. A lot of the time, what people think of as analogue technology – where you plug a cable into a socket to transmit light, sound or moving image – is actually digital. True analogue systems are increasingly rare in performance venues.
Think of it this way: when analogue CRT televisions were the standard, you’d plug in your RCA cables – the red, white and yellow – and they’d send electric signals straight to the screen, making it brighter and darker until your picture formed.
Now, while modern televisions with HDMI inputs might resemble an old CRT set in that you plug your cable into point A to transmit data to point B, the cable carries a digitally encoded signal with a lot more information. For clarity, we’ll refer to these sorts of connections as ‘point-to-point digital’.
If you picture a spectrum of technology, point-to-point digital systems are your most basic examples – while more modern solutions occupy a space further on the same technological spectrum.
News: A Wish for Change
Inavate APAC asked some of the best AV professionals around for their wishes for the AV industry in 2024.
Studio Entertech’s Kate Kelly shares her wish for more collaboration between artists and AV manufacturers to create compelling, purposeful, site-specific digital artworks.
Read the full article in the January 2024 edition online here
Imagery credit : Inavate APAC
News: Pushing the first domino
Studio Entertech’s Micah Johnson talks to Pro AVL Asia’s Jan/Feb 2024 issue about our partnership with VAPAC on the Industry Development Initiative Taskforce.
Click to read the whole article discussing the roadblocks that prevent students from entering the industry and the ambitions we have to help usher in the next generation of much needed theatre and AV technicians.