The P.A. People deliver three projects

The Pavilion Performing Arts Centre

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 performances.

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, and AV system, 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 manager’s 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 Q-SYS 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 a grandMA3 Compact desk, LSC GenVI dimming, Nexus NXS and NX1, and MDR DMX distribution.

In the two smaller venues, Blackbox and The Encore Room, The P.A. People installed local AV systems for smaller functions that can receive calls for the site-wide paging system. CCTV distribution around the building includes a Black Magic Design 40×40 SDI matrix feeding sixty-four Philips Q series LCD displays. A 16K Panasonic Projector and 375” Screen Technics screen in the theatre and 8K projectors and 150” Screen Technics screens in the smaller spaces provide video replay for the Centre. Univox hearing augmentation systems are implemented in each of the three venue spaces as well as the box office, cry room, and small meeting room.

End users potentially include a mix of community-based theatre, dance, and touring shows. Significantly, the venue recently hosted the first performance of Bangarra Dance Theatre as part of the Sydney Festival, and the first Sydney Festival event in Sutherland Shire.

Sutherland Shire Council Chambers

The last audio-only update to this facility was in 2015. Since then, Teams audio calls, then cameras and video equipment for web- streaming of Council meetings, have been added to the Chambers.

In Sept 2022, Council called for a refit of their Chambers, which required TV screens and physical changes to complement a bigger room. Due to works and scheduling constraints, this upgrade was completed over the Christmas break and had to be operational by Feb 6 for the first Council meeting. The P.A. People started installing all the new equipment from Jan 30 and had everything running in just three days, leaving one day for testing and tuning.

Video equipment selected for the task included LG screens, Panasonic PTZ cameras, a Cypress Multiview HDMI switcher, Kramer HDBT, BMD Web Presenter, and Brightsign. The audio system incorporated QSC, Australian Monitor, Audio Technica, Roland, Mipro, a Denon USB Audio Recorder, Bosch Dicentis conference system, and a QSC Core 110f processor. The audio control system featured equipment from Crestron and Ruckus. The first Council meeting in new Chambers occurred on Monday Feb 6.

Ross Ford, Project Manager for The P.A. People said; “Our company was very pleased to be involved in the project delivery, and the outcome was well received by Council.” 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. Ross and the team were diligent, methodical and thoughtful in their planning, technical delivery, customer service and adaptability to changing conditions. We at SSC really appreciate their work, in what was a key part of the delivery of the new Council Chambers to the organisation and the general public.”

Sutherland Memorial School 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. With its recent refurbishment complete, the Sutherland Arts Theatre is now open. The facility also houses early 1900s memorabilia for the Shire, adding to the building’s important heritage value for the District. Council states: “the former Memorial School of Arts has a capacity of 160, and is the perfect home for comedy, music, film screenings and theatre productions requiring an intimate space.”

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, and a wheelchair access lift, among other inclusions.

For the main performance space, lighting fixtures, LED multipars, DMX distribution, and a front-of-house lighting bar is located further into the room to allow improved throw and disbursement onto the stage area. There are new DMX feeds to all lights and LED fixtures, plus DMX stage inputs back to the LSC MDR DMX distribution. The sound upgrade features new Bose F1 speakers suspended from the ceiling, with subs placed under the stage.

There are new stage inputs to Prompt and Off Prompt which can be patched into the Yamaha digital stage box or via analogue tie lines to a mixing position at the rear of the Hall. A Yamaha TF3 mixing desk handles the audio task for larger performances.

Two new radio mics have been installed in the side of stage rack, wired directly to the simple Yamaha MTX mixer to provide an easy-to-use system for basic audio requirements, with the addition of an auxiliary input. The radio mics are also patchable into the main TF3 mixer.

There is a new bar area and an outdoor space, and together with the foyer area the spaces have overflow speakers installed; controls for these areas and a paging facility are available in the foyer control panel. This upgraded facility is now open for business.

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