LAS VEGAS — October may still seem like a long time away, but the planning for the 2016 Parnelli Awards is already revving into high gear, with the first round of voting for regional Hometown Hero companies already underway and nominations for the other Parnelli Awards categories less than two weeks away. As in years past, the live event industry is stepping up to support the 2016 Parnelli Awards gala (Oct. 22) and golf tournament (Oct. 20) in a big way, with more than 30 sponsors announced by mid-July.
The 2016 gala will be the 16th annual Parnelli Awards presentation, and like the 15 awards events that came before, the Parnelli Awards event is 100 percent dependent upon the generous support from industry sponsors. PLSN would like to thank all of those who have supported this event in the past, while also making sure that everyone knows that sponsorship opportunities for the 2016 event are still available.
“The response from previous and new sponsors is really encouraging, because the more support we get, the more we can do to honor the very best of our industry,” said Greg Gallardo, group publisher of PLSN, FRONT of HOUSE and Stage Directions magazines.
This year’s Parnelli Awards sponsors start off with our Platinum level sponsor, Group One Ltd., sponsoring the awards program on behalf of brands it distributes, including Avolites and DiGiCo.
Gold sponsors include A.C.T Lighting, All Access Staging & Productions, Bandit Lites, Branam Enterprises, Columbus McKinnon, Create LED, Elation Professional, Gallagher Staging & Productions/TourReady, Global Trend Productions/Oracle, Harman Group (AKG, BSS, Crown, dbx, JBL, Martin Professional, Soundcraft/Studer), Maryland Sound, MooTV, PixelFLEX, Pyrotek Special Effects, Rock-It Cargo, ROE Visual, Screenworks/NEP, Solotech, Sound Image, Stageline, Strictly FX, Tour Tech East, VER and Ultratec Special Effects.
Silver sponsors include Delicate Productions, Hemphill Brothers Coach Company, Morris, See Factor and TLS Productions Inc. Cocktail Party sponsors include Beachsound, Chauvet, Forward Freight, Martin Audio and NEP Screenworks. The Parnelli After Party sponsor for 2016 is Pyrotek Special Effects. Production partners for the 2016 event include Access Event Solutions, Atomic, OSA, PRG, SGA Production Services, Stage Crew and TPI (Technical Productions Inc.).
PLSN/FOH/Stage Directions publisher and Parnelli Awards executive producer Terry Lowe expressed his gratitude as well. “Every year we are truly humbled by the support,” he noted, underscoring how important it is to honor and inspire those who drive today’s live event productions from their positions backstage.
“This also lets us celebrate the amazing and inspiring careers of our three lifetime honorees,” he said, alluding to the lifetime awards that will be given to Richard Fernandez (Lifetime Achievement), Danny O’Bryen (Visionary Award) and Greg Mackie (Audio Innovator). Lowe added that, as in years past, a portion of the proceeds will fund scholarships to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ (UNLV) Entertainment Engineering & Design program.
Planning for this year’s Golf Tournament, which is set for Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016 at Siena Golf Club in Las Vegas, and which also supports the Parnelli Scholarship Fund at UNLV, are also in full swing. Golf sponsors so far include IntelliEvent, Elation, CPR Tents & Events, Doug Fleenor Design and Solotech.
Visit www.parnelliawards.com for more info, and if you haven’t yet voted in the first “elimination round” for the 2016 Hometown Hero Lighting Company of the Year award, you can find the ballot at http://plsn.com/wp/hometown-heroes-vote.html.
