Nick Jackson is Leaving PRG’s Concert Touring Group

I just got an article from Kristin Wilson over at PRG; Nick Jackson is leaving PRG’s concert touring division.  From the press release:

PRG announces staff change in global Concert Touring group

New Windsor, New York-January 19, 2009-Jere Harris, Chairman and CEO of Production Resource Group, LLC (PRG) today announced that Nick Jackson, Senior Vice President of PRG’s Concert Touring group would be stepping down from his position at PRG. “We are all saddened by Nick’s departure, but we wish him the very best as he moves on to new opportunities,” said Harris. “Since joining PRG in 1998, Nick has worked tirelessly to establish our Concert Touring division as the leading provider of entertainment technology solutions for some of the biggest acts in the business.  It has been an honor to work with this industry pioneer.”

Mickey Curbishley, PRG’s President of Concert Touring, has known Jackson for over 25 years.  Jackson first hired Curbishley as a freelance lighting technician for Elton John, Eric Clapton and Phil Collins among others. In 1994, Curbishley joined Light & Sound Design (LSD), eventually becoming a co-owner. Following PRG’s acquisition of LSD in 1998, Jackson and Curbishley both joined PRG.  “Nick and I have worked together for many years. I wish him only the very, very best and I look forward to working with him in the future,” said Curbishley.

“It is with mixed emotions that I leave the PRG family,” explained Jackson. “But I feel that it is time for me to pursue a new chapter in my professional life.  I have been extremely proud of the Concert Touring division’s achievements in recent years and I am confident that they will carry on in providing the highest level of support and pushing the envelope with new technology.”

Curbishley stated, “It might sound like a cliché but the single most important asset that PRG brings to clients and which can’t be duplicated by any other company in the industry, is our people.  The core team – Curry Grant, Tim Murch, John Lee, Julian Edwards, Gary Farrell, Paul Newman, and Bill Campbell in the USA, and Robin Wain, Jon Cadbury, Yvonne Donnelly Smith, Scottie Sanderson, Mick Healy, Kal Butt and Jon Bray in Europe – plus our vast support staff and production crews, enables us to offer something genuinely unique, a combination of countless years of professional experience and the modern creative thinking from the next generation of experts.  We have an incredible depth of personnel and expertise.”

In 2009 Curbishley plans to build on PRG’s successes of 2008.  PRG’s work with Madonna, Tina Turner, and Billy Joel continues as those artists’ tours work their way around the world, while new tours with production support from PRG include Fleetwood Mac, Pink, Oasis, Britney Spears and Il Divo.

PRG opened its vast facility in Longbridge on the outskirts of Birmingham, UK in 2008, and in February their Las Vegas Concert Touring facility will come on line, a building in which clients can hang a complete concert lighting rig. “When we say we have an office in New York, what we actually mean is we 185,000 square feet in New Windsor, 135,000 square feet in New Jersey and 60,000 square feet in Mt. Vernon.  We also have large facilities in Las Vegas, in Orlando, in Birmingham, in Tokyo and so on.  These are not satellite setups or affiliates; each is a second-to-none, fully functioning, stand-alone, production facility,” he said.

Technical innovations and product advancements from Rusty Brutsché, Jim Bornhorst and PRG’s R&D teams in Dallas and in the UK are another important part of PRG’s Concert Touring division.  The recently released Bad Boyä luminaire was developed particularly for that market and has been extremely well received.  The fixtures are currently on Oasis and Britney, and will be seen on several more large shows in the spring. Curbishley noted, “Demand for our Bad Boy luminaire is huge; tour after tour are requesting them.  Bad Boy, Series 400äPower and Data Distribution System, and our other proprietary products set us apart from our competitors. “

“It’s our clients and their creativity that has always pushed PRG to achieve the highest level in all our endeavors; be it the expertise of our people, the quality of our facilities or the development of our proprietary products,” Curbishley explained.  “I can see that we will be asked to continue to push the envelope in 2009 and we are all looking forward to meeting the challenge.”