LEEDS, United Kingdom — HARMAN’s Soundcraft recently lent its support to the new Leeds LS14 Trust Event Hire enterprise in the north of England with a Soundcraft Si Compact 16-channel digital desk.

Established in 2009, LS14 Trust is a not-for-profit organisation, owned and led by the local Seacroft community of Leeds 14, with a vision of making the area a welcoming, vibrant and happy place.

Having already established a Digital Lounge—where people can use the internet for free, have meetings and get help with their CVs—the Trust has now gone a stage further, receiving funding to set up the LS14 Trust Event Hire.

“We have purchased equipment that is essential for any community event, including a marquee, silent generators, large van with tail lift, and state of the art PA System—as well as the Soundcraft digital sound desk,� said Development Manager Nicola Greenan.

The Soundcraft solution had been recommended by Greg McKay, Technical Manager of O2 Academy Leeds and Ms. Greenan’s partner. The Academy Music Group has had widespread experience of Soundcraft platforms and McKay himself said, “The Si Compact 16 is a great weapon in my sound engineering arsenal these days.�

The LS14 Trust is also linking with Leeds Met University to offer event management training for local people who see this as a potential career path, with all profits going back into the Trust to enable the continuation of community events, new projects and sustaining the Digital Lounge.

The LS14 Trust Event Hire was formally launched on November 23 with an event at the Powerlite Warehouse in Leeds.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,900 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.4 billion for year ended June 30, 2012.