The ARIA Awards will remain in Sydney until at least 2014.
ARIA CEO Dan Rosen at Noise11.com
ARIA CEO Dan Rosen, ARIA Chairman Denis Handlin AM and NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell have announced that Sydney will build the ARIA Awards into a major event.
“I’m delighted to announce that we will be retaining Australia’s pinnacle music event in Sydney, recognising innovation and excellence across all genres of Australian music,” premier O’Farrell said.
As part of the ARIA Awards expansion, a program of events leading into the event will be developed to further promote the music industry.
“The agreement clearly focuses on expansion opportunities in the week leading up to the ARIA Awards,” the Premier said. “The aim is to increase interstate and international visitation, industry growth and to strengthen the profile of Sydney’s position as a creative capital of music in Australia”.
ARIA CEO Dan Rosen says called Sydney the ARIA’s spiritual home. “Sydney has been the spiritual home of the ARIAs since way back in 1987, when Australian music royalty including John Farnham and a young INXS swept the inaugural ARIA Awards ceremony held at the Sheraton Wentworth Sydney”.
“Since that night the ARIAs have become Australian music’s night of nights, as artists, the industry and music fans come together to celebrate the very best our music scene has to offer. We are excited to partner with NSW Government to continue to build on this amazing history and start the next era of the ARIAs.”
ARIA Chairman Denis Handlin added, “We very much appreciate the great support from Premier O’Farrell and Destination NSW. We look forward to hosting the ARIAs in Sydney for a further three years as well as establishing a series of exciting new events to further develop our industry and extend the reach of the ARIAs.”
An announcement will be made in coming weeks giving details of the ARIA Awards plans for 2012.
