Vivid Sydney 2012 Draws Record Attendance, Investments and Global Attention

Sydney, New South Wales -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/19/2012 --NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Stoner said Sydneysiders should celebrate the myriad success generated for the State by the recent Vivid Sydney Festival.

“Initial results for the 18-­?day festival of light, music and ideas reveal Vivid Sydney delivered new record crowd numbers, global media coverage in over 150 countries, and tens of millions of dollars in new business generated during the event,” said Stoner.

“Now in its fourth year, Vivid Sydney has firmly established its credentials as a ‘must see’ global event and positioned Sydney as a place to do business for the creative industries during the festival period and beyond. Early results from the research into Vivid’s industry events indicate that it provided the ideal environment for business to be conducted, with around 100 industry and sector-­?focused events yielding many new relationships and investments.

“Preliminary feedback has suggested that deals signed between creative industry businesses during Vivid will be worth tens of millions of dollars. Furthermore, hundreds of newly formed relationships between creative industry professionals were developed at Vivid from which significant future business is expected to come.”

Images and articles about Vivid Sydney were broadcast and published around the world from Moscow to Mongolia, showcasing not just the impressive URBANSCREEN work on the Sydney Opera House sails, but many of the more than 60 light art installations by artists from all over the world.

The Vivid LIVE music program at Sydney Opera House featured special performances by Florence + the Machine, Janelle Monae and Karen O’s Stop the Virgens among others, attracting more than 37,000 people to 26 ticketed events over 10 days and generating a $2.4m gross box office. Audiences also connected with Vivid LIVE at Sydney Opera House on the web, with over 1.2m views to date of exclusive online content, including 900,000 views of performances live streamed on YouTube by The Temper Trap, Amon Tobin, Imogen Heap and URBANSCREEN’s Lighting the Sails.

The Vivid Ideas Exchange, doubled to over 100 events in 2012, wrapped up last weekend with more than 7,500 people attending 14 days of talks, workshops and networking events including keynote talks from Cory Doctorow, author and co-­?founder of world famous weblog Boing Boing; Chad Dickerson, CEO of Etsy; UK fashion talent, Henry Holland, from House of Holland; Jake Nickell, founder of Threadless, and an appearance by VICE founder and CEO Shane Smith.

In the final week, Vivid Ideas hosted a panel at its headquarters, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, with the artist who conceived the Vivid Light concept for the new building, Black Eyed Peas frontman and Intel’s Director of Creative Innovation will.i.am, who joined the public to ‘play the building’ with the Spinifex-­? created art, sound and light installation.

Other Vivid Sydney industry events, including Mumbrella 360, Song Summit and X Media Lab, drew crowds in excess of 2,500. The over-­?subscribed X Media Lab, which was held over the last weekend of Vivid Sydney and featured keynote speakers from around the world, selected 16 world-­?class projects to be hot-­?housed in the one-­?on-­?one mentor environment.

Destination NSW CEO Sandra Chipchase said impressive crowd numbers over the entire 18-­?day festival, even during rainy weather, had exceeded expectations and was testament to early research results that showed Sydneysiders and visitors alike embraced the event, particularly the Vivid Light program.

“Vivid Light raises the creativity bar every year as we see more intricate and complex designs alongside beautiful simplicity all to delight festival goers. Vivid Sydney provides a true global canvas and audience for our artistic and creative community,” said Chipchase.

“There are now dozens of interactive installations that have entertained crowds of all ages on both large and small scales. Crowd favorites included the alarming and fun ‘Screaming Rapture’, which had groups of strangers gather together nightly to shout and scream at the sound activated light work in First Fleet Park, and Campbell’s Cove, where along the harbor foreshore a literal playground of light installations have featured against the backdrop of URBANSCREEN’s extraordinary Lighting the Sails on the Sydney Opera House.

“This year a new innovation has been mobile and graffiti style installations that have utilized social media, and clever concepts like ‘Come to your Census’ at Cadmans Cottage that featured real Australian Bureau of Statistics data to generate a highly intelligent, personalized and visual viewer experience.

“The extension of Vivid Sydney into the arts precinct of Walsh Bay has also proved successful with good crowd numbers visiting the 13 installations and particularly seeking out the popular and interactive ‘Fractured Heart’ created by the Illuminart team and ARIA Award-­?winning performer, Gotye.

“The light works are showcasing not just outstanding creativity -­? the event is inspiring brilliant collaborations between artists, even musicians such as Gotye and will.i.am, and designers. This collaborative approach was enhanced by great sponsors like Intel who could utilize their advanced technology as part of the event.

“Destination NSW also ran a social media campaign on Weibo, China’s most popular microblogging site, and more than 4,000 Chinese visitors came to Sydney during Vivid as a result.”

Vivid Sydney is one of five signature events in the NSW Events Calendar developed by Destination NSW with the NSW Government as the major investor.

Broadcast materials can be downloaded from: https://vimeo.com/vividsydney/
Vivid Sydney stills are at Destination NSW Media Centre: http://www.vividsydney.com/media-centre/