Vivid Sydney 2013
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In just five year’s time, Vivid Sydney has blossomed into the biggest light festival in the Southern Hemisphere and a vital tool in branding Sydney as the creative hub of Asia Pacific.
In total, the 18-day 2013 iteration boasts more than 60 interactive light instillations and 3-D-mapped buildings across the city, including two major new venues: Darling Harbor and the Sydney Harbor Bridge (which participants will be able to decorate themselves). Yet, Vivid is not only a festival of lights, but ideas and music too.
Vivid Ideas boasts more than 120 creative industry and business events this year, while Vivid LIVE at the Sydney Opera House includes the world premiere album show of Australia’s Empire of the Sun and the iconic German electronic music group Kraftwerk, who will present their acclaimed retrospective series in eight unique performances.
Vivid Sydney’s creative adviser, Ignatius Jones, is no stranger on the world stage. He’s one of the world’s leading major event directors, having been a creative force behind the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the creative director of the Opening Ceremony of Shanghai 2010 World Expo and the Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. But Jones said Vivid was a completely different animal.
One landmark that has not been designed by an international architect for the first time in Vivid’s five-year history is the Sydney Opera House. That honor belongs to Sydney-based Spinifex Group.
While the lights shine along the waterfront from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. each night, the music and idea events span all hours as Vivid takes over Australia’s largest city. Chipchase noted that it’s really just 18 days of nonstop entertainment, it’s family friendly and the bulk of it is free.
The state government helps underwrite much of the costs, and creative sponsors like Audi, Citibank and Intel have all put their names behind many of the larger light instillations. In the end, Destination NSW “very conservatively” estimates that the event pumps more than $10 million into the local economy.
Last year, 500,000 people came in specifically for the event, including several thousand Chinese who were lured to Sydney by advertising campaigns on microblogging website Sina Weibo. This year, the event is three-times larger and the stakes are even higher. More than 300 travel buyers are in town from around the world. Meanwhile, Business Events Sydney will bring a raft of decision-makers down to see the festival as a way of generating convention and incentive travel businesses in the city, according to Chipchase.
