City Of Sydney Looking For Big Creative Ideas For Their Events From Anyone!

Is the City Of Sydney about to bring back some creativity into Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE)?

The City Of Sydney has announced they want to hear ‘fresh concepts’ & ‘innovative ideas with capacity to broaden the creative contribution’ of their events as part of a Big Creative Ideas process.

And they want to hear from anyone!

It’s not just Sydney NYE that want concepts & ideas for but any of their events including Sydney Christmas & Sydney Lunar Festival.

Proposals can be just 1 small thing to redesigning a whole event but they should be adaptable, sustainable proposals with “improved environmental performance”. Where applicable, they should be experienced by a live & broadcast audience. For a live audience, it should be accessible to a large-scale audience.

Proposals should also reflect the event’s traditions & objectives.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said proposals should be similar in scale, timing and impact to their respective events.

We want to explore new technologies & ideas that may be included in our major events to showcase Sydney’s creative innovation to the world – this could include drones, light shows & projections – but the sky’s the limit.

Our aim is to build on Sydney’s status of producing cutting-edge, dynamic & extraordinary events that push the boundaries of innovation & leave a lasting impact on attendees and audiences.

City Of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore

All Proposals Criteria

  • Creative concept including curatorial vision and detail, concept presentation, reference images & collaborating artists’ experience and calibre.
  • Relevant production experience including in carrying out services of a similar scale and nature.
  • Technical production ability
  • Feasibility
  • Risk

Sydney NYE Proposals Extra Criteria

  • Fireworks engagement reflection
  • Fireworks integration reflection
  • Sydney Harbour exclusion zone & its’ airspace focus (see map below)
  • 8pm-12am activation (note: sunset is around 8:10pm & fireworks are held at 9pm-9:08pm and 12am-12:12am)
  • Clearly visible to a live audience about 650 metres away
  • Positioned to be filmed by Sydney Opera House television cameras
  • Global appeal
  • Meet major international event standards
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2022 – Pride Maritime Map
Image: New South Wales Government

How To Apply

While applications close at 11am AEDT on Thursday the 26th of October 2023, there is an optional 1-hour briefing session to be held at Town Hall House, 456 Kent Street, Sydney on Thursday the 28th of September 2023 at 2:15pm AEST. This briefing session will also be held online. If you want to register for the optional 1-hour briefing session, e-mail crivilloosborne@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au .

For more information on the Big Creative Ideas process, click here.

To apply, click here.

Successful applications will be notified in January 2024.

If you are successful, you may either make a shortlist to work with the City Of Sydney to develop the ideas or participate in a tender process or both.