Join our master of ceremonies, Charlie Pickering, as he counts down the biggest night of the year with the New Year’s Eve (NYE) 2017 broadcast, Countdown Live NYE 2017 on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Television (TV) & ABC iview.

Presented from the Sydney Opera House, Charlie takes us through an evening jam-packed full of unmissable entertainment from an all-star line-up including Jimmy Barnes, Phil Jamieson, Marcia Hines & Kate Ceberano, with plenty of fun for all-ages including the Family Fireworks at 9pm, culminating in the world-famous Midnight Fireworks.

The evening events will commence with the Welcome To Country with Rhoda Roberts (Order Of Australia), followed by The Early Night Show, co-hosted by Hoot The Owl & the one and only Kitty Flanagan. Featuring The Play School Band, jugglers, acrobats & a marching band, it promises to be fun for all the family!

We will cross to ABC ME’s Grace Koh & Giggle And Hoot’s Jimmy Giggle who will be live from Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens. There will be a very special performance from Casey Donovan, we take a look at some hilarious Play School auditions & some of our younger viewers give us their views on hot topics and what was the “best-thing-ever” that happened to them in 2017.

At 9pm, the winner of ABC ME’s Design Your Own Firework competition, 7-year-old Lucia from Adelaide, will set the Sydney sky alight with the Family Fireworks display featuring her own unique firework design.

After the 9pm Family Fireworks, Charlie will take us through a variety of hilarious & heart-warming segments including comedian Sammy J, who will present his unique take on some of the year’s key stories & a behind the scenes look at the rehearsals for the biggest concert of the year.

Then it is time to do yourself a favour & get your groove on when the legendary Molly Meldrum welcomes Australia to Countdown Live, a live concert celebrating the songs of the iconic show, Countdown, performed by many of our most loved artists.

Audiences can enjoy live: Jimmy Barnes, Phil Jamieson, Colin Hay, Casey Donovan, John Paul Young, Marcia Hines, Kate Ceberano, Ngaiire, Montaigne, Isaiah Firebrace, Mahalia Barnes & Prinnie Stevens. They will be performing the music that is, quintessentially, Australia’s song book, with a few international classics thrown in for good measure.

At midnight, stand by as Sydney becomes the focus of the world as thousands of fireworks light up Sydney Harbour & we welcome 2018.

RUNDOWN HIGHLIGHTS (exact times subject to change):

8:35pm: New Year’s Eve 2017 commences on ABC & ABC iview

8:38pm: Welcome To Country

8:41pm: The Early Night Show

9pm: Family Fireworks

9.30pm: Countdown Live

Midnight: Fireworks

Audiences can watch the full broadcast in high definition on ABC TV with live streaming also available on ABC iview. The Welcome To Country, the Family & Midnight Fireworks will also be available on the ABC TV YouTube channel. The Family & Midnight Fireworks will also be streamed live on ABC TV’s Facebook page.

Join the conversation:

#NYEABC

facebook.com/abctv

youtube.com/abctv

twitter.com/abctv

instagram.com/abctv

A rainbow waterfall of fireworks will cascade from the Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of this year’s Sydney New Year’s Eve (Sydney NYE) celebrations.

Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, said the dramatic ‘technicolour’ fireworks would confirm Sydney as the New Year’s Eve capital of the world again & celebrate Australians saying ‘Yes’ to marriage equality.

“This is a fabulous way to see out 2017 – the year that 4 out of 5 Sydneysiders said a resounding ‘Yes’ to marriage equality” the Lord Mayor said.

“The rainbow waterfall is a well-earnt tribute to the Sydney 78ers who marched for gay rights 40 years ago – it is a reminder of how far we have come & how far we have left to achieve true equality for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & intersex community. It is a wonderful way to ring in the new year & celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras”

“With more fireworks than ever before, this year’s Sydney NYE celebration guarantees to be the biggest, brightest & best in the world”

“Sydney New Year’s Eve contributes an estimated AUD$133 million to the local economy & puts Sydney on the map as a global city for tourism, business, events and creativity on every level”

It takes Sydney fireworks director Fortunato Foti & the crew from Sydney family company, Foti Fireworks International, more than 5,000 hours to create the Sydney NYE display.

“The challenge this year was to create never-before-seen displays. Out of this, we have created some great effects that I am looking forward to sharing with the people of Sydney & the world” Mister (Mr) Foti said.

“This waterfall effect is a first for the Bridge & we have chosen the rainbow colours that work best for fireworks: red, yellow, green, blue, purple & silver”

Mr Foti says there will be more than 100,000 individual pyrotechnic effects on the night, setting a new record for the annual event’s 9pm Family & Midnight Fireworks with:

• 8 tonnes of fireworks – 1 tonne more than in 2016
• 13,000 shells – 1,000 more than in 2016
• 30,000 shooting comets – 5,000 more than in 2016

Inner-Sydney artist, Nadia Hernández, is the creative artist for this Sydney NYE and a series of bright artwork designs have inspired a vibrant colour palette for the fireworks.

This year, the 9pm Family and Midnight Fireworks & the dramatic lighting effects beamed from the Sydney Harbour Bridge will feature new pastel shades including bright orange, pink, lime green & light blue.

Her artwork designs also feature inspirational words including ‘wonder’, ‘harmony’, ‘hope’ & ‘together’, which will feature in the animations projected onto the Harbour Bridge pylons on the night.

“I included these words in the Sydney NYE2017 – Wonder artworks because they reflect my love of Sydney & send a positive message of hope for Australia and the world as we move into a new year” Miss (Ms) Hernández said.

“The words & colours are all about what a wonderful place Sydney is in summer – spending time outdoors with family & with friends – and that sums up NYE in Sydney too”

“It is such an honour to have been chosen by the City to be the creative artist for Sydney NYE2017 – Wonder. This project really has been a dream come true for me”

This year, the Welcome To Country will include a tribute marking the 50th anniversary of the Sydney-San Francisco sister city relationship that will be celebrated in 2018.

A message from the Muwekma Ohlone peoples of the San Francisco Bay area will be projected onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylons at the close of the evening’s Welcome To Country.

Sydney New Year’s Eve creative consultant, Rhoda Roberts (Order Of Australia), said the message marked a close connection between the 2 cities’ First Peoples.

“There is a lovely connection between Sydney & San Francisco – both cities are very similar in their geography & both cities have a strong and vibrant Indigenous culture” Ms Roberts said.

“There is a great synergy between the histories of the First Peoples of these 2 great cities. The language, the stories & the rituals of the Indigenous peoples here & in San Francisco have survived recognised and honoured & are still strong today”

At the close of the Sydney NYE2017 – Wonder Welcome To Country, the following words in the language of the Muwekma Ohlone people will appear: “Makkin Mak Muwekma Wolwoolum, Akkoy Mak-Warep, Manne Mak Hiswi!”, which translates to English as: “We Are Muwekma Ohlone, Welcome To Our Land, Where We Are Born, San Francisco Bay Area”.

San Francisco Mayor, Edwin M. Lee, said the city was proud to be included in Sydney New Year’s Eve celebrations.

“We are honored that 2018 will mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of our sister city friendship which has built common understanding, cooperation & partnership across the Pacific” he said.

“In January, our San Francisco delegation will be visiting your beautiful city & joining with your citizens in celebrating 50 years of friendship & to set the foundation for another 50 years of citizen diplomacy”

The Sydney NYE2017 – Wonder program highlights include (times are Australian Eastern Daylight Time): 

6pm                 Pre-Show Entertainment

8:38pm           Welcome To Country

9pm                 Family Fireworks

9:15pm           Harbour Of Light Parade

Midnight         Fireworks

Getting in & out of the city centre is different on NYE. There will be road closures, on-street fencing & diversions to help people get around safely & move crowds to transport. Visit sydneynewyearseve.com for detailed information.

Media Release: City Of Sydney

This New Year’s Eve (NYE) the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the Sydney Opera House & the City Of Sydney will be presenting Countdown Live NYE 2017; a concert celebrating the songs of Countdown performed by many of our most loved artists.

Jimmy Barnes, Phil Jamieson, Marcia Hines, Casey Donovan, Montaigne plus many more will provide the soundtrack to the nation’s New Year’s Eve party broadcast via ABC Television, Radio, iView & social media as we sing our way up to the Midnight Fireworks.

In the spirit of celebration, we are looking for the nation’s biggest music fans to join us at the Sydney Opera House’s Northern Broadwalk. So, do yourself a favour & in 25 words or less, tell us what being at this once-in-a-lifetime concert, under the NYE fireworks at the Sydney Opera House, would mean to you.

Submit your entry via the Countdown 2017 competition page.

For further information & terms and conditions, please see below.

ABOUT THE ABC’S COUNTDOWN LIVE NYE 2017 COMPETITION:

Tell us in 25 words or less what being at this legendary concert, under the NYE fireworks at the Sydney Opera House, would mean to you.

Prize: 450 x double passes to the ‘Classic Countdown’ Concert on the Sydney Opera House Northern Broadwalk on Sunday the 31st of December 2017 from 4pm.

PLUS – 1 lucky group of 4 friends will have the chance to win a trip to Sydney including flights & accommodation to experience the concert & the NYE celebrations.

Entries must be submitted via the ‘Countdown’ 2017 competition page.

Entrants must acknowledge that they are responsible for their accommodation in & own travel to Sydney to be eligible to enter.

Judges will select the entry they deem to be the most creative. Winners will be announced on the 13th of December.

Media Release: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Have you been wondering all year what this year’s Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) theme will be? Wondering when it will be revealed? I wonder if it will be a wonderful theme this year. I wonder if the answer is ‘on the tip of your tongue’?

Ah, good spotting! The theme for Sydney NYE2017 is Wonder!

In recent weeks, the Sydney NYE website has been quietly updated to include the theme & artwork details for this year’s event on their website’s ‘About’ page. As we guessed, the theme is all about Sydney being a true ‘wonder in summer’.

The artwork above, which is part of a “suite of stunning designs” is the work of Nadia Hernández, a multi-disciplinary designer based in Sydney, who is this year’s Sydney NYE ‘creative ambassador’ (Though the creative ambassador role has been reduced significantly since 2015 – it’s more of a ‘local artist’ role now with local fashion designers & paper artists contributing works to the past 2 editions of the event).

Through her unique paper-cut design, she has brought to life the sense of wonder you get during Sydney’s summer whilst capturing the vibrant mood & cultural diversity of the city.

The Coin

With less than 2 months to go, the Sydney New Year’s Eve 2017 – Wonder coin, produced in partnership by the City Of Sydney & the Royal Australian Mint, has gone on sale!

The Sydney New Year’s Eve 2017 – Wonder coin represents the unbridled wonder, exuberance & hopes of the world on New Year’s Eve. Add it to your Sydney NYE coin collection & treasure it for memories of a precious moment in time.

With a mintage of 5000, this 1/2 an ounce 99.9% silver coin with a diameter of 35.89mm is a fantastic souvenir to keep of this year’s event.

Go to the Royal Australian Mint’s new release section to view and order now. Price: AUD$60 (Australia) and AUD$54.55 (International).

This latest coin represents the halfway point of the Sydney NYE coin releases. There are 5 coins left to be released, one each year.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcasts

The duration of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television (TV) & iView broadcasts are unconfirmed still but regarding content of the TV broadcast, whilst no major details have been revealed, this small teaser of details was released recently:

Join ABC in a star-studded evening to count down the biggest night of the year with the New Year’s Eve 2017 spectacular event broadcast. Enjoy an evening jam-packed full of unmissable entertainment, comedy, and music, as well as the Family Fireworks at 9pm, followed by the world-famous Sydney Midnight Fireworks.

Well at least the Midnight Fireworks are now officially confirmed to be part of the TV broadcast! Anyway, that small teaser is too vague for now to confirm if it will be different to or the same as the previous ABC NYE broadcasts of recent years.

But have hope! We believe the ABC is planning a special pre-recorded segment for the TV/iView broadcast on the scientific branch of astronomy from none other than Sydney Observatory!

Whilst we do not know for sure what form this segment will take, an educational segment has not been done in the previous 4 ABC broadcasts which have relied mainly on children’s, music & talk/comedy/game show-style programming. This could indicate a change of direction in the ABC’s production of the NYE TV/iView broadcast. I wonder if this will be the case?

Educational segments have been done before on NYE broadcasts but those were mainly just ‘explainers’ on how fireworks are created (a lesson in chemistry!). Astronomy has little to do with pyrotechnics but in any case, on NYE, everyone is looking at the night sky anyway (well, for fireworks at least – don’t forget the time!) so why not explore the cosmos while you gaze skywards too?

The Sydney NYE2017 website was revealed last week with less than 4 months to go. It is slightly different in design to last year’s website but it incorporates this year’s artwork for the event & includes new webpages plus an addition to the menu, different spacing & other small changes. The event’s logo was already revealed in July when ABC announced their ‘Design Your Own Firework‘ competition in conjunction with the City Of Sydney.

The updated website does not confirm the event’s theme. In fact, it gives no signal to a theme at all. Given there are no more Bridge Effects, there is a chance they could decide to stop doing themes and make the event ‘just a fireworks display’. They are, though, still trying to give the event some sort of creative touch as we’ve seen through the release of the logo in July.

For now, there is no reason to worry about the event’s theme as most years the theme isn’t confirmed until early December. It is usually just small clues revealed until then.

And the release of the logo in July did have one possible clue – 5 words placed within the logo, ‘Dance!, Radiate!, Wonder!, Hope! & Together!’. These words seem to capture the pondering of what the upcoming year will gives us when we celebrate NYE at a party in Sydney’s summer, which has been the general narrative of the event’s creatives in recent years. This interpretation of those 5 words may be incorrect – we will just have to wait & see.

But The Daily Telegraph last month revealed a small clue to this year’s theme by revealing this year’s theme to the Dawes Point Very Important Person (VIP) Viewing Area as Sunset. That event is also being styled to a beach-house. Previous years of that event have featured lanterns, deckchairs & give-away thongs so this beach-house ‘style’ could be nothing new particularly when Central Sydney implied back in May that that event will be downsized as “the large scale catering and entertainment will not be a part of the (VIP Viewing Area) plan”.

The website also confirms the event program, which is identical to last year’s, with the Sydney Opera House still a part of the Midnight Fireworks. It’s been 5 years since they re-introduced it in 2013 as part of the Sydney Opera House’s ‘decade of renewal’ so it’s likely now it will remain in the Midnight Fireworks for another 5 years at least.

A light show is confirmed to be on the Sydney Harbour Bridge again at least during the Welcome To Country but it is highly likely it will feature during the 9pm Family & Midnight Fireworks too. But what will this light show look like? Again, we’ll have to wait & see.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge pylon projections are returning but so far, with no new changes – even no sign of the theme being projected onto them in different languages (though messages will still be shown in different languages).

There is also a new Ticketed Events webpage on the website for those wanting to get the once-in-a-lifetime experience of Sydney NYE they have always imagined.

Sydney NYE is also trialling new accessibility orientation sessions in the 4 days before the event. These sessions, led by an information booth volunteer, will guide individuals/groups along preferred routes from public transport to vantage points & back. This will allow for familarisation of the route by guests with the volunteer pointing out any event day-only changes. Bookings are essential as spaces are limited. Click here for more information.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) television coverage will be on ABC1, starting at 8:35pm and will feature closed captions, while internet streaming will be done via ABC iView, the ABC TV Facebook page, the ABC Australia YouTube channel  & Sydney NYE’s website. The latter, will be global, so no need to worry about geoblocking this year.

Apart from ABC iView, all internet streams will be of the Welcome To Country, 9pm Family & Midnight Fireworks only.

Let’s hope organisers have solved copyright issues so the non-Australian audience can listen to the proper fireworks soundtracks live again. The displays are not the same without them.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has been awarded the TV broadcast rights for this year’s Sydney NYE event.

This, along with this year’s Sydney NYE logo & possible theme, were confirmed following the release of details for the ABC ME ‘Design Your Own Firework‘ Competition:

ABC is well-known for their 2 controversial broadcasts of the event in 2013 and 2014. Their 2015 & 2016 broadcasts were a huge but not perfect improvement. The 2016 broadcast saw the full Sydney NYE broadcast on terrestrial television in high definition in Australia for the 1st time since the late 2000’s. The 2017 broadcast is expected to be roughly the same but again, we do hope for a little more enhancement of the broadcast.

Details and duration of the Sydney NYE2017 TV broadcast have not been revealed as yet but the 9pm Family Fireworks & the ABC ME ‘Design Your Own Firework‘ Competition winner have been confirmed as features of the broadcast. The Midnight Fireworks, whilst not confirmed, are all but guaranteed.

The logo of this year’s Sydney NYE event (at top of article) was also revealed as part of the competition. The theme has not been confirmed but the logo does provide a clue, which possibly could be the theme – 5 words placed within the logo, ‘Dance!, Radiate!, Wonder!, Hope! & Together!’. These words seem to capture the pondering of what the upcoming year will gives us when we celebrate NYE at a party in Sydney’s summer, which has been the general narrative of the event’s creatives in recent years.

The main part of the logo also seems to represent a painting of Sydney NYE as you can see representations of the Sydney Opera House & Harbour Bridge, a ferry, a cockatoo, partygoers, music, the beach, water, fauna, fireworks, a fork & lots of eyes. The latter presumably to represent the attention Sydney receives on NYE. The orange background presumably represents the summer climate.

This interpretation of those 5 words & the logo as a whole may be incorrect – we will just have to wait & see.

The Bridge Effect is highly unlikely to make a reappearance this year with another generic light show expected on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. How can they improve on last year’s? (See the video below for last year’s) Last year’s was done to perfection! That light show was pretty much a Bridge Effect of the Sydney Harbour Bridge! (Compared to NYE2015 when that’s what they tried to do and well, didn’t – they just put searchlights on the roadway)

There is a possibility the event may become more generic in the future as a result of having no more Bridge Effects. This year’s event may give us a more clearer idea of the direction the City Of Sydney are taking with the event in the future. Hopefully, the really creative, unique and constantly-changing themes of the past shall return. And more importantly, hopefully the traditional Bridge Effect returns too!

Here are the other things that have already been announced about Sydney NYE2017:

• KIIS 106.5 FM is the new official radio broadcaster up to and including NYE2019 after 104.1 2DayFM held the rights for a decade
• Foti International Fireworks confirmed as the fireworks producer up to at least NYE2018 with the option to produce the fireworks until NYE2021
• The VIP Viewing Area at Dawes Point possibly to have catering on a smaller scale & rumoured to not have large scale entertainment 
• The Lord Mayor’s Party is cancelled & as a result, the TV broadcast base & an event command centre are to be relocated
• UNICEF Australia is this year’s official charity and has the option to be the Sydney NYE2018 charity partner too.  Using the message ‘For every child, a Happy New Year’, UNICEF Australia have proposed a campaign of offline & online activations to inspire the general public, raise awareness & promote participation among key audiences in Sydney, across Australia & around the world

But anyway, all that is left to be announced is the Creative Ambassador & a confirmation of the theme plus any special details about this year’s event such as the type of light show. Can you guess who/what it will be? We’ll just have to wait & see – expect theme confirmation in September when the Sydney NYE website should be updated for this year’s event.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) ME and the City Of Sydney are encouraging Australian children to let their imaginations explode as the ‘Design Your Own Firework’ competition returns for the 6th year running.

1 lucky child will see their design come to life over Sydney Harbour during the spectacular 9pm Family Fireworks, which is watched by millions of people around Australia. The lucky youngster will also be part of ABC’s Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) broadcast, pushing the ‘start button’ on the 9pm Family Fireworks display.

The ‘Design Your Own Firework’ competition is open to Aussie children aged 16 years & under. ABC ME’s Behind The News (BTN) officially opened the competition this morning during their 10am broadcast. To launch this competition, BTN investigated how fireworks are created with a special interview with the mastermind behind the Sydney NYE fireworks, Fortunato Foti.

City Of Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, said it was an unique opportunity for a budding young artist to be part of Sydney’s world renowned NYE celebrations.

“This is Australia’s night of the year, enjoyed by millions around the world & for a child to be part of this wonderful evening is a once in a lifetime opportunity” the Lord Mayor said.

“I can not wait to see the winning entry light up the sky on NYE”

ABC Director Of Television, David Anderson, said: “The Sydney NYE fireworks displays is a highly anticipated event & one of the best in the world. The ABC is thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity once again. With such a sought after prize, the challenge is on for Aussie kids to send in some amazing & unique designs”

To enter, kids are invited to put their imaginations to the test & draw an unique firework design. The design demonstrating the most creativity, effort & potential to be reproduced as a firework within the display will be announced as the winner.

ABC ME’s News To Me program will announce the winner on Sunday the 17th of September 2017.

The winner will receive a trip to Sydney for a family of 4 that includes tickets to the Sydney NYE official VIP (Very important person) viewing area at Dawes Point & the chance to be part of the live ABC Sydney NYE broadcast at 9pm.

The winning design will be brought to life by Foti International Fireworks, the company that has helped deliver Sydney’s spectacular NYE fireworks displays since 1997. Master pyrotechnician, Fortunato Foti, says bringing a child’s firework design to life is an exciting challenge.

His advice to budding designers is to look at the world around you for inspiration. “Design comes from imagination. Sometimes it is just about looking at the environment such as a simple flower & seeing if it can be turned into a firework” Mister Foti said.

“I love seeing what kids’ imaginations come up with. I can not wait to see what designs they come up with this year” Mr Foti said.

How To Enter:

• Put your grand idea down on paper
• Add colour to your design to bring it to life
• Upload your entry by 5pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)) Monday the 21st of August
• Check out our easy step-by-step guide & upload your entry at http://www.abc.net.au/nye

Entries open today, Tuesday the 25th of July 2017 & close 5pm (AEST) Monday the 21st of August 2017. You must be under 16 years of age to enter.

Media Release: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The pyrotechnic company who will produce the fireworks displays for Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) for at least the next 2 years will be decided in the next week.

Sydney NYE pyrotechnic displays have only ever been done by 2 companies – Syd Howard Fireworks (1976-1999) & Foti International Fireworks (since 1997).

3 companies have put their names forward for the iconic role. They include:

• Fireworks Australia Importers Proprietary Limited (Pty Ltd)
• Foti International Fireworks Pty Ltd
• Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics

The companies are required to provide a 5 year strategic plan for the Sydney NYE fireworks displays demonstrating creative, technological, operational & environmental innovation to ensure the sustainability of Sydney NYE. They also have to demonstrate to the City Of Sydney that they have experience providing fireworks displays at major world recognized events or iconic locations.

As the name suggests, Fireworks Australia Importers Pty Ltd focuses on the purchasing of fireworks from overseas but they occasionally produce full-scale fireworks displays. Whilst a showreel couldn’t be found, it seems their most frequently produced fireworks display to date is the Australia Day fireworks in Canberra:

Out of the 3 bidders, Foti International and Howard & Sons are the ones to watch though:

Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics

Foti International Fireworks Pty Ltd

Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics will be Foti International’s biggest rival in the tender process but if the pattern of the last 17 years suggests anything, Foti International would win the tender. If Howard & Sons wins the tender, it would likely see a clear change in the choreography of the Sydney NYE fireworks in a more spectacular direction. It would be a breath of fresh air. Nevertheless, Foti International still produce spectacular fireworks displays & easily have the ability to match Howard & Sons if the latter won the tender and made the Sydney NYE fireworks even more spectacular.

City Of Sydney staff have recommended, to the City Of Sydney’s Corporate, Finance, Properties & Tenders Committee, which met today, a tender offer to be accepted & for the City Of Sydney’s Chief Executive Officer to negotiate, execute & administer the resulting contract between the City Of Sydney & the winning fireworks producer.

If the recommendation was accepted today by the Corporate, Finance, Properties & Tenders Committee, the City Of Sydney Council will then also have to approve the recommendation next week after which it will be implemented.

The contracts must be signed by the end of this month to ensure there is enough time to design & produce the fireworks displays. After 2018, the contract can be extended for another 3 years until 2021 if they choose to exercise that option.

The looming decision on the Sydney NYE fireworks producer comes after the City Of Sydney also decided for the event to cancel it’s iconic Lord Mayor’s Party.

Reported by Central Sydney (of The Daily Telegraph), the annual cost of the Lord Mayor’s Party, which is AUD$760,000, will be redirected to initiatives under the City Of Sydney’s 2016-2021 Environmental Action Strategy.

In recent years, the Lord Mayor’s Party has been criticized by fellow City Of Sydney Councillors as a waste of ratepayers money due to it’s cost & exclusivity.

That combined with future building works around the Northern Forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, where the Lord Mayor’s Party was held, would result in a newly negotiated arrangement by the City Of Sydney with the Sydney Opera House for the use of the venue on NYE. This was the catalyst for the sudden cancellation as it “…would be costly — and we are not going to do that” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

“[The NYE party has] become quite sophisticated and iconic & that’s been fantastic & I think everyone has really appreciated it but I think now we have got to look very carefully about how we do all these things we want to do & I think it is just what we have to do” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.

The annual Lord Mayor’s Picnic (held at the Royal Botanic Gardens) and Very Important Person (VIP) Viewing Area (held at Hickson Road Reserve) will still be held though but with the latter, it seems it will be downsized as Central Sydney reports that “the large scale catering and entertainment will not be a part of the (VIP Viewing Area) plan”.

The Lord Mayor’s Party was created in 1996 & formed the stage for the annual television (TV) broadcast of Sydney NYE every year until 2015, which is when the Australian Broadcasting Corporation moved the TV broadcast to the Southern Forecourt, a free public vantage point.

The TV broadcast base will be relocated as a result of the Lord Mayor’s Party cancellation. If this refers to the place where the hosts (e.g. Richard Wilkins etc.) are located, the most likeliest place for a new TV broadcast base is at the VIP Viewing Area at Hickson Road Reserve on Dawes Point (near the south-east pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge), which was the base for Telstra’s YouTube broadcasts of the event in 2013 & 2014.

If it instead refers to the technical side of broadcasting, it could be relocated to the Southern Forecourt of the Sydney Opera House where the hosts currently broadcast from or high up in a top secret location in one of Sydney’s skyscrapers where an event command centre exists. Another event command centre, which was based at the Lord Mayor’s Party, will also be relocated, probably merged with the remaining event command centre that we just mentioned.

As for the now empty Northern Forecourt of the Sydney Opera House on NYE, the question turns to whether the Sydney Opera House makes it a free or ticketed vantage point once the building works are complete?

In previous years, the Sydney Opera House has been a combined free/ticketed vantage point with all but the Southern Forecourt and a small portion of the Northern Forecourt free.

The Northern Forecourt has an iconic view & while during the building works it will probably be a free vantage point, once the building works are complete, it will probably become a ticketed vantage point just like most of the Sydney Opera House is already on NYE.

Update (17/05/2017): Foti International Fireworks won the pyrotechnics tender. It lasts until NYE2018 but they have the option to provide the pyrotechnics until NYE2021.

Update (24/05/2017): The Sydney Opera House responded: “Confirming the Northern Broadwalk was not available to the Lord Mayor for New Year’s Eve 2017 due to building works underway at the Opera House. We’re currently assessing how we can best utilise this space for the 2017 NYE celebrations”

Update (04/08/2017): The VIP Viewing Area at Dawes Point will still have catering as the City Of Sydney have issued a tender for the area’s catering services though the possibility of the catering being on a smaller scale still exists.