Ignatius Jones AM, the creative director of Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) between 1996 and 2001 & Vivid Sydney between 2011 and 2019, has died suddenly aged 67, following a short illness.
He was also the creative director of the G’Day Opening Ceremony segment & the Closing Night Harbour Spectacular of The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad: Sydney 2000.
The iconic artistic direction he did for the Olympics & the Millennium propelled Sydney’s events into global popular culture.
In 2001, he was also artistic director of the Centenary Of Federation celebrations, which had a parade throughout Sydney as its’ centrepiece.
Between 2011 & 2015, he also artistic director of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.
In 2017, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Australian Event Awards, which was followed a year later with him becoming a full member of the Order Of Australia, General Division, for his “significant service to entertainment”, by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Whilst he made most of his event achievements in Sydney, he also worked internationally:
Ceremonies of XXIst Olympic Winter Games: Vancouver 2010
Opening Ceremony of Expo 2010 Shanghai China
Ceremonies of XV Asiad: Doha 2006
Independence Of East Timor ceremony
Dolly Parton’s productions in the United States Of America
Before his iconic career in events, he was a musician, being a singer with the shock rock band Jimmy & The Boys, which introduced shock theatrics to Australia, before forming a swing band, Pardon Me Boys, with his sister, Monica Trapaga. His sister also performed the John Paul Young classic, Love Is In The Air, at the Millennium celebrations as well as doing sets at the Sydney NYE segments: 4 Kids (1997-2001), Carnaval (1999-2001) & Hot Jazz In The City (2001).
Ignatius Jones retired in 2022 & passed away in his birth country, the Philippines, in Iloilo City on May 7 at 9:30pm Sydney time.
He will be remembered for an Eternity.
Below the below quote, you can find highlights from his 3 most iconic Sydney events: the Midnight Fireworks of Sydney NYE1999: Sydney’s Millennium, the G’Day Opening Ceremony segment & the Closing Night Harbour Spectacular of The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad: Sydney 2000 & Vivid Sydney 2019.
We are absolutely devastated to announce the passing of my brother, Juan Ignacio Trapaga, the formidable Ignatius Jones.
After a successful debut last year, the ticketed experience, Dark Spectrum, returns to Vivid Sydney in 2024.
This year’s theme for Dark Spectrum, which is also its’ 1st, is A New Journey.
Located in the abandoned tram tunnels near Sydney’s Wynyard Railway Station, Dark Spectrum will feature 8 themed chambers, each with a monochromatic colour scheme, video effects & flashing, flickering and patterned lights.
1 chamber will feature a maze with 700 illuminated arrows.
The entire experience consists of a 1-hour, 1-way, 1 kilometre walk (limited exits along the way) & features 500 handmade hanging lanterns, 300 lasers and strobe lights, 250 searchlights as well as smoke and haze effects & a high-volume backing dark, atmospheric electronic dance soundscape and favourite club hits of the past night-club generation.
The entrance is via Wynyard Park Rooftop above Wynyard Train Station & the main/final exit is in The Rocks just south of the intersection of Essex & Cumberland Street. Head down the length of Essex Street then turn left into George Street (a 300 metre/5 minute approx. walk) to join the iconic free Vivid Light Walk at 1st Fleet Park at Circular Quay.
Dark Spectrum: A New Journey can be experienced as early as 12pm* & as late as 9:15pm, every 15 minutes. People with sensory needs who prefer smaller crowds are advised to purchase a session before 2pm on weekdays. The Vivid Light Walk does not begin until 6pm & concludes at 11pm each night.
*Except Friday the 24th of May, the 1st day of Vivid Sydney, where sessions begin at 6pm, at the time of the Lights On! Moment.
To experience Dark Spectrum: A New Journey, you must be aged minimum 6 years old. People aged between 6 & 12 years must be accompanied by an adult.
For people who used a wheelchair or mobility scooter, their wheelchair/mobility scooters’ width must be no larger than 1.1 metres & note the experience is on difficult terrain with gradients up to 6.7 degrees downhill & 7.8 degrees uphill.
Tickets for Dark Spectrum: A New Journey are on sale now! Depending on choice of time slot, tickets cost AUD$36-46 per adult, AUD$24-35 per child (6-12) & AUD$98-$154 per family (2 adults & 2 children). Group tickets cost AUD$31.50-$41,40. If your group contains more than 21 people, you can receive a 10% discount by contacting Ticketek here.
All tickets cost $5 more if purchased on the day regardless of purchasing method. A cashless ticket booth will be positioned between York Street & Carrington Street.
You are advised to dress warmly as temperatures inside the experience are similar to those outside.
It is recommended to arrive 15 minutes before your designated session start time, though you will be allowed to be admitted to the experience no later than 10 minutes after the designated session start time. All tickets, pre-purchased or not, are scanned in Wynyard Park before a steward guides you to the entrance as stated above.
Dark Spectrum: A New Journey is presented by Sony Music Entertainment and developed in partnership with Mandylights & Culture Creative. Mandylights also develop Our Connected City, the iconic light show utilising the Sydney Harbour Bridge & city buildings.
Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity is held between Friday the 24th of May & Saturday the 15th of June.
Vivid Sydney 2024 is exploring what makes us uniquely human, with a diverse program designed to foster connections, spark imagination & showcase the multitude of ways creativity enriches our lives. We are so excited to welcome back Dark Spectrum: A New Journey to Vivid Sydney 2024 to bring the festival theme to life with a brand-new wholly immersive experience.
Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 Director
We are so pumped to bring an all-new Dark Spectrum: A New Journey to Vivid Sydney in 2024. We’ve taken the latest in laser and lighting technology, the intensity of a music festival & the originality of an art exhibition & packed it all into Sydney’s historic Wynyard Tunnels in an unforgettable spectacle.
Richard Neville, Mandylights Managing Director
Dark Spectrum intrigued visitors last year with its unique underground location transformed into an immersive playground of light & sound. This year, we’re taking it to another level, returning with new themes with an epic soundscape to ignite emotions that make you feel alive!
Dark Spectrum: A New Journey is a great opportunity to bring together a talented, creative team to deliver an intense, vibrant “underworld” for all to experience. It’s the closest you can come to immersing yourself in the soul of the city.
Vanessa Picken, Sony Music Australia & New Zealand Chair & Chief Executive Officer
Every illuminated experience that Culture Creative designs and builds is unique & we are excited to once again work alongside Mandylights to create a labyrinth of light in such an unusual and thrilling location.
A 40 kilometre Global Rainbow, by United States artist Yvette Mattern, emanating from Sydney Tower Eye north to as far as Woy Woy on the Central Coast is the standout highlight of Vivid Sydney 2024.
Global Rainbow Artist Impression Artist Impression: Vivid Sydney
Yvette Mattern is a visual artist, based in Los Angeles & Berlin, whose work has an emphasis on video, film & public light installations. Her work has been internationally exhibited, with Global Rainbow already appearing in Berlin, London, Toronto & Northern Ireland & she has collaborated with many artists on film and theatre projects including Cindy Sherman’s Office Killer, Al Pacino, Diller+Scofidio and The Builder’s Association among others.
Global Rainbow Laser Path (Is there a pot of gold in Woy Woy?) Satellite Image: Google Maps
Vivid Sydney 2024, with its theme of Humanity, will spotlight our love, kindness, compassion & creativity. Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity Director, Gill Minervini, said this year will look at how our interconnected world is fuelled by creativity:
Humanity is at the core of everything we do & this year, Vivid Sydney is diving deep into what makes us uniquely human.
We have curated a diverse program that explores the human spirit, designed to foster connections, spark imagination & showcase the multitude of ways creativity enriches our lives. Everyone is invited to be part of this global event in the world’s most beautiful city to connect, create & celebrate.
Illuminating Sydney’s stunning harbourfront & CBD with vibrant bursts of colour, mesmerising artworks & dynamic 3D projections, Vivid Light beckons everyone to immerse themselves in a display of human creativity and experience. In 2024, we emphasise works of grand scale, interactivity & profound meaning, delving into the rich tapestry of human experience through exclusive artist collaborations only found at Vivid Sydney.
Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity’ Director
Made of laser beams, Yvetta Mattern is using her Global Rainbow to increase hope for a more inclusive world.
Over at the Sydney Opera House, the centrepiece of Vivid Sydney, the Lighting Of The Sails, will this year be themed Echo (pictured at top of article). Using the projection mapping technology of The Pleasant Company & a soundscape by Angus Mills, Echo sees reality being made of only fabric, a touchstone of the commissioned artist, the most recent Archibald Prize winner, Julia Gutman, who leads us into Narcissus’s shadowy water world, navigating rocky subsoils & dangerous rivers. to ask us ‘What it means to truly see yourself?’
Through puppetry, Echo tells a story of vulnerability & strength, weaving together the imagined and the real, the public and the private & the dark and the light, calling us to look inwards & meet our shadows head on.
My 1st ever animation, Echo is a digital translation of patchworks I’ve made to date alongside a suite of imagery created specifically from the work, all of which have been composed from worn clothing, sheets & blankets donated by my community. The lines between self and other blur.
The work is about the paradox of self-consciousness, the limitations of our own capacity to truly see ourselves & the way our own unconscious wounds spill out into our perceptions of one another. It’s a story about confronting your shadow.
Intimacy lives at the core of my practice. I truly believe that life is just one long conversation or at least that’s what makes it mean something. Echo brings together my interests in narrative, materiality and the psychological in a story that I hope can be simultaneously personal & universal.
I’m incredibly overwhelmed & grateful that this work will be projected on the sails of the Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid LIVE 2024.
Julia Gutman, ‘Lighting Of The Sails’ 2014 Commissioned Artist
The Sydney Harbour Bridge & city buildings will, once again, be illuminated by Mandylights in their non-interactive soundtracked installation, Our Connected City. The Vivid Light Walk is also the same length – 8 kilometres – stretching from the Sydney Opera House/Circular Quay to Central Station via the Sydney Harbour foreshore & The Goods Line.
In Cockle Bay at Darling Harbour, the annual water/light/laser/projection show returns, though for now without pyrotechnics & this year is called Hika Rakuyo, which is a Japanese concept that uses flowers & falling leaves as a metaphor for life’s transient beauty. Focusing on native Australian flowers, this 8-minute show, on loop & produced by ETERNAL Art Space of Japan, uses holograms as well with the last show concluding at approximately 10:53pm each night.
In a surprise move though, no drone shows were announced at the Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity media launch. In a response to Sydney Spectaculars’ request for comment, Vivid Sydney hinted that a future drone show announcement will be made.
Sydney New Year’s Eve (NYE) 2013 – Shine Creative Ambassador, Reg Mombassa, will be using his artwork from that event on Customs House this year in a projection mapping show, in collaboration with The Spinfix Group, titled Gumscape With Road & Creatures. Judging by the photo below, they have already done 1 projection of it!
Gumscape With Road & Creatures Photograph: Vivid Sydney
It’s a journey into a microscopic world of bacterial monsters (just what we need after COVID-19!) but leaving us questioning our collective identity & humanity’s meaning. The best night to visit it is Saturday 25th May as at 7:30pm, Reg Mombassa will be there in front of Customs House in person performing free live music as part of the band, Dog Trumpet. This may mean the projection show does not have an official soundtrack.
Vivid Music in 2024 elevates artist stories & connects audiences in a diverse range of spaces, from cultural institutions & theatres to free & accessible spaces across the Vivid Light Walk. Hear music in new parts of our city & gather to celebrate voices from all around the world, artists who remind us that songs vibrate at the centre of our shared humanity.
Talking of music, Vivid Music in 2024 will expand to a new ‘Machine Hall Precinct’ in old Electricity Substation Number 164 at 183 Clarence Street with headliners of Deerhoof, Jen Cloher and No Fixed Address while down at Tumbalong Park near Darling Harbour, Tumbalong Nights returns for 12 nights with artists including Budjerah, grentperez (who performed at the last Sydney NYE concert) and Mallrat. Curated once again by Sydney Opera House’s Contemporary Music Head, Ben Marshall, Vivid Live also returns at the Sydney Opera House, featuring more than 50 Australian and international artists including Air, Arca, Underworld, Fever Ray, Snoh Aalegra, Sky Ferreira, Devonté Hynes, Sydney Symphony Orchestra with United Kingdom conductor Matthew Lynch & many more plus another annual series of Studio Parties.
And what’s bigger than Vivid Music? Vivid Food! Returning after its successful inaugural edition last year, Vivid Food in 2024 will see the popular Fire Kitchen relocated to The Goods Line while the 2023 sell-out Residence will return but the 2024 chef & host restaurant is still a mystery. A new VividPlace Food Trail just south of Circular Quay will feature a short but tasty journey through the ‘market’ stalls of 20 restaurants/bars while a unique bar snack & cocktail experience titled Auroeae (not May 29) will feature at Bennelong Bar by award-winning chef, Peter Gilmore.
In its 2nd year, the festival’s newest pillar Vivid Food explores how food is often at the core of the human experience, acting as both a vibrant expression of diversity & a powerful connecter. Blending internationally celebrated cuisine with authentic local food experiences, Vivid Sydney 2024 presents renowned & culturally diverse food cultures in Sydney to the world.
Gill Minervini, ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2024 – ‘Humanity’ Director
Plates With Purpose – A Taste Of Ukraine (4 June), allows you to show your solidarity with Ukraine through the 10-course cooking by Ukrainian refugees while a showcase of women in Aussie gastronomy & winemaking will feature at A Culinary Canvas by Danielle Alvarez (from 7 June). The Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout & renowned chef Luke Mangan will also again feature as Table on Tuesday-Thursday nights.
Carriageworks will also feature once again for 13 days & nights with both Vivid Music & Food events.
Lastly, Vivid Ideas will feature this year After The Fact, a nightly current affair discussion series (27 May-14 June except 5 June) featuring Sydney NYE2008-2010 Creative Director, Rhoda Roberts & The Games Of The XXVIIth Olympiad: Opening Ceremony – Awakening Co-Director, Stephen Page among others. You can also peek into someone else’s window and discover a universal human trait at Window Dressing (not on Mondays). Shifting Perspectives is another installation, featuring dancing & a mirror maze (29 May-1 June) to bend your mind in a perception deception. In our opinion, rhese latter 2 installations deserve to be a part of Vivid Light rather than Vivid Ideas.
The Vivid Ideas program of 2024 offers the panel discussions, conferences & talks for which it is renowned, but this year we’ve broadened the program to include events that express ideas in less traditional formats. Think performance, walking tours, a 1-on-1 experience with a stranger, meditations and cryptoscopophilia!
You can also foster connections with new people at the critically-acclaimed A THOUSAND WAYS: An Encounter (29 May-14 June except 4 June) or join a different influential Australian each night as they present a curated series of films at the Golden Age of Humanity (Tuesday, Thursdays & Saturdays).
Vivid Sydney 2024 – Humanity Director Gill Minervini, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, has also hinted there are still “stratospheric”“big”Vivid Ideas announcements to come!
Tickets for Vivid Sydney 2024 ticketed events went on sale on March 11.
We’re getting set for the 14th Vivid Sydney. It’s an important event every year that Sydneysiders & visitors alike have come to love. It’s not just a light show. It’s a celebration of light, music, ideas & food – a program full of rich cultural experiences that resonate with locals & visitors alike.
Vivid Sydney brings together important parts of Sydney’s culture – Light, Music, Ideas & Food. It celebrates what’s great and unique about our city and our state & creates a uniquely Sydney experience. That’s why it’s been so popular over so many years.
This year’s festival will have a variety of free & cost-effective events on offer to provide many opportunities for people to come together & celebrate.
Last year, the festival achieved the biggest attendance on record & the largest visitor expenditure in its history, with more than 3.48 million attendees generating more than $206 million in visitor expenditure.
We look forward to welcoming Sydneysiders & the world as they come & experience first-hand Sydney at its creative best at Vivid Sydney 2024.
John Graham, New South Wales Minister For Jobs, Tourism, The Arts, Music & The Night-Time Economy
Vivid Sydney‘s theme for the 2024 edition has been revealed as Expressions Of Interest (EOI) to be part of the edition close soon with Light & Cross Art Form EOI closing in less than a week.
Vivid Sydney 2024 will take place from Friday the 24th of May to Saturday the 15th of June & the theme of the 2024 edition is Humanity.
EOI opened on Tuesday the 25th of July 2023 with Light & Cross Art Form EOI closing on Monday the 21st of August 2023 & Ideas, Music, Food and Special Events EOI closing on Monday the 18th of September 2023. All EOI close at 5pm AEST.
Vivid Sydney Festival Director, Gill Minervini, says ‘Vivid Sydney pushes artistic expression boundaries & captivates audiences’ while Destination New South Wales Chief Executive Officer (NSW CEO), Steve Cox, said ‘Vivid Sydney presented an extraordinary creative sector opportunity to showcase their talents to a massive audience as part of an event that exemplifies Sydney’s standing as Asia-Pacific’s major events capital’.
The Vivid Sydney EOI ‘outlines opportunities for people to present their ideas, designs, concepts & interest for the event program’.
For more information & to submit an EOI for Vivid Sydney 2024, click here.
In 2023, Vivid Sydney saw over 3.28 million people immerse themselves in the festival. The festival’s reach also extended far beyond, with more than 649 million people reached through #vividsydney on social media. This success underscores the incredible opportunity Vivid Sydney offers to showcase human creativity.
With the creative direction of ‘Humanity’ at the core, Vivid Sydney 2024 will explore what makes us human & how we can make a better world. We invite artists & visionaries from around the globe to join us in creating another incredible festival next year.
Vivid Sydney Festival Director, Gill Minervini
Vivid Sydney is a globally recognised event that brings together creativity, innovation & technology, through the lens of local & international talent in our spectacular Harbour City.
This is a festival that could not be delivered in any other city in the world in the same way. The unique combination of place & creativity has established Vivid Sydney as an icon in its own right & is a great example of how arts, culture and creative industries can combine to forge unforgettable visitor experiences that attract people to the city time & again.
I strongly encourage all artists, musicians, thought leaders & culinary creatives to express their interest to be part of Vivid Sydney 2024.
Vivid Sydney is now more creative than Sydney NYE.
This is no accident. Sydney NYE, since the loss of the Bridge Effect in 2015, has been less creative each year. Initially, the loss of the Bridge Effect meant the overall night’s narrative was dropped, where they tended to rely on annual artworks to promote a theme. The artworks were undoubtedly spectacular but contributed very little to the event night except as a constant presence on the pylon projections.
Projections, in fact, was what the event needed to capitalise on to bring back the overall night’s narrative. The pylons were well used, since 2000, for projections, but it was Vivid Sydney that showed the potential of projections through their iconic usage on the Sydney Opera House since 2009. Since 2011, the Lighting Of The Sails, as they are formally called, have had a theme attached to them.
In 2013, the International Fleet Review Spectacular, showed the storytelling power of projections when they used the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge pylons and the Australian National Maritime Museum roof to tell the story of the Royal Australian Navy since they first sailed through Sydney Heads in 1913, 100 years prior. This was the 1st combined fireworks & projections show on Sydney Harbour and it had rave reviews. The future of Sydney NYE was secure and this was before the loss of the Bridge Effect became known just over a year later.
So what happened? Vivid Sydney saw the storytelling potential and immediately applied it. Their next Lighting Of The Sails, done by 59 Productions, told the story of the Sydney Opera House since it was proposed in the 1950’s to the present.
This was short-lived however. In 2015, Vivid went back to non-narrative but themed projections for the Lighting Of The Sails. It was called Living Mural and essentially was just the sails acting as a painting canvas. When the loss of the NYE Bridge Effect was revealed in 2015, it was expected the Sydney Opera House would play a starring role for the 1st time telling a story through projections during the fireworks displays, just like during the Fleet Review.
Instead. it was revealed the Sydney Harbour Bridge itself would be “the Bridge Effect” through a light show and pylon projections. For the pylon projections, we expected it would be similar to the Fleet Review Spectacular. For the light show, there was also a precedent. In 2003, due to time delays in the construction of what would become NYE2004’s Bridge Effect, Fanfare, a light show was done on the Sydney Harbour Bridge:
It was a brilliant light show but what the light show was in 2015 was in fact just a row of searchlights along the roadway and the pylon projections – just a stationary image of that year’s graphics with a Twitter hashtag. It was very poor for Sydney NYE standards and was probably the worst edition ever in terms of creativity (especially since the Millennium) with an unoriginal theme, no storytelling projections, an unsignificant light show & no ‘construction’ of the Harbour Bridge, which would have been the night’s narrative if it was a real “Bridge Effect”. The sudden loss of the Bridge Effect may have been a factor in this poor creativity but NYE2003 had the same issue but only temporary and had only 2 months to solve the creative problem. They still managed to make a very creative edition for its time.
It turned out the light show would become a permanent feature. The following edition, which also acted as a ‘relaunch’ for the event with a Welcome theme, the light show made the outline of the Bridge as it should have initially but there was still no night-long narrative and storytelling pylon projections. Pylon projections finally became part of the fireworks displays on NYE2018 – 5 years after the Fleet Review Spectacular and they tell a story during a segment called Calling Country, an Indigenous segment, which due to the COVID-19 pandemic & since NYE2021 has replaced the 9pm Family Fireworks. Calling Country is now the only part of the current event that is as creative as it’s Bridge Effect years.
Whilst this transition to include pylon projections took 5 years, another transition occurred. Sydney NYE no longer used it’s incredible soft power to project a message to the world (think of a Bridge Effect, you get an associated message), which is ironic with Clover Moore still as Lord Mayor (been in office since 2004). The sole aim was now to just make the fireworks display as big as possible (This aim has always existed since the early 1990’s), make the lights/projections as flashy and colourful as possible. This is the equivalent of a media franchise flogged to creative death just to make a profit. Sydney NYE, while technically a free event, is now a commercial product. It’s no surprise that commercialisation has become an issue for Sydney’s major events in recent years (even an election issue for NYE!).
Vivid Sydney has done the opposite.
I’m focusing just on the Light program initially, which draws about 94% of the attendance. Whilst starting as an exhibition of how light can be used smartly or environmentally friendly in 2009 & a celebration of Governor Macquarie in 2010, it became a light art festival with no central theme under the direction of Ignatius Jones (ironically, the person who introduced themes & narratives to Sydney NYE in the iconic Millennium edition). Each installation, always done by a different artist, was creatively different with no unifying theme.
It seemed Ignatius was just there to find something special each year for Destination NSW (the event’s organisers) to draw in more crowds (the Harbour Bridge light show, the Darling Harbour water show, the synchronised lights on boats, the addition of the Royal Botanic Gardens walk & the Taronga Zoo lantern walks) as Ignatius could not be seen using his full creative potential as seen during his Sydney NYE editions (1996-2001) like adding unifying themes.
Vivid‘s aim, was to make the lights as colourful & flashy as possible to draw in crowds but with an artist allowed to add a creative touch to their installation so it can technically be called a ‘light art’ festival. Destination NSW is a tourism agency so its sole aim is to draw visitors but their strategy has worked too well – Vividhas become & still is, as a result, very crowd crush risky. As another result, people cannot take the time to appreciate the art done in each installation nor watch a full projection/light/water show, which run a maximum of 15 minutes.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ignatius Jones left Vivid Sydney. He was replaced by Gill Minervini, who was in charge of the City Of Sydney’s non-NYE events in the past, and she has made her mark on the event immediately. Essentially, turning the event into the soft power that Sydney NYE used to hold. First, she introduced event-wide themes. The cancelled 2021 edition was to have a theme of ‘We See Ya, Sydney!‘. The theme clearly reflected the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions but also the tourism agency control of the event. It was trying to get the attention of future overseas visitors. More visitors is the last thing Vivid Sydney needs – something that 2023 has done the complete opposite of – and Sydney’s Spectaculars sell themselves. If this blog was running in 2009, we would have told you Vivid is an event to watch out for – that it would become Sydney Opera House’s big event (like the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s big event is NYE).
In 2022, Vivid finally returned after a 2-year absence, though the risk of COVID-19 was still very real in Sydney. Gill decided to celebrate Sydney itself, focusing on the returning domestic audiences, with a theme of Soul Of The City. Vivid had a record attendance. In 2023, she settled on a theme of Naturally – a reflection on nature. This shows that she is using Vivid as a soft power to showcase a message on the importance of nature particularly in the current context of artificial global warming & climate change. From the Lighting Of The Sails‘ floral artwork tribute of John Olson & the Indigenous celebration of country at the Museum Of Contemporary Art to Darling Harbour’s water show’s LGBTIQA’s pride statement & Central Railway Station’s reminder of nature’s sacrifice in the name of technology and advancement. For the 1st time, Vivid is sending a united message to the world & not just trying to draw tourists through spectacle alone.
It was also announced a regular drone show, themed in 2023 as Written In The Stars, would be held for the 1st time at Vivid. It wasn’t the 1st annual drone show on Sydney Harbour – that was at Elevate Sydney 5 months earlier. In fact, Vivid had Sydney Harbour’s 1st regular drone show, Drone 100, in 2016 but it took until 2022 to return as a 1-night promotion for streaming service, Paramount+. Drone shows have also appeared for 1-night-only appearances for events such as The Everest Barrier Draw, WorldPride 2023: Sydney & the re-opening of the Art Gallery Of New South Wales but none of the above drone shows had the brand power of Vivid Sydney.
Written In The Stars drew in crowds like a moth to a light & heavily contributed to extraordinarily large crowds on its show nights. This was partly due to 2 reasons. First, drone shows, as demonstrated around the world, have reached a level of visual clarity and technical coordination that it now astounds audiences with its images. Back in 2016, Drone 100 was the world-leading drone show. The images were ‘high-definition’ for the time but as you can see in the video above, they are rather elementary-looking in hindsight. It also didn’t draw crowds (being ticketed for the soundtrack didn’t help) as the novelty of drone shows had not yet been proven and in the public’s eyes, the show was just a couple of tech-geeks & aeronauts showing what they can do with a few drones & a computer. It wasn’t presented as entertainment but as a creatively-done technical presentation.
Secondly, as a result of the 1st reason, it provided a clear item for the public to see. All the other installations, due to Vivid‘s crowds, have become background decorations for social media photos but the drone show is something you knew you had to watch in full and most importantly, arrive at a certain time and leave at a certain time otherwise, blink & you miss it! This is what most contributed to the extra crowds. For an event that ran 5 hours a night, Written In The Stars only ran for 10 of those 300 minutes or 0.03% of the time. Crowds slowly built up in anticipation of the 9:10pm start & as soon as it finished, due to the crowds, left at 9:20pm, resulting in unusually large crowds at Circular Quay railway station. The crowds forgot that leaving to avoid the crowds brought the crowd with them. Once again, the cost of Vivid‘s success on show.
For a show that only ran on 6 of the 23 Vivid nights, it was no surprise that they added a 7th final surprise show on closing night. Next year, it would not be a surprise if a drone show featured every night & twice a night (probably at 8pm & 10pm) on the peak nights of Fridays, weekends & the King’s Birthday holiday. This would spread out the crowds throughout the whole festival & on those peak nights, avoid the rush to Circular Quay railway station after the 1st show.
Written In The Stars, with music from Gustav Holst’s The Planets mixed together by Pee Wee Ferris & drones by Australian Traffic Network, showcased a series of images of outer space, beginning with a whale diving out of Sydney Harbour up towards the Milky Way, using over 1000 drones. It should be noted that despite popular belief, this drone show broke no records. The southern hemisphere recordwent to Uluru’s Wintjiri Wiru show, held since 10 May 2023 – 13 days before Vivid started- while the world record is currently around 5000 drones – a record held by China since early October 2022. Written In The Stars had a creative theme but no story. That’s what Vivid needs to do next year – add a story. All in all, Written In The Stars has heralded the arrival of drone shows over Sydney Harbour.
Since 2016, this has long been speculated to happen eventually. We’ve always believed drone shows would become the modern equivalent of the Bridge Effect on NYE – telling a story throughout the fireworks or in-between 9pm & Midnight before revealing a final iconic image at the story’s conclusion after the Midnight Fireworks finale – just like the Bridge Effect – or using lights on drones in a unique way around the Harbour. However, the City of Sydney has been of the attitude ‘We need a lot of drones if we are to do a drone show’. In short, 6000 drones.
Other excuses were possible rain, wind & battery life. It rarely rains on NYE so you just have to be unlucky. It is similar with wind, though for drones the wind tolerance is a lot lower than fireworks but again, you just have to be unlucky. Battery life is the only completely reasonable excuse but only partially, as there is, obviously, enough battery life to produce a single iconic image during the Midnight Fireworks finale.
It should be noted these excuses for no drones were provided by the City Of Sydney when a Councillor requested an alternative to the main creative element of fireworks – that is fireworks or drones but not both. However, it is reasonable to think that the lack of drones in Sydney NYE since 2014, notably apart for broadcast purposes, leads one to conclude these are also the reasons for not introducing drones at all.
The City of Sydney are being overly cautious – being more reactive than proactive. To be proactive, is to be creative. Have you ever heard of someone ‘being creative’ because they are using someone else’s ideas? Creatively is also about using even the smallest amount of a creative element to its maximum potential. The City of Sydney took the approach ‘All-In or Not at All!’ regarding drones. This all is also emblematic of their attitude detailed above that apparently the people only want more and more fireworks & more colourful/flashy lights/projections – not a story told through fireworks/lights/projections. We were of the opposite belief – even a small number of drones could add a lot to Sydney NYE.
Sydney NYE began as single location fireworks display on NYE1976. They didn’t go – ‘I want 6 barges, the Bridge, the Opera House & other buildings – all at once!’ & they did not need to – NYE will come around again next year. It’s not a 1 in 15-year event like a Fleet Review – when the rarity of the event demands something big, spectacular & unique. Projections also began in NYE1998 as simple laser projections on the pylons & water. They did not go – ‘ I want a complete artwork, mapped to the entire shape of all 4 pylons!’ – not least because the technology did not exist yet. They just added something new – being proactive, mainly for sponsorship purposes – and let it grow over time.
You may have heard of our NYE ‘revolutions’ – basic, Bridge, theme, projection mapping. This has happened every 15 years on average usually coinciding with a Naval Fleet Review. We weren’t expecting the next one until 2028 & if there was one, it would be the introduction of drone shows but in a complete surprise, the revolution arrived early and it wasn’t during a Fleet Review, it wasn’t during Sydney NYE but during VIVID!
VIVID SYDNEY HAS BROUGHT IN THE 6TH REVOLUTION!
On opening night at 6pm when Vivid Light begins, informally known as Lights On!, at the conclusion of the relatively new First Light event, an Indigenous welcoming event at Campbells Cove for Vivid curated by Rhoda Roberts (who creatively directed Sydney NYE2008-2010) that concludes with the formal countdown to Vivid by dignitaries, they introduced the 1st ever combined fireworks-drone show on Sydney Harbour!
The formal countdown by dignitaries got delayed but, thanks to time codes, that didn’t stop the drones! Drones appeared in a vertical circle above Jeffery Street Wharf. Red strobing stationary flares then appeared on the Sydney Opera House, a barge (stationary not strobing), 2 skyscrapers, the Overseas Passenger Terminal and at Campbells Cove. Inside the drone circle, a 10-second countdown began before the words ‘Lights ON!’ appeared & the lights and projections turned on around Sydney as fireworks erupted from the flare-appearing locations! During these fireworks, the words ‘Welcome’, ‘Bujari Gamarruwa’ and the Vivid Sydney logo appeared in drones. The Sydney Opera House had fireworks for 1 minute while the rest went a total of 3 minutes. The 1st cycle of lights & projections finished 12 minutes later (but these are not synchronised to the fireworks and drones & hence, technically, not a part of the fireworks/drone show)
This Lights ON! fireworks display was first held last year as a surprise to celebrate Vivid‘s return after the COVID-19 pandemic but after re-appearing this year, in history making form, will likely see it become just as popular as the drone shows. The best vantage point is at the First Light event at Campbells Cove but to go there you need to get at least an hour prior for the best spots. The next best vantage point is the Overseas Passenger Terminal with a similar arrival time requirement. However, if you do not want the best spot, there is plenty of room to get the next best spot by 6pm… for now!
The usage of a combined fireworks-drone show, the 1st ever on Sydney Harbour, shows Vivid, led by Gill Minervini, is daring to be creative. Something that Sydney NYE has not done, except in their Calling Country segment, for 8 years. The combined fireworks-drone show didn’t need to be as big as Written In The Stars – it was just a 10-second countdown, 2 simple welcoming messages & the event’s logo. The 2023 Lights On! Moment has been shown it can be done & on a small scale, just like we believed or in this case, 1000 drones. Not like the 6000 drones the City of Sydney demanded.
Vivid Sydney is now more creative than Sydney NYE.
The City of Sydney have been caught off guard with a huge hole in creativity left to be filled. When the Bridge Effect disappeared in 2015, their appointed Sydney NYE creative team, Imagination, went to what they did best – marketing – with those earlier-mentioned artworks distracting from the lack of event creativity. In 2018, the City Of Sydney decided to follow Imagination‘s lead by making it all about a ‘visual identity’, appointing Garbett Design to design the visual identity. Garbett Design produced a great visual identity but for the City Of Sydney, for the event, that’s the limit of their vision and creativity & that’s where we are today: An event designed around an identity, brand, logo…. A marketing product and overall, it is repetitive, boring & uninteresting. Again, thankfully we have the Calling Country segment – where Australia’s Indigenous people do use their creativity and not worry about marketing.
On marketing, there was a lot of concerns of commercialisation of Vivid Sydney this year, mainly around activations of the Royal Botanic Gardens and less so of the former Wynyard tram tunnels. We, at Sydney Spectaculars, are not concerned about these developments, unlike of Sydney NYE in recent years, for 3 reasons:
These locations are closed to the public at night – the Wynyard tram tunnels for public safety (which is closed during daytime too) & garden protection for the Royal Botanic Gardens.
These activations were held well into mid-July – a month after Vivid Sydney finished – and therefore, aren’t officially part of the event. They just happened to start & be promoted at the same time as Vivid Sydney, using its brand power to drive ticket sales.
These 2 activations made up only a small portion of Vivid if you include it as part of that event. It did not prevent you from seeing the official Vivid lights which, if you include those 2 paid-ticketed activations into Vivid, made up about 85% of the lights.
If you had to pay to go into The Domain (which includes Mrs Macquaries Point) or any open-at-all-times public place for Vivid, then it is time to be outraged.
But the overall message of this article is that Vivid‘s future is bright – thanks to the creativity directed by Gill Minervini – and that the City Of Sydney really need to reflect on their creative efforts for Sydney NYE (aside from Calling Country) as they’ve lost the title of Sydney’s most creative event in our opinion. To lose one title may be a misfortune, but to lose two looks like carelessness…
Vivid Sydney has, once again, broken its attendance record to reach 3.28 million people over the 23 days of lights, an average attendance of 142,608 per night, in 2023 while Vivid Food becomes the 2nd most popular of the 4 event pillars with at least 197,000 people or 6% of total attendance.
It was such a pleasure to be involved in the ‘Vivid Sydney’ 2023 program with the inaugural ‘Vivid Fire Kitchen’.
Our city really comes alive during these weeks & it was a privilege to share a little slice of what we do at ‘Firedoor and Gildas’.
Lennox Hastie, Firedoor & GildasOwner-Chef
Vivid Food‘s Fire Kitchen, a barbie like no other at Barangaroo’s The Cutaway that sees the best of Sydney dining meet the world’s best pit barbequers, had an attendance of 190,000 people or 8,260 people per night. This was the only portion of Vivid Food to have it’s attendance revealed though they did reveal The Residence at the iconic Aria Restuarant by one of the best chefs in the world, Daniel Humm of the Eleven Madison Park Restuarant, was sold out.
We could not be more thrilled to participate in ‘Vivid Sydney’ and bring ‘Eleven Madison Park’ to the iconic ‘Aria’ Restaurant. This year’s theme of ‘Naturally’ closely resonates with our core values & journey as a restaurant.
Chef Daniel Humm
The Aria Restuarant holds about 90 people in 1 sitting & a sitting lasts about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The Residence was on from June 6-17, a 12-day period and with opening hours between 12pm-1:30pm (Thursday-Saturday) & 5:30pm-9:30pm (except Sunday), plus the extra sitting time, this would equate to a total attendance of about 7,442 people or 620 people per day. This boosts Vivid Food‘s attendance to 197,442 people but still around 6% of total event attendance.
This 6% of total event attendance automatically makes Vivid Food the 2nd most popular event pillar as Music & Ideas combined usually make up 4% of overall event attendance. Vivid Light always takes the lead with a maximum 96% of attendance but with Vivid Food making up a minimum of 6% of total attendance, this could drop to a maximum of 94% in 2023.
At the time of writing, Vivid Sydney has not finalised the rest of Vivid Food‘s attendance so we can’t determine how high that pillar’s attendance got or whether this was the sole contribution to Vivid‘s mind-blowing attendance record or to confirm whether it was the most popular pillar of Vivid, though it is extremely likely Vivid Light is still the most popular but there is a chance a serious dent has been put in its attendance – a 2% drop in proportion has already been confirmed as stated above.
Another reason Vivid‘s attendance reached 3.3 million could be the Written In The Stars drone shows. These were Vivid‘s 1st free regular drone shows. Previous drone shows have been 1-night only (2022’s Paramount +) or when they were regular, which was their debut world-record breaking drone show in 2016, Drone 100, it was paid admission.
There were 6 free drone shows announced for Vivid in 2023 but due to overwhelming demand, a surprise 7th drone show was held on closing night. According to Vivid‘s statistics, more than 500,000 people viewed Written In The Stars – that is also more than 71,428 people per 10-minute show.
The combined total of Written In The Stars, Fire Kitchen & The Residence is about 697,442, which is approximately the amount Vivid grew from 2022 to 2023. However, while Vivid acknowledges the drone shows boosted attendance, it is still considered part of Vivid Light and until attendance figures are released for Vivid Light outside of the drone shows, we cannot be sure this boosted attendance to the 3.3 million record reached. It may have been people decided to solely attend the drone shows so they could see everything at once and thus, temporarily boosting attendance/crowds around the drone show timeslot but when the drone show was not on, it became quieter than usual. The addition of Vivid Food also adds to this uncertainty as detailed above.
The preliminary ‘Vivid Sydney’ attendance figures this year are extraordinary. Australia’s largest festival has grown by around 30%. That’s an increase comparable to the population of the Gold Coast.
Over the past 3 weeks, the city has felt vibrant & electric. The program this year went from strength to strength. The new ‘Vivid Food’ program was a huge success. The music program featured some iconic artists including an important tribute to Archie Roach AC. The drone show captivated audiences young and old & of course, the immortalising of John Olsen’s work on the Sydney Opera House Sails was a timely tribute, a meeting of 2 Australian icons.
Sydneysiders & visitors relished the chance to enjoy our night-time economy & we showcased Sydney, at its finest, to the world.
These figures show how popular ‘Vivid Sydney’ is, how it captures imaginations & shares with visitors and Sydneysiders alike the best talent from our creative, entertainment & hospitality industries.
John Graham, New South Wales Tourism, Arts, Music & The Night-time Economy Minister
Elsewhere, in Vivid Music, A Bend in the River: A Tribute to Archie Roach AC, held at Sydney Town Hall, had an attendance of more than 1200 people or more than 47% capacity while in Vivid Ideas, Mike White & Jennifer Coolidge in Conversation (of The White Lotus fame), held at the International Convention Centre Theatre at Darling Harbour, had an attendance of 7366 people or 82% of capacity.
After COVID-19, we proudly raised the bar in 2022 growing the festival’s attendance by 7%. This year we surpassed those figures. I’m still pinching myself.
It’s hard to comprehend the magnitude of the increase in turnout. We’re extremely proud & very grateful to all our artists, performers, musicians, speakers and chefs. Without them, our program would not be anywhere near as successful.
‘Vivid Food’ has been the standout in 2023. More than 190,000 people checked out ‘Vivid Fire Kitchen’ which is just incredible with many of our ‘Vivid Food’ events receiving rave reviews, selling out or achieving very high attendance.
Vivid Sydney Festival Director, Gill Minervini
While there is now a formal Vivid Food pillar, informal dining still played a major role at Vivid Sydney 2023. 745,000 people (or 32,391 people per night) ate meals at Vivid Sydney 2023, up 44,000 people (or 1,913 people per night) from last year. With an average attendance of 142,608 per night in 2023, that means 23% of people eat informally at Vivid Sydney but 88% do not. Though this conflicts with a statistic saying a record 81% of attendees purchased food and beverages at restaurants. It could mean out of all the people who purchased meals at restaurants, only 23% ended up eating theirs but that would seem absurd. Vivid Sydney did not respond to our query on this by time of publication.
The growing success of ‘Vivid Sydney’ year upon year is a credit to the NSW Government, Destination NSW, the events team & all in involved. The impact it has on the city of Sydney is unparalleled & to see our hotels at times reaching 90% occupancy during winter is a remarkable achievement.
The implementation of new activations such as additional drone shows & the new ‘Vivid Food’ pillar allowed our stunning city to shine brighter than ever before.
‘Vivid Sydney’ is a magnificent event as it not only draws millions of people to the city but encourages them to spend the night in one of our many incredible hotels.
I would like to extend my thanks & congratulations to all who made this event possible. Your creativity, innovation & vision continues to light up the night sky.
Michael Johnson, Tourism Accommodation Australia Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & interim-Accommodation Association CEO
Sydney CBD hotel occupancy rates went up 12% on 2022 reaching 78% on average, peaking at 90% on Friday & Saturday nights. Other businesses near or in the Vivid Light Walk also had “strong returns” with restaurants, cafes and bars having a “surge in patronage”.
3 males of white appearance, believed to be aged in their early-20’s, all with brown hair, have allegedly damaged, to the value of approximately $280,000, “lighting installations” as part of Vivid Sydney 2023 – Naturally at about 3:15am AEST Sunday the 11th of June 2023.
The males then fled the scene. Vivid Light finished for the day at 11pm AEST on Saturday the 10th of June 2023.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via New South Wales Police social media pages.
Officers attached to Sydney City Police Area Command were notified & commenced an investigation.
Police released closed-circuit television footage at 9:36pm on Sunday the 11th of June 2023:
In memory of the 10 lives lost in the Hunter Valley coach tragedy last night, the lights of Vivid Sydney were turned off tonight for 1 minute at 7:30pm AEST.
Ticketed events such as Lightscape, Dark Spectrum & Wild Lights were not turned off due to the fact that people need to pay to see these light installations for a limited time.
Just after 11.30pm last night, a coach containing 36 wedding guests rolled while going around a roundabout on Wine Country Drive, Greta in the Hunter Valley, 2 hours north of Sydney. New South Wales (NSW) Police have confirmed 10 people have died, 25 were taken to hospital via helicopter & road & a further 4 are uninjured.
Wine Country Drive, Greta has since been closed and detours implemented with a crime scene being established, which will be examined by specialist forensic police & the Crash Investigation Unit. An investigation into the crash’s circumstances has also commenced. The Maitland coach driver, 58 years of age and taken to hospital, has since been discharged and taken to Cessnock Police Station, where, after mandatory testing & assessment, he was charged with 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death – drive manner dangerous, and negligent driving (occasioning death). He was refused bail to appear at Cessnock Local Court on Tuesday the 13th of June.
Officers from Hunter Valley Police District, Police Rescue, Traffic & Highway Patrol, NSW Fire and Rescue, NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW Ambulance paramedics and various helicopters for hospital transports attended the scene.
Police are still working on crash victim identification and to contact the identified’s next of kin. Family & friends of a person who may have been on board the coach are urged to contact Cessnock Police Station on 02 4991 0199.
Witnesses – or anyone with information relevant to the crash’s circumstances – are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 to keep the line to Cessnock Police Station clear for concerned family members & friends. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.
I extend my deepest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of those who have been killed in this accident and those who are injured.
Vivid Sydney 2023 will be a historic edition of the Sydney Spectaculars for good reasons for now. We will go into detail about this in a post-event review. But this final week will determine whether there will be any negative reasons it will be historic.
Vivid Sydney started in 2009 and after exploding into popularity in 2013, the crowds have consistently grown to the point that in 2017, I wrote a lengthy opinion article called Vivid Sydney Has Potential For Disaster. It has consistently been the most popular Vivid article on this site from its 2016 publication. Since then, Vivid has implemented some of my recommendations, some successfully, some poorly. There are still things Vivid needs to do to improve crowd management, but this week will determine if they have left it too late.
In summary, Vivid Sydney 2023 will be historic for being the 1st time Sydney New Year’s Eve is no longer the most creative event on Sydney Harbour and as well as heralding in the next era or ‘revolution’: the use of drone shows on Sydney Harbour.
Drones show did not pop up overnight. Vivid held the 1st Sydney Harbour drone show in 2016 – a 1-night 100-drone world-record breaking drone show (video above). It took another 6 years before they re-appeared as a 500-drone show on Sydney Harbour in January 2022 as part of Elevate Sydney. Vivid also brought it back last year as a 1-night show but up to 600 drones. These previous 2 shows set the southern hemisphere record. Drone shows were also held for The Everest Barrier Draw & the re-opening of the Art Gallery Of New South Wales. Noel Sydney was held one twice a night in the week before Christmas. In January this year, Elevate Sydney became the 1st annual Sydney Harbour drone show and right now, Vivid has become Sydney Harbour’s 2nd annual and most popular drone show.
Crowds have unexpectedly spiked during the times drone shows are held & even more surprising, everyone is leaving as soon as the drone show has finished. Combining this with the fact this is the 1st post-COVID-19 pandemic edition (last year’s edition was held despite significant cases of COVID-19 in New South Wales), director, Gill Minervini, has declared crowds are about 38% higher than last year.
Last year’s edition was record-breaking – 2.58 million people overall or 112,000 people per night on average. Taking into account the 38% extra crowds – Vivid Sydney 2023 is set to have a mind-blowing 3.5 million visitors overall or 155,000 per night on average – and we are in the middle of the most popular period to visit Vivid Sydney – the King’s Birthday long weekend. So far, 2 million people have been confirmed to have attended – just a half a million off the record so far.
The final 2 Written In The Stars drone shows are at 9:10pm on Monday & Wednesday night – the Monday being a public holiday. Luckily, unlike in 2016 when a crowd crush occurred near the Moore Steps, Vivid Sydney has been preparing for the extraordinarily sized crowds to converge for these final 2 drone shows particularly Monday night’s. Today, in addition to the existing transport advice, organisers released some special transport advice for this Monday and Wednesday:
If travelling by train or light rail, hop off/on at Town Hall and walk down/up George Street to/from Circular Quay. This walk will take about 20 minutes both directions.
From 8:30pm to 9:30pm, trains will not stop at Circular Quay directly from/to certain stops. A list of the stops is at the end of the article. For all other stops, trains will not drop off passengers at Circular Quay on Monday only. This means between 8:30pm & 9:30pm on drone show nights, trains will not stop at Platform 1 – the Harbour Bridge view platform – as people are crowding out the platform not to catch a train but for the ‘perfect’ view of the drones. As a result, all trains during those times, will leave from Platform 2 – the Customs House platform. If you want a similar view, find a publicly open nearby building that has publicly accessible views of Circular Quay or go to the Cahill Expressway walkway, directly above Circular Quay train station.
A lot of customers tend to congregate on the platform, to get a nice view of the drones over Circular Quay. It’s very important, obviously, that we maintain the safety of that platform.
Sydney Trains Chief Executive Matt Longland
From 5pm Monday to 1am Tuesday & 9pm to 10:30pm Wednesday, the Circular Quay, Bridge Street, Wynyard & Queen Victoria Building light rail stations will not be operating. Remember, Vivid Light ends at 11pm each night.
New South Wales Police also announced extra police resources will be deployed on Monday.
Remember, you can also watch Monday’s Written In The Stars drone show online live or watch a stream of Sunday the 28th of May’s drone show by visiting our ‘Watch LIVE’ page.
Like we wrote in 2016, extra police officers will only take up more space. The Circular Quay Platform 1 problem won’t be solved unless they empty & close access to the platform at 8:30pm. We believe they will do that but there has been no confirmation of it. In any case, we advise to not use that platform to watch, photograph or film the drone show. The advice given by organisers won’t alone reduce crowds but will make getting to & leaving Vivid Sydney a lot easier if implemented. Instinct will lead people to still head to Circular Quay train station to head home as that would be normally the quickest way (particularly in the 10 minutes post-drone show unless your stop is listed below). Until Vivid implements correctly the recommendations I made in the 2016 article, we can only rely on their advice: please arrive and head home via a George Street walk & Town Hall train/light rail stations.
If you see illegal drone use at Vivid Sydney, you can report to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) here.
This year’s Vivid Sydney, the 1st post-COVID-19 pandemic edition & the 2nd since the pandemic began, from as early as the opening weekend, has seen people bringing & flying drones despite not having approval from CASA, putting at risk helicopters, seaplanes as well as Vivid Sydney’s own drone shows and spectators – all of which are at low altitude. As a result, organisers and authorities are urging people to not fly drones at Vivid Sydneyunless you have approval from CASA.
Vivid Sydney 2023 is the 1st ‘Sydney Spectacular’ and year respectively that illegal drone use from people has promoted warnings from authorities.
We are aware some people have brought their drones to Vivid
Civil Aviation Safety Authority
You may not be aware, especially if you’re an international visitor, but Sydney Harbour is not just a working international seaport but a domestic airport as well. Whilst helicopters fly at low altitudes frequently over Sydney Harbour from numerous heliports, whether it is media, medical/rescue/tourist flights or civilians having a recreational flight, seaplanes actually use the Harbour as a runway. Rose Bay is the home & ‘runway’ of Sydney’s seaplanes, which takes tourists on joy flights around New South Wales & is just a mere 4 kilometres from the heart of Vivid Sydney, Circular Quay.
Seaplanes and ‘land’ planes are still the same – they are aeroplanes. They need room to take off and most critically, land, particularly if it is an emergency landing and they need to fly at lower altitudes to do this. All this applies to helicopters as well.
Orange: Approved Seaplane/Helicopter Air Routes, Red: Rose Bay Water Airport Boundary, Silver: Recommended Seaplane ‘Runways’, Yellow: Vivid Sydney Drone Show Boundaries, Purple: Vivid Light Walk 2023
With the King’s Birthday long weekend approaching, when the biggest Vivid Sydney crowds arrive, organisers, CASA & New South Wales Police are urging people to keep drones away from Sydney Harbour unless you have approval from CASA.
Drones aren’t completely banned from Sydney Harbour. You just need to receive approval from CASA. Even if you did get approval, you still have to follow the rules:
You can only fly 1 drone at a time.
Your drone must be direct visual line-of-sight at all times so you cannot fly via instruments like devices, screens or virtual reality goggles.
Only fly your drone during the day
Your drone must be in flight 30 metres away from people (except from the pilot or supervisors) regardless of altitude.
Your drone must be no higher than 120 metres above the ground during flight.
Your drone must not be flown behind obstacles, in cloud, fog, smoke or within 100 metres of Sydney Opera House’s Benny The Seal
To extend beyond most of the above rules, you need special approvals from CASA.
If you’re unsure where to fly your drone, use a CASA-verified drone safety app to find out where you can and can’t fly you drone. Download your preferred app today here.
If you intend to fly your drone for or at work (commercially), you will also need to register your drone with CASA and get a licence/accreditation.
In Australia, CASA follow up reports of illegal drone use, who may advise you on laws and give you a warning. They can also issue fines of up to AUD$1,375 per offence, impose operating restrictions or restrict/cancel your accreditation, licence, certificate, or registration.
For serious offences, such as if you interfere with a drone or your drone becomes a hazard to other aircraft, or if you refuse to pay a fine, CASA may refer your case to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, and you may receive a summons to attend court. If the matter is taken to court, fines of up to AUD$33,300 can be imposed, you could be restricted from flying, convicted of a crime and sent to jail for up to 2 years.
If you did not know, Australia has a national drone detection system at airports.
Drone shows were first introduced to Sydney Harbour in 2016 & after a 6-year absence and since 2022, are now an annual feature at ‘flagship’ Sydney Spectacular, Vivid Sydney & other Sydney Spectaculars, Elevate Sydney & Noel Sydney. Vivid Sydney 2023 – Naturally‘s Written In The Stars drone show has been assessed by CASA “to ensure all safety measures and checks are in place”.
In the end, the more non-show drones in the air during Vivid, the more cluttered the night sky would be during Vivid, the less spectacular Vivid will be, the less drone shows there will be at Vivid.
Best advice: Keep the drones at home and photograph from land, watercraft or a non-drone aircraft.
Recreational drones should not be flown at night or in a populous area, such as major events like Vivid Sydney.
Sydney Harbour and surrounding areas are in a no drone zone, without prior approval, due to helicopters and seaplanes that fly at low altitudes in the area. If you’re heading to Vivid Sydney, leave your own drone at home.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority
Whilst we love to see the public enjoying the sights and sounds – and we appreciate the temptation to gain a bird’s eye view of the spectacular scenery – recreational drones pose a serious safety risk to the public when flown over crowds.
Drones are not permitted to be flown over populous areas, including crowds, beaches, parks, and events such as the Vivid Festival, and the Sydney CBD area.
The Sydney Harbour is a no-fly zone.
Breaching these rules can lead to fines, or even gaol.
We’d prefer that everyone avoids these penalties and instead has a safe and enjoyable time at the Vivid Festival.
Sydney Spectaculars 
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