Tag: Sydney New Year’s Eve

ABC will welcome in 2015 with a 4-hour entertainment extravaganza to celebrate New Year’s Eve when they again join with the City of Sydney to bring the world-renowned fireworks to audiences around Australia.

The team that brought you the Friday Night Crack Up now brings you ABC TV’s New Year’s Eve Spectacular. Counting us down to the sensational fireworks on Sydney Harbour, Julia Zemiro and Toby Truslove guide us through the biggest night of the year. This 4-hour entertainment bonanza will feature a special mini-episode of Nowhere Boys, Lawrence Mooney will host Australia’s biggest ever Pub Quiz, and Adam Zwar presents a special edition of The Agony of New Year’s Eve. While the harbour is showered with fireworks, home viewers will be dazzled by a night of comedy, music and more celebrities than you can shake a sparkler at.

‘Engineering A Better Sydney NYE’ is a campaign between the City of Sydney and Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB) to encourage the community to get creative and suggest ideas to address New Year’s Eve challenges in and around Sydney.

For the 2nd consecutive year, EWB has been chosen as the official charity partner of the 2014 Sydney New Year’s Eve celebrations. For more information: http://www.sydneynewyearseve.com/about/charity–partner/

Lizzie Brown, CEO of EWB said sustainability, crowds, road closures and access for people with a disability were common problems facing Sydney revellers on New Year’s Eve.

“EWB’s ‘Engineering A Better Sydney NYE’ competition invites the community to come up with innovative ideas to solve these problems,” Ms Brown said.

“Ideas will be judged as to whether they embody the spirit of Sydney NYE, represent socially conscious design, are scalable, utilise business and technology in a meaningful way and embody the values of EWB: community, sustainability, respect, learning and quality.”

The top 5 ideas will receive tickets to an exclusive Sydney New Year’s Eve viewing area and will be announced on 5 December 2014.

Judging the top ideas are a pre–eminent judging panel of: Lizzie Brown, Danny Almagor (Founder of EWB Australia, Co-Founder and CEO Small Giants), Aneurin Coffey (Sydney NYE Producer), Sally Dominguez (award winning designer and creative thinking educator) and Dr Brandon Gien (CEO Good Design Australia).

The competition encourages the community to submit ideas in the following categories:

• Crowd management
• Access for people with disability
• Harbourside sustainable audience engagement
• Unattractive event infrastructure.

For more information about the campaign and competition, please visit www.engineeringabetterworld.com.au

Australian screen legend Jack Thompson is preparing to take on his latest starring role as the Creative Ambassador for 2014 Sydney New Year’s Eve.

One of the country’s most accomplished storytellers – both as an award-winning actor and lifelong lover of poetry – Mr Thompson will bring the theme of this year’s celebrations, Inspire, to life with a series of stories inspired by the harbour city.

“It is such an honour to be able to represent my home town – one of the world’s truly great cities – as the Creative Ambassador of 2014 Sydney New Year’s Eve,” Mr Thompson said.

“Sydney is filled with stories that inspire, from the ancient engravings of the Gadigal people in the sandstone of the headlands to the unique architecture of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.”

“As we prepare to celebrate the year that’s passed and look to the future at what lies ahead, I encourage Sydneysiders and visitors alike to join with us and share their own inspirational stories of Sydney.”

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said she could not think of a better ambassador for 2014 Sydney New Year’s Eve than one of Australia’s best loved cinematic figures.

“From classic Australian films like Breaker Morant to more recent global hits like The Great Gatsby and Australia, Jack Thompson is one of our finest and most accomplished actors,” the Lord Mayor said.

“He also has one of the most famous voices in the country and is known by many for his best-selling recordings of iconic Australian poems, including The Man from Snowy River by Banjo Patterson.”

“As Creative Ambassador for 2014 Sydney New Year’s Eve, Jack will share his favourite stories of our beautiful city: its stunning harbour setting, rich Aboriginal heritage, thriving creative scene and, most of all, diverse and friendly people.”

“I look forward to the celebrations and can’t wait to see how Jack inspires us all as we farewell 2014 and welcome the dawning of a new year.”

Mr Thompson, who was born and raised on Sydney’s northern beaches, has appeared in more than 100 films and television shows over the past 45 years.

He has won prestigious Cannes and AFI Awards, and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1986 for his accomplishments in the film industry.

More recently, he received a Doctor of Letters from Charles Darwin University for his commitment to indigenous territorians through The Jack Thompson Foundation’s Homelands Building Program.

Mr Thompson has been working with the City of Sydney and Sydney New Year’s Eve creative agency Imagination Australia on plans for the event since early this year.

He is the latest high-profile Australian to take on the role of Creative Ambassador for Sydney New Year’s Eve. Last year’s event was led by artist and musician Reg Mombassa, while pop princess Kylie Minogue featured in 2012 and designer Marc Newson headlined in 2011.

Joining Mr Thompson for this year’s event is the official Sydney New Year’s Eve 2014 charity partner, Engineers Without Borders Australia – a non-profit organisation that works with local groups and communities worldwide to provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene, energy, basic infrastructure, waste systems, communication technologies and engineering education.

Sydney New Year’s Eve is Australia’s biggest public event, reaching 1.6 million people on Sydney Harbour, millions across Australia and more than a billion worldwide, and generating an estimated $156 million to the local economy.

The heritage listed MSB Tower, used for pyrotechnics during Sydney New Year’s Eve 2012 – ‘Embrace’, has been recommended to be demolished by  the Barangaroo Delivery Authority as part of altered redevelopment plans for a park.

Standing at 87 metres tall, it served as Sydney Harbour’s control tower between 1974 and 2011 after which the operations conducted inside the tower were moved to Botany Bay. In 2012, it featured for the first and only time during the 9pm Family and Midnight Fireworks for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2012 – ‘Embrace’. This year will be the tower’s 40th anniversary.

The MSB Tower is ideally located on Sydney Harbour providing a panoramic view around Sydney Harbour – perfect for operating Sydney Harbour – so since it is no longer used for that purpose, ideas for keeping the tower have made including converting it into a restaurant or a museum. It can even be used as a special vantage point for Sydney Harbour pyrotechnic displays (as well as continuing to be used as a firing location for Sydney Harbour pyrotechnic displays).

The MSB Tower was originally supposed to be part of their redevelopment plans for a park but after finding that the demolition of the MSB Tower will be cheaper to do than keeping it even for worthy reasons such as the ideas listed earlier, the Barangaroo Delivery Authority have decide to recommend to the NSW Government to approve the MSB Tower’s demolition.

A planning application for the MSB Tower’s demolition is currently being prepared.

 

Relive the MSB Tower’s pyrotechnic appearance in Sydney New Year’s Eve 2012 – ‘Embrace”s 9pm Family and Midnight Fireworks below (It is the most northern used building in the two pyrotechnic displays):

For the first time since 2005, Sydney New Year’s Eve may have the same Charity Partner for 2 consecutive years.

Sydney New Year’s Eve has appointed an annual Charity Partner every year since 2004. Previous Charity Partners are listed in the table below:

Event	Charity Partner
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2004 – ‘Reflections On Australiana’	Oxfam
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2005 – ‘Heart Of The Harbour’
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2006 – ‘A Diamond Night In Emerald City’	Médecins Sans Frontières
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2007 – ‘The Time Of Our Lives’	WWF
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2008 – ‘Creation’	Planet Ark
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2009 – ‘Awaken The Spirit’	Australian Conservation Foundation
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2010 – ‘Make Your Mark’	WWF
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2011 – ‘Time To Dream’	CARE Australia
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2012 – ‘Embrace’	The Fred Hollows Foundation
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2013 – ‘Shine’	Engineers Without Borders
Sydney New Year’s Eve 2014	?

The Charity Partnership gives the Charity a promotional opportunity as well as a chance for the Sydney New Year’s Eve audience to reflect on the Charity’s cause and thus creating a promising public opinion of the selected Charity Partner and Sydney New Year’s Eve.

The Charity Partner appointed for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2013 – ‘Shine’ was Engineers Without Borders Australia: a member-based not-for-profit, community-focused organisation with 10 years’ experience in creating systematic change through humanitarian engineering and education, with a focus on education and community development. Engineers Without Borders engaged strongly with Sydney New Year’s Eve 2013 – ‘Shine’ by providing pop-up interactive sites & a working Lego® wind turbine set at the Lord Mayor’s Picnic 2013 – ‘Sparkle In Space’ for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2013 – ‘Shine’. These pop-up interactive sites were the first major installations by a Charity Partner at Sydney New Year’s Eve, providing it with strong visibility within Wynyard & Pirrama Park and at National Australia Bank House.

The last time a Sydney New Year’s Eve Charity Partner received visibility as strong as this was for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2004 – ‘Reflections On Australiana’ when Oxfam and Sydney New Year’s Eve launched an Australian-wide fundraiser during the event to help victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. But since then, Charity Partners have been less visible. For example, in 2012, The Fred Hollows Foundation installed a photographic exhibition in the Customs House library during the December/January holiday period – this wasn’t officially part of the Sydney New Year’s Eve 2012 – ‘Embrace’ event.

Sydney New Year’s Eve’s Charity Partnership with Engineers Without Borders also aligned with 2 iconic features of construction engineering – the Sydney Opera House (which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2013) and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (a sustained unique symbol for urban community connection and providing an important central point for Sydney New Year’s Eve).

The Charity Partnership with Engineers Without Borders for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2013 – ‘Shine’ proved very successful for both parties. Sydney New Year’s Eve have since identified that the appointment of a Charity Partner for 2 consecutive Sydney New Year’s Eve events would be most beneficial. This has occurred previously, with Oxfam being reappointed as Charity Partner for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2005 – ‘Heart Of The Harbour’, following a Partnership with the event in 2004. This would definitely make the best of the opportunities and benefits for both parties; providing the Charity Partner with an extended awareness platform. An Expression of Interest will be publicly advertised every 2 years seeking a potential Charity Partner for Sydney New Year’s Eve.

In recommending the selection of a Charity Partner, Sydney New Year’s Eve considers the following criteria:

(a) The organisation is an official registered Charity;

(b) The Charity is reputable and internationally recognised;

(c) The work produced by the Charity provides significant benefit to the global community;

(d) The Charity has no religious affiliation;

(e) The Charity’s operational and organisational focus is compatible with Sydney New Year’s Eve as an event;

(f) The Charity is a member of the Australian Council for International Development; and

(g) The Charity has offices in Australia.

Other than Engineers Without Borders, 2 other organisations have approached Sydney New Year’s Eve to be considered for the Sydney New Year’s Eve 2014 Charity Partnership; namely, Oxfam and the United Nations (UN) International Day Of Peace Program (2014-2018). Oxfam was Charity Partner for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2004 and 2005 (‘Reflections On Australiana’ and ‘Heart Of The Harbour’) and remains significant with its delivery of much needed international aid. However, Sydney New Year’s Eve does not consider Oxfam to be as strong an alternative as providing a second year to Engineers Without Borders.

The UN International Day Of Peace Program has scheduled a series of events for April-October 2014 to 2018, promoting UN International Day Of Peace on Sunday, 21 September 2014 and commemorating World War 1 (1914-1918). They seek a Charity Partnership with Sydney New Year’s Eve 2014 to maximise the effect of the message “working together for peace” to reach the broadest spectrum of the community. The UN is likely to gain significant interest in its International Day Of Peace Program from its own firm publicity platforms. As such, the UN International Day Of Peace Program is not seen by Sydney New Year’s Eve as a suitable appointment for the 2014 Charity Partnership.

Engineers Without Borders though, has associations and partnerships with a range of community organisations including Aboriginal community organisations. In 2014, they will lead the establishment of 2 new, national-scale Reconciliation Initiatives, the planning of which is underway. Engineers Without Borders is currently seeking partners and collaborators for both initiatives across industry, government and the education and community sectors. These are:

(a) Technical Career Pathways Initiative – designed to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with careers in the engineering sector and related technical fields; and

(b) Best Practice Guidance Initiative – designed to build a vibrant and committed community of practice across the Australian engineering sector that shares and leverages resources, learning and successful practices to drive and facilitate best practice engineering and access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Engineers Without Borders will also be able to build on the work done in their first year as Charity Partner and stands to increase national and international awareness from another year of association and incorporation with Sydney New Year’s Eve. Engineers Without Borders has already showed their wish to increase its participation should they be appointed for a 2^nd year; providing more pop-up interactive sites to the benefit of both Engineers Without Borders and Sydney New Year’s Eve 2014 attendees.

Accordingly, Sydney New Year’s Eve has recommended that Engineers Without Borders should be re-appointed as Charity Partner for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2014. The re-appointment will deliver benefits to Sydney New Year’s Eve and Engineers Without Borders, in particular allowing the new initiatives trialled at Sydney New Year’s Eve 2013 – ‘Shine’ to be developed.

The appointment of the Sydney New Year’s Eve 2014 Charity Partner should be finalised by 30 May 2014 with an official announcement made possibly sometime in early June.