Vivid Sydney Creative Director Ignatius Jones will be honoured for his stellar major events career as recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Australian Event Awards.
1 September 2017Destination NSW Chief Executive Officer and Vivid Sydney Executive Producer, Sandra Chipchase, said she is delighted that Vivid Sydney Creative Director, Ignatius Jones, has been acknowledged by his peers for a lifetime of achievements.
“Having worked with Ignatius for many years, I believe he is one of the great creative minds of this century and I’m delighted to have someone with his immense talents as part of the team working on Australia’s largest event, Vivid Sydney,” Ms Chipchase said.
“Vivid Sydney returns for the 10th year in 2018, and with the creative brilliance of Ignatius as Creative Director, it’s set to be another spectacular festival that will once again delight, entertain and inspire visitors from across the world.”
On being announced this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Ignatius Jones said, “After 42 years in the business, this is indeed an honour. I’d like to thank everybody who made this possible and who continue to make my life fabulous by working with me on Vivid Sydney.”
“The Australian Event Awards is a unique platform for recognising the sheer diversity and quality of Australian events, and for the event organisers themselves to be acknowledged across the entire national events industry. Obviously it’s a great honour to be acclaimed by an industry I am so very proud to be part of,” he said.
Ignatius Jones has had a long and prestigious career and is one of the world’s leading major event directors and strategists. He has been Creative Director of Vivid Sydney since 2011, guiding the world’s largest festival of light, music and ideas, to great success – including a record 2.33 million attendees in 2017.
Ignatius was a major creative force behind the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies; founding Artistic Director (1997-2002) and instrumental in establishing Sydney’s world-famous Sydney New Year’s Eve celebrations; and co-writer and co-director of Australia’s largest musical theatre production, The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular.
Further highlights from his remarkable career include staging the Independence Ceremonies of the Democratic Republic of East Timor for the United Nations in 2002; writing and co-directing major events like the Doha 2006 Asian Games, the Shanghai 2010 World Expo, the Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, and the 2002 Gay Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
Ignatius Jones will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Australian Event Awards on 13 September.
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