Vivid Sydney, Australia’s biggest festival hit its biggest attendance record in history, boasting a crowd of more than 3.28 million! (NSW Government 21/6/23).
Vivid Sydney 2023 concluded this year’s successful 3-week presentation on Saturday 17th of June.
The P.A. People again supported this iconic event with an extensive comms package as well as PA systems at various installations around the CBD.
From intercoms & networking, cctv, sound pressure level monitoring, to two-way radios for production and security staff, The P.A. People has designed and delivered a comprehensive suite of services to support the presentation of Vivid Sydney 2023.
Sydney-based specialist integrator and contractor in sound reinforcement, audio visual systems, performance lighting and production communications, The P.A. People are one of the hidden yet integral companies supporting Vivid.
In 2023, they supplied 650 x digital 2-way radios to enable all the security, the volunteers and pretty much all staff on the Vivid-managed site. Chris Dodds, Managing Director of The P.A. People explains; “along with radios, we have our intercom system which provides all of the event management comms. The two-way radio systems are interfaced with a large Clear-Com Eclipse Matrix system located in the event operations centre in the northern CBD, which is also linked to the Police Operation Centre in the south – and four other precinct control rooms.”
The Vivid Sydney Light Walk, around 10km long, saw The P.A. People build a network over the whole of the site which also included 80 network switches – all temporarily installed on a combination of existing in-ground fibre, temporary fibre and RF links.
“We also provide network to 40 x VMS display boards for directions, each of which has a PA system for emergency crowd control, and there are some 60 x CCTV cameras that we install” said Chris Dodds.
The P.A. People also conduct sound pressure level monitoring over twelve sensitive sites across the precinct and proactively monitor the network 24/7, including two people in their control room for every evening of the event.
Additionally, they provided the audio for the Elemental show in Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour, which uses 48 x Celto 10-inch coaxial cabinets in pairs on three-metre trusses with a Bose 18-inch sub at the base of each truss.
With the Vivid Opening Ceremony, the complex infrastructure already described – as well as sound systems at ten other activation sites across the city, Vivid Sydney a substantial project for The P.A. People.
Ahead of this years’ event, Vivid Sydney had this to say:
‘Vivid Sydney is an annual celebration of creativity, innovation, and technology, which transforms Sydney for 23 days & nights. In 2023, for its 13th year, Vivid Sydney will fuse art, innovation, and technology in collaboration with some of the most boundary-pushing artists, thinkers, musicians and culinary experts of our time’ – says the Event’s website. Through various installations, events and locations – Vivid Light, Vivid Music, Vivid Ideas, Vivid Food – this years’ festival program is expansive. In 2023, its’ artistic direction is Vivid Sydney, Naturally. ‘Vivid Sydney provides a unique opportunity to create in one of the world’s most beautiful natural and urban environments, to celebrate the natural wonder and diversity that is Sydney and our planet through creativity, technology and innovation – to be part of the awe-inspiring global event that is Vivid Sydney’ said Gill Minervini, Festival Director.
At the 2022 Australian Event Awards and Symposium, Vivid Sydney 2022 won in the Achievement (National) category for Best Public Event in that year.
Vivid Sydney is owned, managed and produced by Destination NSW, the Government’s tourism and major events agency.
Photo: Destination NSW
