FBi Radio’s SMAC (Sydney music, art, and culture) Awards are done and dusted for another year, and once again, the good people of Sydney have voted on who stood out over the past twelve months.
With an awards ceremony at Carriageworks last night, musicians, artists, chefs, and industry figures gathered to acknowledge our city’s best and brightest.
Screw the Oscars. Sydney’s most prestigious awards night, The FBi SMAC Awards, are done for another year. Here are the winners.
As acts like Milan Ring, Slim Set, and 100 laid down live performances for the audience, a whole range of awards were given out:
Kwame took out the award for ‘Next Big Thing’, Sampa The Great took out ‘Best Live Act’, and B Wise took out ‘Album Of The Year’. Then, in the big one, Music NSW Director Emily Collins took out ‘SMAC of The Year’.
Introducing Emily at the ceremony, FBi Radio’s Managing Director Nikki Brogan said:
“The SMAC of the Year this year goes to a person who shares our belief that a vibrant viable culture is a legitimate public interest, and she has worked tirelessly to arrest the contraction of the music industry in NSW.
On the ground she’s provided invaluable hands-on support to artists and industry. With an eye always on who comes next, she’s made sure these offerings are accessible and relevant to people across the age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and ability spectrums.
At the same time as working to sustain the industry in all its diversity through this difficult period, she’s been instrumental in triggering the change we’re seeing in our politics. She’s been a driving force behind the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Music and Arts Economy, an advisor to the Callinan Review into the lockout laws, Deputy chair of the Australian Music Industry Network and member of the Cities, Nightlife and Creative Sector advisory panel.
Without fanfare, she has built a comprehensive case for culture in our state, helped unite a disparate industry around it and taken it with iron resolve to the corridors of power.”
Check out the full list of winners below:
BEST ARTIST – Justin Shoulder
BEST ARTS PROGRAM – Sissy Ball
BEST EATS – Paperbark
BEST LIVE ACT – Sampa The Great
BEST MUSIC EVENT – Soft Centre
BEST ON STAGE – Dark Emu – Bangarra Dance Theatre
NEXT BIG THING – Kwame
RECORD OF THE YEAR – Area Famous – B Wise
SMAC OF THE YEAR – Emily Collins