Sydney Music, Art and Culture Awards 2009

Sydney’s artistic fraternity came together in force this week to reward and recognise the city’s most creative and innovative characters. The 2009 SMAC Awards, held at Helm Bar, saw leading musos Kim Moyes, Kirk Pengilly alongside Archibald prize winner, Del Kathryn Barton and Academy Award winning director, Steven Soderbergh, turn up to honour and celebrate this year’s winners.

Muso turned politician John Wardle, who has tirelessly campaigned to get the POPEs abolished, took home the most prestigious award of the evening, the SMAC of the Year. The SMAC of the Year is awarded to the most outstanding artist, professional, or group/collective in any field in Sydney who forwards the cultural fabric of Sydney. John’s work has since opened the floodgates for Sydney musicians to be able to play ‘string free’ in venues across the state.

Oscar-winner, Cate Blanchett, was awarded Best Performer following her performance in A Streetcar Named Desire for The Sydney Theatre Company – her award was collected by her husband Andrew Upton. Fergus Brown was awarded Best Sydney Song for ‘John, She Was Never Only Dancing.’

In the music categories, electronic trio Seekae won Best Live Music Act whilst the Best Music Event went to Nick Cave’s All Tomorrow’s Parties. The Record of the Year award went to the Lost Valentinos for their debut album, Cities of Gold, whilst The Red Rattler was awarded Best Collective and Sherlock’s Daughter picked up Next Big Thing – Music.

Sydney artist, Wade Marynowsky was given the accolade for Best Artist with Semi Permanent, the annual design convention, winning Best Arts Event and the Sydney Festival winning Best Major Festival. I Heart Kings Cross was awarded the Remix in the City Award for rethinking what’s possible and getting creative within the ever colourful area. The event saw the community come together to knit giving residents and visitors an insight into the creativity of one of Sydney’s best loved suburbs.

Winners of the SMAC Awards 2009 are:

· Remix in the City – I Heart Kings Cross

· Best Music Event – Nick Cave’s All Tomorrow’s Parties

· Best Live Music Act – Seekae

· Record of the Year –Lost Valentinos (Cities Of Gold)

· Best Artist – Wade Marynowsky

· Best Arts Event – Semi Permanent

· Best Performer – Cate Blanchett (A Streetcar Named Desire / The War Of The Roses)

· Best Collective – Red Rattler

· Best Sydney Song – Fergus Brown (John, She Was Never Only Dancing)

· Best Major Festival – Sydney Festival

·Next Big Thing – Music – Sherlock’s Daughter

· SMAC of the Year (industry voted) – John Wardle

Tags: Sherlock’s Daughter, SMAC awards, Sydney Music Art and Culture Awards

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 12th, 2009 at 9:17 am and is filed under Australian Art & Fashion, Australian Film, Australian Music, In the news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.