‘Some said it couldn’t be done… but the industry media the inaugural Australian Entertainment Technology Week is announced,’ ACETA’s Frank Hinton, triumphantly.

Australian Entertainment Technology Week is set to run from
22 to 27 July in Sydney, taking advantage of the Entech-Intech event taking place at the Convention & Exhibition Centre and offering what the Australian Lighting Industry Association (ACETA) hope will be a lead to rationalise the number of industry trade shows in Australia and refocus the remainder on core industry values.

‘Some people quietly said to me that while they thought it was the idea (and leadership) that the industry needed we’d never pull it off because there were too many vested interests,’ Hinton says. ‘They were almost right in some regard, but not all. Which, fortunately, was not enough to derail the concept.

‘We surveyed the membership, wrote a white paper which was widely distributed and supported, and held liaison meetings. Then we watched and waited to see who would listen. And the result is that many did. Have we reduced the number of shows overall? Sadly, not yet.

ACETA has sought partnerships in order to build Australian Entertainment Technology Week. ‘These are still developing, but so far we can confirm ALIA (Australian Lighting Industry Association) will run workshops,’ Hinton says. ‘AES will be in the precinct with a programme of research papers and we are talking with two other associations connected to the industry with a view to them also running workshops for their members.

The purpose of these partnerships is to promote inclusion and unity, and to create a ‘by the industry, for the industry’ event.

More information is available from Ian Harvey or Sara Hood at the ACETA office.

More: www.aceta.org.au
More: www.alia.com.au