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Sydney, Australia – The ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards at the Sydney Opera House, ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) announced some of the most significant changes in the ARIA Awards 24 year history. Prior to the presentation of fourteen ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards, ARIA Chairman, Ed St John and the Minister for Major Events, Kevin Greene, unveiled this year’s events and plans.

What began as one night has evolved into a season of six events, one of which was the ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards held. In his speech, Minister Greene announced the support of the ARIA Awards through its events arm, Events NSW, and then revealed the 2010 calendar.

The 2010 ARIA Awards countdown started today at the Sydney Opera House with the ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards, the first of six events on the 2010 ARIA calendar and culminating in the grand finale on Sunday, 7 November and broadcast on Network Ten.

Next stop is set down for Tuesday, 28 September at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music for the Nominations Event to find out just who is in the running when ARIA announces the nominees in a record 31 categories, and the 4 winners in the Artisan Award categories for the ARIA Awards.

Just two weeks later on Monday, 11 October, and for the 3rd event, ARIA presents the Classical, Jazz, World Music and Soundtrack categories in a very intimate and resonant ceremony for the ARIA Fine Arts Awards.

For the first time since its inception as a standalone event, the ARIA Hall of Fame is welcomed to Sydney’s
Hordern Pavilion on Wednesday, 27 October. This year, a total of four inductees will join the ranks of those
illustrious artists already inducted.

As the countdown moves from weeks to days, from Monday, 1 November stand by for the details of a unique roll out of the winners in the twelve Genre categories, in a bold move that will only heighten and intensify the speculation as to who will take out the coveted ARIA Album of the Year.

And in just sixteen weeks from today we go full circle, as an iconic venue plays host for the first time to an
iconic event on Sunday, 7 November. The Sydney Opera House promises to be turned inside out as Network Ten takes us live to the Opera House Forecourt and Concert Hall for the 2010 ARIA Awards where viewers will witness as unique a broadcast as ever with eleven Awards, six performances, incredible production values and a stellar backdrop that promises to deliver a potent mix of excitement and “must see TV”.

ARIA Chairman and President and CEO of Warner Music Australasia, Ed St John said: “The great thing about
the ARIAs is our ability to evolve. We’ve come a long way from our modest beginnings – the last eight years at Acer Arena have been brilliant, but it’s now time to take this event to a whole new level. The ARIAs at the Sydney Opera House will be utterly spectacular, and it could only be possible with the commitment of Network 10 and the generous assistance of Events NSW.”

Mr. St John also announced two new peer voted categories to the ARIA Awards with Best Hard Rock/Heavy
Metal Album and Best Adult Alternative Album. For the first time ever, ARIA is introducing four Public Voted Awards. Mr St John said today “While the ARIA Awards have built their authenticity over the years through a peer voted system and will continue to do so, we also want to offer fans the opportunity to participate, and this year they will via four public-voted awards. Full details of this exciting new initiative will be revealed at the Nominations Event on Tuesday, 28 September”.

This brings the number of ARIA Awards categories to a record thirty one Awards.

David Mott, Chief Programming Officer, Network Ten, said: “We are delighted to partner once again with ARIA, especially as it heads into this new period of growth. Our live broadcast will deliver a spectacular ‘Event TV’ experience as we showcase Australia’s best music talent against one of our country’s most iconic backdrops, the Sydney Opera House.”

The 2010 ARIA Awards will be a FremantleMedia Australia production for Network Ten.

Source: http://www.aria.com.au/documents/ARIAannouncesthe2010ARIAAwardsseasonofevents.pdf