Australasia News: Meg Walker Heads ASM Arena Ops; AEG/Frontier Team With Playbill; SXSW Sydney; NZ: Mike Nock Inducted

AUSTRALIA

Meg Walker To Head ASM Global’s Arena Ops

ASM Global tapped Meg Walker as group director of arena operations, taking over Oct. 10 from her current role in Live Nation.

She oversees a portfolio that includes Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena, Brisbane Entertainment Centre and Perth’s RAC Arena, focusing on event acquisition, operational planning for best practice patron experience and event delivery.

Walker will also support arenas in the Asia Pacific, as ASM Global enters a buoyant period of growth.

Aside from senior management roles at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena, John Cain Arena and Palais Theatre, Walker is also involved with the Venue Management School and the Leadership Institute, and serves as board member of the Venue Management Association (VMA).

ASM APAC chairman Harvey Lister cited Walker’s “strategic and collaborative leadership skills” and the ability to mentor the next generation of aspiring venue managers.

Predecessor Tim Worton announced his retirement in April after 30 years at the company to pursue a pastoral chaplaincy role. He and Walker will work together during the transition.

AEG/Frontier Pact With Playbill Group

AEG Presents/Frontier Touring struck a partnership with Sydney-based Playbill Group. Michael Nebenzahl remains managing director.

Set up in 1958, Playbill operates the 5,500-capacity Hordern Pavilion. In August, it ranked No. 8 in Pollstar’s latest Top 15 Australian & New Zealand arenas list with a gross of $792 million and sales of over 122,000.

It runs merchandising for blockbuster musicals and theatres in 12 countries, and partners with major sporting teams and operates venue concessions across Australia and Asia.
It operates in the United States as Platypus Productions LLC.

Nebenzahl said: “In AEG, we have found a like-minded partner to continue to honour the legacy my parents created when they founded the business.” 

SXSW Sydney Expands Music Offerings

The second SXSW Sydney (Oct. 14-20) expanded its musical offerings with 25 new acts. These included UK’s Jorja Smith, Australia’s Nick Ward and Touch Sensitive, China’s Berlin Psycho Nurses, Indonesia’s Kathmandu and mindfreakk, and Thailand’s Yonlapa making their Aussie debuts.

A spotlight on India features legendary film composer AR Rahman and attorney Priyanka Khimani, and a six-act showcase covering hip-hop, pop, r&b, club and neo-classical.

Latest speakers included agents Marty Diamond and Larry Webman (Wasserman), Zach Silva (Anniversary Group), James Osgood and Tessie Lemmle (United Talent Agency); and Jashima Wadehra of New York-based multicultural marketing and talent agency Ode To.

NEW ZEALAND

Jazz Pianist Mike Nock Inducted

Jazz performer and composer Mike Nock will be inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame Oct. 8 as part of the songwriting APRA Silver Scroll awards at St James Theatre, Wellington.

Nock, who cut 126 albums from the 1950s, was born in Christchurch in 1940 and taught the keys at 11 by his father. 

He stowed on a ship to Sydney at 18 to further his career, before moving to Boston with a Berklee College of Music scholarship. 

He remained in the United States for decades, forming his own jazz fusion outfit The Fourth Way, playing in Yusef Lateef’s band and performing with Art Blakey, Dionne Warwick and Michael Brecker.

He returned to Australia in 1986, to teach at the Sydney Conservatorium and was inducted into the  Australian jazz HOF. In his native NZ, he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2003, ran the Naxos jazz festival and had his own TV series Nock On Jazz.