National Indigenous Music Awards moved to July

This year’s National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAs) will be held in July instead of August. The idea is to distance it from the Darwin Festival and accentuate its identity as a stand-alone event.

Said Mark Smith, Executive Director of both the NIMAs and MusicNT,“The NIMAs has grown significantly over the past four years. It is now recognised nationally by the music industry and by the Indigenous community as ‘the’ awards for Indigenous musicians in Australia.

“Since their evolution from an NT based awards in 2012 into that of a national one, it has continued to grow and solidify its place in recognising achievement and excellence in the Indigenous music sector.”

The NIMAs started out 13 years ago as a Northern Territory-only event and hadbeen part of the Darwin Festival before it made the decision four years ago to become national. Since then, the national (and international) successes of acts as Jessica Mauboy, Gurrumul, East Journey and Shellie Morris have seen the awards grow.

The NIMAs will be held on Saturday July 25 at Darwin Amphitheatre.

To ensure remote communities don’t miss out NIMA organisers have aligned with Outback Stores and the Arnhem Land Progress Association [ALPA] who will position ticket boxes in over 35 remote NT community stores so families from all over the Territory can ensure a spot on the grass.