The North Coast region of NSW is a magnet for musicians from all over Australia.

And it's not just the great Byron Bay beaches and the laid-back lifestyle bringing them here. The region lives and breathes music.

For a start, the north coast boasts an impressively wide range of quality boutique recording studios.

Then there are the specialised and accredited music schools and courses, including Southern Cross University, where you can study for a Bachelor of Contemporary Music, and the state-of-the-art teaching facilities at the world head quarters of the internationally recognised School of Audio Engineering.

There are over 40 active live music venues, such as the Railway Friendly Bar in Byron Bay, which has offerred live original music 7 nights a week for over 20 years, and the beautiful and stately Hotel Brunswick, where top quality music is played every weekend in a gorgeous setting by the lazy old Brunswick River.

And of course there are our fabulous local festivals...the simply incredible East Coast Blues and Roots Festival is the biggest in the southern hemisphere, and Splendour in the Grass has become one of the most popular and important youth music festivals in the Australia. But they're just the big ones. The range of interesting niche festivals which have emerged in recent years has further enriched our cultural life.

...and the fact that it is a regular stop for major touring acts, makes this the envy of other regions and often the major cities.

Byron Bluesfest

We began this introduction by listing some of the many entertainment or music related venues, events and organisations in the Northern Rivers region - testament to the importance of the Entertainment Industry to the local economy and community. Many people apart from musicians find employment and enjoyment within the local Entertainment sector and they all have the common goals of setting high quality standards and offering customer satisfaction in the form of good entertainment. These common goals can best be achieved by co-operation, understanding and communication between active players and the North Coast Entertainment Industry Association welcomes any member of the local community who has an interest in the industry, both professional or for pleasure, to join our association and contribute their voice. If you are an event co-ordinator, a music teacher, a venue operator, promoter, journalist, academic or work behind the scenes in production, NCEIA's work is relevant to you and we seek a broad cross section of members.

And we also stress that the word is Entertainment - so if you're a comedian, an actor, a compere, busker, or do gorilla-grams - however you entertain, this is your forum and your networking group.

The Dolphin Awards

Our major iconic event is the annual Dolphin Awards Presentation, a gala evening featuring the best of local entertainment, a great night of gossip and networking and serious fun, at which the winners of each category and the year's best vocalists and song-writers, producers, designers and behind-the-scenes operators are acknowledged.

Since 1991, the Dolphin Awards have served to celebrate our home grown talents and to give peer recognition, while significantly boosting their profile locally and nationally.

Each year NCEIA receives more than 600 entries for the Dolphin Awards.

See the Newsflash (left menu) for details of the upcoming Gala Presentation of the 2007 Dolphin Awards

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