Aus Music CEO Makes $5 Million Donation To Sydney Festival: 'This Is My Way Of Giving Back'

RØDE founder and Chairman Peter Freedman AM has made a huge donation of $5 million to annual music and arts event, Sydney Festival.

The donation is the largest singular philanthropic contribution to the Sydney Festival in its history and Freedman - who has been the principal philanthropic partner of the festival since 2013 - says the gesture is to ensure the future of the event coming out of the COVID pandemic. 

“I am extremely proud to continue my support of Australian arts and culture with this donation to the Sydney Festival,” Freedman said.

“Our artistic communities need assistance now more than ever. The creative arts are at the mercy of this pandemic, more so than any other industry, and the past 12 months have highlighted just how fragile the industry is.”

He continued, "I have long been an advocate for the Sydney Festival and strongly believe it is one of the world’s most important cultural events and most certainly Australia’s. 

"The festival has supported thousands of creative artists and behind-the-scenes workers in the industry. These are the people who have supported my career with RØDE, and this is my way of giving back to them.

“The fact that [Sydney Festival Artistic Director] Wesley Enoch and his wonderful team have managed to persevere through 2020 to put on such an incredible event in 2021 is remarkable and a testament to the resilience of creativity.

"I know that the next few years are going to be tough for the festival and for the Australian arts as a whole and I am humbled to be able to make a contribution that will help ensure our cultural heart continues to beat.”

Incoming Sydney Festival Director Olivia Ansell added, "Mr Freedman’s generous philanthropic gift will do much to rescue the state of our arts industry after the immense disruption COVID has caused.

"New commissions, major presentations and the livelihoods of so many talented Australian and international artists will be made possible because of his generosity and unwavering belief in what we do.

"Ongoing support is vital to sustaining a pipeline of new work creation that can ensure the Sydney Festival can remain excellent in all that we do.” 

The 2021 Sydney festival, which kicked off last week, features a music line-up that includes E^ST, Alice Ivy and Thandi Phoenix, while past years have seen performances from acts like The Go-Betweens, Archie Roach, Steve Kilbey, Orville Peck and Aldous Harding.

The news comes after Freedman purchased one of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's famous acoustic guitars for a record price of $US6 million ($8.8 million) in June last year. 

Following the purchase, Freedman said he would use the guitar to lobby government to support the local music scene through the COVID pandemic.