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Speaker 1: But we have learned this morning that the National Indigenous

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Speaker 1: Music Awards have been rescheduled or they're going to have

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Speaker 1: to be postponed. And joining us on the line right

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Speaker 1: now is the National Indigenous Music Awards Creative director Ben Gratz.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Ben, Good morning Katie. Oh Ben.

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Speaker 1: I'm so sorry to hear for you guys that the

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Speaker 1: National Indigenous Music Awards have had to be postponed. I

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Speaker 1: know that you've all been working so hard on organizing them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's been it's been a pretty techtic ride

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Speaker 2: to get here, and particularly the last couple of months,

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Speaker 2: but everything going on down south, you know, it was

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Speaker 2: a real real challenge to try and work out what

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Speaker 2: to do. But you know, I think we've made the

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Speaker 2: best decision for everyone involved at this stage.

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Speaker 1: So why in the end did that decision have to

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Speaker 1: be made that it would really have to be postponed?

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Speaker 1: Is it because of the situation Interstate?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Look, really, our show has a lot of moving

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Speaker 2: part so we engage over fifteen different artists from all

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Speaker 2: different parts of Interstate. One of our major broadcast stakeholders

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Speaker 2: is from Sydney, and then we obviously have the finalists

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Speaker 2: and nominees as well, So you know, like we want

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Speaker 2: to put on the best show that we can and

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Speaker 2: honor our musicians, and you know, we just felt that

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Speaker 2: the show was going to be sacrificed because of the

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Speaker 2: restrictions happening down south and being able to people being

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Speaker 2: able to get to Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Really, yeah, it's such a tough one and I know that,

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Speaker 1: you know, there'd be other events that are in similar situations.

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Speaker 1: Other you know, just so many businesses and so many

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Speaker 1: are impacted by the lockdowns into state. Even though we're

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Speaker 1: not in lockdown ourselves, sometimes we don't think about the

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Speaker 1: ramifications and how deep they run.

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Speaker 2: No, particularly you know, with something like us where we are,

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Speaker 2: as I mentioned before, we are working with so many

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Speaker 2: different parts of our national community that a national event

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Speaker 2: like this is really impacted heavily by the effects of COVID.

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Speaker 2: And you know, this year, you know, in terms of

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Speaker 2: our sector, we were working towards recovery. I think a

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Speaker 2: lot of industries are working towards recovery, and I think

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Speaker 2: that you know a lot of sectors in industries have

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Speaker 2: been hit really hard by this. Both we're just really

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Speaker 2: happy that we can actually postpone it. To later in

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Speaker 2: the year because we have such a great show to

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Speaker 2: be able to show everyone and also to engage, you know,

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Speaker 2: our musicians and most importantly honor our First Nation musicians

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Speaker 2: that have have had a really tough year as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, now, been the event was scheduled for August seven.

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Speaker 1: Any idea of when it's going to be rescheduled too

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Speaker 1: or is it too early to tell at this point?

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Speaker 2: Too early at this stage because we just want to

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Speaker 2: want to monitor and let things kind of just settle

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Speaker 2: down a bit. But you know, definitely, I think once

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Speaker 2: we get through August, I think we're going to reassess

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Speaker 2: and also look at, you know, then what's possible later

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Speaker 2: on in the year. Particularly we've got a lot of

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Speaker 2: obstacles up here in Dahaneh, including the and the wet season,

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Speaker 2: so you know, looking at what that event might look like,

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Speaker 2: is somethink that we'll be talking about.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Ben Gratz, like I said, we're all sorry

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Speaker 1: to hear that it has had to be postponed, but

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Speaker 1: I think that most territories would be pretty understanding and

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Speaker 1: and you know, anybody that was planning on traveling here

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Speaker 1: for it as well would certainly be pretty understanding of

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Speaker 1: the situation. There's so many moving parts for so many

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Speaker 1: different different events and different people at this point in time.

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Speaker 1: So I'm sure when the neimas do happen, they're going

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Speaker 1: to be bigger and better than ever.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, and we're really excited about, you know, bringing

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Speaker 2: those at a later date, so you know, stay tuned.

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Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely good on you, Ben, Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: the chat this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.

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Speaker 1: That's been Gratz there, who is the National Indigenous Music

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Speaker 1: Awards Creative Director,