Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546033
B A C K - T O - B A C K M U S I C AWA R D S | P E R S P E C T I V E 2 3 I was asked if I'd like to design both the Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards AND the American Music Awards (AMAs) while designing New Year's Rockin' Eve for Dick Clark Productions. At the time, the whole crew was on the roof of the Cosmopolitan Casino in Vegas on New Year's Eve in the pouring rain. The producers were either impressed with my work, or they felt sorry for me because I was soaked to the bone. Making TV History It was decided to do both award shows just one week apart in the same venue. Two separate producing/directing teams and two separate networks. (The Country Music Awards were on Amazon Prime and the AMAs on CBS) This had never been done before and it was a hell of an undertaking. In all, the Art Department was in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Vegas for twenty- one days (and nights). The initial load-in was very challenging, as the Country Music Awards set was huge and had only four days and two overnights to load it in. Following rehearsals and the live Sunday night show, the crew immediately loaded out and Monday a.m. the load in of the AMAs started. The crew had just one week until that show would broadcast live. With a taped show, there's always the possibility that if you HAD to, you could bump the tape date, but with a live show, that obviously isn't an option, so the freight train was hurtling toward us. The Country Music Awards kept the basic stage from the AMAs, but we changed the entire forestage area and added a side stage. The whole lighting rig was taken down and replaced with Tom Sutherland's brilliant 'Kinetic' lighting pods. The crew moved and reconfigured LED tiles and brought in more scenery specific to the AMAs, like a 30-foot-tall pyramid replica of the AMA trophy that I placed on a turntable. (Just to make things even more complicated.) We also had to load out all sixteen Country Music Awards band looks and load in the D e s i g n f o r L i v e P e r f o r m a n c e B A C K - T O - B A C K M U S I C AWA R D S B Y A N D Y WA L M S L E Y, P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R A. 2026 ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS STAGE. SKETCHUP MODEL RENDERED IN TWINMOTION BY ANDY WALMSLEY. A