25 February 2027 | Hilton Park Lane, LONDON
The Arthur Awards – the most prestigious and highly anticipated annual awards of the global live music business – take place during ILMC week, with a broad music business audience in attendance.
Housed in a brand-new top-flight venue for 2027, the night sees 600 of the world’s top live music professionals – promoters, agents, venues, festivals, and more – come together as excitement builds, the winners are announced, and the golden statuettes are handed out.
Supported by:
Three decades of celebrating excellence
The Arthur Awards began as a tongue-in-cheek affair in 1995 but have grown over three decades to become known as the Oscars of the international live music business.
The finalists in each category are shortlisted from thousands of votes received from fellow live industry professionals from across the globe. Once the shortlist in each category is announced, the winners are selected by an open vote of live music professionals in addition to a closed jury vote.
The 'Off the Charts' Gala Dinner
The evening begins with a champagne reception before the real spectacle begins: a five-star, four-course banquet from the Hilton’s award-winning chefs, complemented by fine wines, all with illustrious company.
As anticipation builds, the spotlight shifts to the Arthur Awards themselves: eleven categories, countless nominees, and only one victor in each. The 2027 Awards will be hosted by The Arthurs’ longstanding host and conductor extraordinaire, Ms Emma Banks.
Arthur Award Highlights
Keith Dawkins
President
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Harlem Globetrotters & Herschend Entertainment Studios
An award-winning, strategist and creative, Keith Dawkins is a chief executive officer with 25+ years of experience in the media/entertainment landscape, professional sports arena, and philanthropic industries. He serves as president, Harlem Globetrotters & Herschend Entertainment Studios, charged with the overall day-to-day operations of both entities. In his role, he spearheads the brands ongoing evolution from a live event business, spanning 124 countries across six continents, to a global branded entertainment force.
In this role, Dawkins has spearheaded the organisations growth and expansion across media/entertainment, consumer products, commercial partnerships, corporate social responsibility, digital/social media, and through a variety of strategic partnerships that are re-energising its global footprint. He orchestrated a content deal with Hearst Media Production Group, which returned the Globetrotters to television for the first time in 40 years, with the three-time Emmy®Award-nominated hit NBC weekly series Harlem Globetrotters: Play it Forward.
He continues to increase the content development slate with best-in-class partners including Hidden Pictures, Atmosphere TV, Reach TV, Hearst Media Production Group, Grey Television, Composition Media, Sesame, and many others.
Under his leadership, he has steered the global organisation to three consecutive years of revenue and EBITDA growth, leading to audience expansion across its owned and operated, and partner, platforms – as well as its successful return to Asia and its countries of Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
He spearheaded the first of-its-kind Sports Residency at American Dream in Secaucus, NJ in August of 2024, which also resulted in a deal with Scripps TV to provide the play-by-play of a Globetrotters at the residency. This marked the first time in over 40 years that a Globetrotters game was broadcast live.
Dawkins has also solidified deals with IMG as the exclusive licensing / merchandising partner as well as with Excel Sports as the Globetrotters official commercial partner.
In addition, Dawkins also launched the Harlem Globetrotters first-ever corporate and social responsibility programme. The Goodwill Ambassador Initiative focuses on the strategic pillars of health & wellness, education, and community empowerment. The initiative has created partnerships with the U.S. State Department, Microsoft, Comic Relief/Red Nose Day, the United Nations, and Campus Multimedia to name a few.
Dawkins is also the sole proprietor of Rock Hill Media Ventures (RHMV), the media company he founded in 2018. RHMV clients and strategic partners have included the National Basketball Players Association, award-winning production companies such as Believe Entertainment Group and 9Story Media Group, global distributors, Sutikki and Toonz Media Group, Battat Entertainment Group – a division of Battat toy company, former NFL player, Rashad Jennings, and many others.
Previously, Dawkins served as EVP, World Golf Foundation and chief executive officer of The First Tee, a non-profit organisation that uses the game of golf positively and that impacts the lives of over 5m young people annually.
Prior to The First Tee, Dawkins spent 17 years at Paramount (formerly Viacom) serving as Nickelodeon’s first ever GM for the Nicktoons Network. Over the years he rose within the organisation to EVP, where his purview included overseeing TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nick Jr. and NickMusic channels, and launching a Nick Sport initiative.
In addition to his professional work, he has been involved in various boards including the Board of Governors of Ramapo College of New Jersey; where he also serves as an Adjunct Professor; a former member of the Board of Advisors for Calyx Peak Companies, the NY chapter of “Reach Out and Read;” and the inaugural President of the Ridgewood High School Alumni Association. A graduate of the CTAM Executive Management Program at Harvard Business School and the NAMIC Executive Leadership Program at UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management, Dawkins holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Ramapo College.
He currently resides in Ridgewood, NJ, with his wife and two sons.
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