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
Adam Wilkes
President & Chief Executive Officer
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AEG Presents, Europe & Asia-Pacific
Adam Wilkes is the president and chief executive officer of AEG Presents, Europe and Asia-Pacific, a role in which he oversees the continued international growth and success of one of the world’s leading live entertainment companies. For over two decades, Wilkes has been at the forefront of the international live entertainment industry, initially as an event producer and promoter, and more recently as a chief executive leading AEG Presents’ international operations. In 2025, he assumed the newly created role of President and CEO, Europe, adding oversight of AEG Presents’ concert promotion and regional offices across the continent to his ongoing leadership of the Asia-Pacific division.
Since joining AEG Presents in 2011 to spearhead the company’s initial expansion into Asia, Wilkes has been instrumental in establishing its presence and accelerating growth across the region. Over the past 15 years, he has led transformative initiatives including AEG’s strategic joint partnership with Frontier Touring, the development of Bangkok’s UOB Live and Nagoya’s IG Arena, and the promotion of record-breaking tours and marquee sporting events that have defined the Asia-Pacific live entertainment market. His extensive portfolio includes tours by Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, Ed Sheeran, Celine Dion, Katy Perry, Elton John, Justin Bieber, and Metallica, as well as major sports partnerships with the NBA, MLB, NHL, UFC, Manchester United, and Paris Saint-Germain.
Wilkes has played a direct role in producing a series of ‘firsts’ in his career including the first western artist to sell over 400,000+ tickets on an Asia tour (Justin Bieber, Justice Tour 2012), the first ever Major League Baseball game played in China (Dodgers vs Padres, Beijing 2008), the first ever NBA game played in India (Kings vs Pacers, Mumbai 2019), and on March 25, 2016, Wilkes produced The Rolling Stones’ historic concert in Havana, Cuba to a live audience of over one million fans; an event later memorialized in the highly acclaimed documentaries Havana Moon and Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America.
Prior to AEG Presents, Wilkes held executive roles at Taihe Media; Ticketmaster-owned Emma Entertainment; China West Entertainment; and Shanghai Epic Music, the joint-venture partner of Sony Music in China. A global citizen and curious traveler fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, Wilkes resides in London with his family and three children.
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