Western Sydney University Research Week Future Cities: Urban Living Futures Theme Day, Liverpool Campus, 23 October, 2019

Craig Donarski, CEO Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.  “Cultural Infrastructure needs in the Liverpool LGA”.

I’ve been asked to identify three key issues regarding cultural infrastructure in the Liverpool LGA, and these bring together, in pointy and practical terms, many of the themes and ideas that we’ve heard so far today.

The needs of South West Sydney are many and varied, and the cultural infrastructure deficit is legendary – but let’s limit ourselves to three aspects.  The three of many are:

• Live music
• Small-scale decentralised making spaces
• A large-scale multi-purpose event site

So let’s just rip into them:

1. LIVE MUSIC

The problem?

• You can’t get a gig in this town unless you’re a tribute band, a covers band or a club crooner/retro act.
• The distinct lack of seats and venues that can host live music.
• Those that can have limited appetite for diversity.

The East and the Centre have seven times the number of theatre seats of the West.  If you were to make one of those heat maps that we saw earlier of the Liverpool LGA, you certainly wouldn’t see any darker colours – or anything much at all really.  You can’t map what isn’t there!

Liverpool City Council (LCC) has recognised that deficit for some time and has started to try several strategies to at least begin to address it.  There are three that have provided promising results so far:

• CPAC (Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre) LIVE – FREESOULS EXAMPLE – THE CALLOUT
• LOVE LIVO NIGHTS – THE POP-UPS
• STRAPPING ON LIVE MUSIC TO THE NEW GENERATION OF EVENTS, EG. LIVERPOOL ON A ROLL.

But Councils can’t do this stuff alone.  We need partners, including the University sector, who can be part of it.

Footbridge/Seymour/Manning Bar (University of Sydney) or my alma mater’s Wollongong Uni Bar, which not only was an important leg on the touring circuit in my time in the late 70s and 80s, but more recently was one of the spearheads of the rebirth of the live music scene in that city.  Not just in terms of operating a venue, but helping provide the intellectual leadership that assisted that city to think its way towards a renaissance of live music – much like the path that Western Sydney University has now embarked on with such initiatives as this Cultural Infrastructure Session.

Plus, venues need the regulatory framework to support not inhibit them, and part of that involves retraining residents’ expectations.

One of my fave examples of how to do that comes from Wollongong, where in 2013 the Council established a Live Music Taskforce – including reps from Wollongong University – to advise on how they can support a vibrant night-time economy and support their local music scene.  The taskforce made four simple recommendations to support and encourage Wollongong town centre as a place for live performance and music, and to end some of the conflicts over noise and amenity.

The first was to place on the property title (a 10.7 Planning Certificate. which used to be called a Section 149 Certificate) of every property in the area with a simple statement that the:

Wollongong City Centre and Town Centres play a key role in accommodation, cultural, sporting and business uses.  A key to the revitalisation of these centres’ is to build on these aspects through greater activation and investment beyond 5pm through an evening economy.  Future residents should be aware that these uses may generate noise, odour, traffic and have longer hours of operation, which is part of living in/near a commercial centre.

Everyone who moves into the area knows that it is a place of entertainment and not a quiet dormitory suburb.

The second step was a form of “agent of change” approach requiring all new buildings to be suitably insulated for noise.

The third step was the establishment of a coordinated noise complaints process involving local police, Council officers and other relevant agencies. The aim is to manage the negative externalities of live performance while at the same time preventing the vexatious from forum shopping to close venues down.

The fourth step was to encourage ‘pop up’ performance spaces in Council-controlled parks and beaches by streamlining the Development Approval (DA) process for short-term events.

In many cases they have existing DA’s in place for major sites which means events can be held at short notice and without the need for a formal assessment process.

These simple measures have done much to restore Wollongong’s reputation as a vibrant city which values live performances and the arts.  But, more importantly, it has directly challenged the culture of compliance and control, which characterises so much of New South Wales, with a culture that celebrates live performance.

One of the shiniest examples of this rebirthing in action there is in Port Kembla which, among its many new attractions, is now home to one of the most exciting new music venues – The Servo.  Look up Servo Food Truck Bar on Facebook as these people are too cool to have anything as old fashioned as a website, or better still pay a visit to this converted petrol station and see what can bubble up when you create the right framework.

It’s a fully licensed independent music and arts venue run by a handful of locals made up of musicians, visual artists, and community-focused individuals.

It is a safe social and performance space for people of all ages and identities.  The Servo aims to encourage diversity and foster inclusion through a varied music and entertainment program.  An ever-changing array of food trucks is also on site to feed your appetite.  They’re wheelchair accessible and minors are welcomed as long as they are under the constant supervision of a responsible adult.

2. SMALL-SCALE DECENTRALISED MAKING SPACES

Western Sydney suffers from a lack of art-making, rehearsal, recording, production and cultural spaces, making it difficult for artists to live and work within the region, and for the community to access opportunities for cultural and creative engagement.  This is evident in anecdotal discussions with artists and the public, in the popularity of programs such as the Parramatta Artists’ Studios, and in Liverpool’s own experiences with providing ad-hoc artists’ spaces and residency initiatives, for which there is often high interest from local artists.

Furthermore, Western Sydney’s relative affordability of housing means that artists can be further incentivised to live and work within the region if creative spaces are available to them in the same locales as affordable housing.  This has significant economic, social and productivity benefits to the music and arts economy in NSW.

Local community groups that make various forms of arts and culture, be that an Indian dance troupe, the Matavai Pacific Cultural Arts Centre, or the LAS Drawing and Painting Classes, all pine for more facilities.  There have to be more making spaces than just at Casula, particularly as the growth centres move further and further away from the city centre.

Currently, non-purpose-built spaces, such as community halls and centres, are used to support arts and cultural activity.  These spaces are generally not ideal for creative participation as the venues lack specialised facilities, equipment and, most importantly, storage spaces!

While these spaces may be used for arts and cultural purposes, particularly in areas with limited arts and cultural infrastructure, they do not provide an optimal context for community and professional arts practice.  In extreme examples, groups like Matavai have rented an old factory site in an ugly industrial estate from which to operate.  They survive and thrive in spite of their terrible environment, but really, we can do better.  And that’s where we can partner with property developers, owners, and private business interests to facilitate these spaces coming together, because councils can’t do it all by themselves

New development areas like Rossmore, Austral, Bringelly, Leppington etc. need hubs that can include everything from library satellites to these multi-use “Making Spaces” for rehearsal, classes, workshops and even for small scale performance.

3. A LARGE-SCALE MULTI-PURPOSE EVENT SITE

The Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC) delivers an innovative and diverse festival and events program, but the Centre is currently working at capacity when it comes to delivering internal concerts and events.  The success of the Centre’s programming has highlighted the need to deliver an outdoor performance area to be able to build capacity, further deliver on creative placemaking, and to service the wider community of South West Sydney.

The Outdoor Concert area will deliver a variety of music concerts, an outdoor cinema program, outdoor theatre and/or opera as well as other festivals, markets, fairs and events.  Examples of community festivals that could take advantage of such a space include Divali, Ramadan, Fiji Day etc.  The Western Sydney Parklands area could be a location, or Woodward Park, or points even further west between the new growth areas and the Aerotropolis.

We are a landowner.  We have the space. We just need the partners.  Liverpool City Council can act as facilitator/convenor in getting everyone together to make it happen.

Federal and State Government funding – or lack thereof, as outlined in the 2015 Deloitte Report  – and the failure of the Cultural Infrastructure Program Management Office (CIPMO) to deliver on its promise of enhanced facilities for the west – means we will have to find new funding partners to make this venue possible.

A mix of commercial and community uses for the site may solve the problem of covering operational costs once established, but a straight business case for the initial capital costs is unlikely to fly in the current climate.