Carriageworks

Sydney’s Carriageworks To Expand Into Cultural Centre To Rival Opera House

A $50 million redevelopment plan has touted Redfern’s Carriageworks as an arts centre set to rival the Sydney Opera House as Sydney’s biggest cultural centre.

The grounds once known as the Eveleigh Rail Yards is currently a hub for music, theatre and other cultural events, and is set to see a massive upheaval over the next six years. Officially titled the Carriageworks Six-Year Strategy, the redevelopment is set to include a live music venue with a 5000 person capacity (about the same as the Hordern Pavilion) a 200 seat cinema, and large spaces for arts exhibitions, as well as cafes, restaurants and bars.

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, the venue aims to attract 2 million visitors a year and to earn $15 million per annum by 2021.

The centre will not be physically expanding into surrounding areas; rather, it will be redeveloping much of the interior of the area, including upgrading a number of bays “to create an acoustically sealed space of 6000 square metres with blackout capacity and climate control.” Music festivals, film and fashion shoots are all on the cards for the upgraded venue, as well as spaces for a publishing house, start-up companies and “independent creatives.” The existing food markets will be expanded, and other food events and festivals will be planned throughout the year.

The venue has seen a massive increase in use and events over the last few years, rising from 110,000 annual visitors in 2012 to a huge 790,000 last year.

“Carriageworks reflects urban contemporary Sydney, which is a different experience from when you go to the Art Gallery [of NSW] or the MCA or the Opera House,” says Carriageworks director Lisa Havilah.

“We also work across disciplines and the creative industries and that’s what really makes Carriageworks a distinctive cultural precinct.”

Anyone who has visited the space knows how well-spaced and beautiful it is, so this could be a really exciting venture – particularly as it lies outside the current lockout precinct which has claimed much of the CBD’s late night entertainment. While there will no doubt be protests from residents (the gentrification of Redfern has long divided residents of the historically significant area), it may well be a much-needed cultural injection into a city that is a shell of what it once was.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Image: Limelight Magazine