The Upsides of Downturns at Creative Sydney
This evening I spoke at the Upsides of Downturns event at Creative Sydney. The Creative Sydney festival is intended to celebrate the creative wealth and diversity of the city, which is far deeper than most people appreciate and absolutely world-class. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to any of the other events, but I heard some great things about what has been happening through the festival.
I’ll post separately on what I spoke about – below are the unedited notes I took during the presentations and discussion. There were some great ideas put forward, with the most prominent theme of the evening how more and cheaper space in and around city centers can support creative connection and communities. There are clear lessons for urban planning and driving creative cities.
Andrew Ramadge, News.com.au
Challenge of the death of newspapers. The upside is that young journalists are experimenting and trying new things.
Joe Snell, Snell Architects
Materials: clients are more open to innovation in the materials used. Used 1.2km of string for $150, black vinyl on the floor, flourescent lights plus gels and fairy lights, and put upholstery on fruit crates for furniture for a great result at minimal cost.
Time: have time available to do new and different things – get involved
Dutch: in the early 1980s they had a significant downturn, out of which they had an architectural renaissance. This was driven by Rem Koolhaas’s manifesto Delirious New York. We too need a manifesto to take advantage of this downturn.
Nicholas Pickard, Daily Telegraph
In theater, I’m hoping that we shift to a new attitude of just getting on with creating shows. We’re all waiting for the approval of critics or theatre managers. Let’s go beyond that. A touring French theatre company, Theatre du Soleil, addressed the issue of refugees coming to Australia, highlighting how theatre can drive social awareness and change.
Rosie Fisher, Imperial Panda
Do everything as a small team, bringing Sydney artists to perform in Sydney when their shows are being run in other cities. They used the spaces they had available, resulting in people having to be turned away from shows and accusations of elitism. A downturn makes spaces far more available, which is great. TIcket prices are kept as low as possible and all proceeds go to the artists. Collaborative projects are far easier to set up during downturns.
Craig Allchin, 6 degrees
Rahm Emmanuel: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
Melbourne city center was devastated in the mid 1980s. Then it was invigorated and funky because of the low rents. “New things happen in low rent areas” – Jane Jacobs. It is also important to have ‘fine grain’ space which is accessible and inexpensive, allowing the creation of small bars, shops and spaces.
Marcus Westbury, Renew Newcastle (renewnewcastle.org).
Newcastle center is filled with empty, derelict, vandalised spaces. The scheme takes these spaces and makes them available to artists to use, creating galleries, design spaces, installations, crafts shops. Most of these spaces have been empty for 10 years or more. There is virtually no money involved; it’s just about making spaces available. Downturns can be opportunities to make things happen.
