Carriageworks#Felix Media
{{Short description|Multi-purpose arts venue in Sydney}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = Carriageworks
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| logo =
| logo_upright =
| logo_alt =
| logo_caption =
| image = Toby Burrows.jpg
| image_upright =
| caption = Carriageworks' Public Space
| alt =
| map_type = Australia Sydney
| map_caption =
| map_size =
| map_relief =
| former_name =
| established = {{Start date and age|2007|df=y}}
| dissolved =
| location = Redfern, New South Wales, Australia
| coordinates = {{coord|-33.8942|151.1916|type:landmark_region:AU-NSW|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| type = Contemporary multi-arts including visual arts, dance, performance, music, film, food and design
| accreditation =
| key_holdings =
| collections =
| collection_size =
| visitors = 1,320,000 {{small|(2017)}}
| founder =
| director =
| president =
| ceo =
| chairperson =
| curator =
| architect =
| historian =
| owner =
| publictransit =
| parking =
| car_park =
| website = {{URL|carriageworks.com.au}}
| network =
| embedded = }}
Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Carriage Workshops in Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being used for filming, festivals, fairs and commercial exhibitions. The largest such venue in Australia, it is a cultural facility of the Government of New South Wales, and receives support from Create NSW and the federal government through the Australia Council for the Arts. The centre has commissioned new work by Australian and international artists, and has been home to eight theatre, dance and film companies, including Performance Space, Sydney Chamber Opera and Moogahlin Performing Arts, and a weekly farmers' market has operated there for many years.
On 4 May 2020, Carriageworks Limited, the company that operates the venue, entered voluntary administration and closed, citing an “irreparable loss of income” due to government bans on events during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the consequent negative impact on the arts sector. Carriageworks successfully emerged from voluntary administration and reopened its doors to the public in August 2020.
History
The {{convert|51|ha|acre|adj=on}} Eveleigh Rail Complex was built on the site between 1880 and 1889{{cite NSW SHR|5045103|Eveleigh Railway Workshops|fn=EF14/5406; EF10/20752|accessdate=5 September 2017}} and included the Eveleigh Carriage Workshops, part of which is occupied by Carriageworks. The railway workshops are very significant in the history of the New South Wales Government Railways, Australia's major rail network.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} Carriages for Sydney's expanding rail network were built and maintained within the building. They included the carriage constructed for the Governor General of Australia, also used by visiting royalty, the first electric carriage, and the first air-conditioned train in Australia. From 1973, production at the site declined due to its inefficient older buildings, restrictive union practices and increased privatisation of carriage construction. The workshop was closed in 1988.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}
File:Ryoji Ikeda.jpg in collaboration with Vivid Sydney|thumb]]
In June 2002, the NSW Ministry for the Arts completed the purchase of the Carriage and Blacksmith Workshops at the Eveleigh site. Soon after, a construction project on the site commenced under the name of Carriageworks. Adaptive reuse of the workshop began in 2003 with the housing of numerous contemporary arts practitioners, and Carriageworks was officially opened in 2007.{{cite news |title=Coronavirus impact sees Sydney's Carriageworks close as insiders tip COVID-19 to hit more venues |first=Michaela |last=Boland |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=8 May 2020 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-09/coronavirus-covid19-hits-arts-funding-carriageworks-sydney/12229208 |access-date=11 May 2020}} In 2008, the Australian Institute of Architects awarded Tonkin Zulaikha Greer with the AIA Architecture Award for the adaptive reuse of CarriageWorks, and the AIA Greenway Award for the heritage work.{{cite NSW SHR|5045103|Eveleigh Railway Workshops|hr=01140|fn=EF14/5406; EF10/20752; H05/176|accessdate=11 May 2020}}
In August 2013, the Carriageworks cultural precinct doubled in size, adding {{convert|5000|m2}} to its existing premises in Redfern. Major programs presented at Carriageworks in 2013 included Ryoji Ikeda's Test pattern (No 5) presented in association with Vivid Sydney 2013; FBi Radio's 10th birthday; and Australian Fashion Week.{{cn|date=September 2021}}
File:Christian Boltanski Chance 9 JAN - 23 MAR 2014 at Carriageworks.jpg
In 2014, Carriageworks presented Christian Boltanski's Chance; Ganesh Versus The Third Reich by Back to Back Theatre; Tehching Hsieh’s Time Clock Piece.Sydney, City. 'Carriageworks 2014 | What's On - City Of Sydney'. Whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. N.p., 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2015.
In 2015, exhibitions included Sydney Buddha by Zhang Huan, 24 Frames Per Second an exhibition of 24 screen-based works of 18 Australian and 6 international artists, Siamani Samoa by Michel Tuffery and the Royal Samoan Police Band, Ryoji Ikeda with Superposition, and Xavier Le Roy's Self Unfinished presented by Carriageworks and Kaldor Public Art Projects.{{cn|date=July 2020}}
On 4 May 2020, the company operating the venue, Carriageworks Ltd, declared it would be entering voluntary administration and closing, citing an "irreparable loss of income" due to government bans on events during the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent negative impact on the arts sector.{{Cite news|last= Boseley|first=Matilda |last2=Convery|first2=Stephanie |date=2020-05-05 |title=Carriageworks goes into voluntary administration citing 'irreparable loss of income' due to coronavirus |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/05/carriageworks-goes-into-voluntary-administration-citing-irreparable-loss-of-income-due-to-coronavirus |access-date=2020-05-10 |issn=0261-3077}} Having appointed KPMG as voluntary administrators, the Carriageworks management and stakeholders began working together to explore possibilities for its future.{{cite news | title=Carriageworks calls in administrators amid coronavirus pandemic |first=Victoria |last=Pengilley | work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=4 May 2020 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-04/carriageworks-calls-in-administrators-due-to-coronavirus/12213832 | access-date=12 May 2020}} Carriageworks was the first major arts venue in the country to cease operations during the pandemic.{{cite news |title=Coronavirus impact sees Sydney's Carriageworks close as insiders tip COVID-19 to hit more venues |first= Michaela |last=Boland |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=9 May 2020 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-09/coronavirus-covid19-hits-arts-funding-carriageworks-sydney/12229208 |access-date=12 May 2020}} The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance called for an urgent rescue by the state government.
Carriageworks successfully emerged from administration and reopened its doors to the public in August 2020.{{cite news |title=Carriageworks saved: arts venue lifted out of voluntary administration |first=Linda |last=Morris |work=Sydney Morning Herald|date=21 July 2020 |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/carriageworks-rises-out-of-voluntary-administration-20200721-p55dxt.html |access-date=8 May 2023}}
Description
Carriageworks is Australia's largest contemporary multi-arts centre. It has been supported by the New South Wales Government, receiving funding through Create NSW,{{cite web | title=Carriageworks | website=Create NSW | date=11 February 2020 | url=https://www.create.nsw.gov.au/cultural-infrastructure/arts-properties/carriageworks/ | access-date=12 May 2020}} and also federal government through the Australia Council.{{cite web | last=Wake | first=Caroline | title=Carriageworks was in trouble before coronavirus - but this crisis could be an opportunity | website=The Conversation | date=7 May 2020 | url=http://theconversation.com/carriageworks-was-in-trouble-before-coronavirus-but-this-crisis-could-be-an-opportunity-137888 | access-date=11 May 2020}}
Its vision is "to be recognised as a multi-arts urban cultural precinct that engages and inspires Sydney's culturally diverse communities", and to that end has presented a varied, multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural program for many years which has attracted to up to 1.32 million visitors (2017). Carriageworks has commissioned Australian and international artists "to make monumental new work that intersects with contemporary ideas" and it has striven to reflect the diversity of the community in its exhibits and performances.{{cite web | title=About | website=Carriageworks | url=https://carriageworks.com.au/about/ | access-date=12 May 2020}} The centre plays host to up to 100 projects a year, including contemporary theatre, dance, visual arts, music, film and fashion and corporate events.
The venue is managed by Carriageworks Ltd, which also manages Bays 22-24 (additional spaces available for hire). Carriageworks is a short-term tenant, with the property owned by the NSW government.
=Governance=
{{as of|September 2021}}, the board consists of eight members and one observer, with Cass O'Connor as Chair.{{cite web | title=About | website=Carriageworks | url=https://carriageworks.com.au/about/ | access-date=18 September 2021}} Art writer and curator Blair French became CEO in 2019.{{cite web | last=Morris | first=Linda | title=Lunch with Carriageworks' Blair French: the arts can foster resilience | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=3 April 2020 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/lunch-with-carriageworks-blair-french-the-arts-can-foster-resilience-20191226-p53myj.html | access-date=18 September 2021}}
Lisa Havilah was Director of Carriageworks from 2012 to December 2018,{{cite web | last=Albert | first=Jane | title=Lisa Havilah's ambitious plans for Sydney's Powerhouse Museum | website=Australian Financial Review | date=29 January 2020 | url=https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/lisa-havilah-s-ambitious-plans-for-sydney-s-powerhouse-museum-20191128-p53f4t | access-date=18 September 2021}} during which time she was responsible for its evolution into a multi-arts venue.{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/how-lisa-havilah-turned-carriageworks-into-an-artistic-epicentre-20160411-go3cxf.html|title=How Lisa Havilah turned Carriageworks into an artistic epicentre|first=Lissa|last=Christopher|date=16 April 2016| website=Sydney Morning Herald}} She created partnerships with major events such as Sydney Festival, Vivid Sydney, and Australian Fashion Week, as well as expanding the program to include major food events, and visitor numbers grew from 110,000 in 2010, to 1.32 million in 2017.{{cite web | title=Carriageworks director to depart | website=Australian Design Review | date=9 November 2018 | url=https://www.australiandesignreview.com/news/carriageworks-director-departs/ | access-date=18 September 2021}}
Funding
{{unsourced section|date=July 2020}}
Between 2012 and 2018, Carriageworks only made a profit in one year. In 2018, the centre obtained {{AUD|3.8}} million in government grants, with the rest of its {{AUD|7.8}} million of income from sources such as donations and bequests and sales of goods and services. This model works when times are good, but not in times of crisis. Federal funds via the Australia Council have been falling steadily since 2013–4, especially that directed to individual companies and artists. While Carriageworks was listed in the April 2020 four-year funding round, the cap of {{AUD|500,000}} means there is not nearly enough to maintain a "world-class, heritage-listed venue" as well as provide an ambitious program of commissions. Create NSW has been spending much more on arts buildings than programming in recent years, and the NSW Government did not swiftly announce and deliver bail-out support for the arts during the COVID-19 crisis, as did the South Australian, Victorian and New South Wales governments.{{cn|date=September 2021}}
The National
The National is a series of biennial survey exhibitions featuring contemporary artists, run as a partnership between the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) and held across the three venues. The inaugural edition was held in 2017.{{cite web | title=The National 2021: New Australian Art | website=The National | date=5 September 2021 | url=https://www.the-national.com.au/ | access-date=15 September 2021}}{{cite web | title=About | website=The National | date=28 October 2020 | url=https://www.the-national.com.au/about/ | access-date=15 September 2021}}
Artists and resident companies
File:Brook Andrew, Travelling Colony, 2012.jpg
Song Dong, Waste Not (2013). Exhibition presented with [[4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and Sydney Festival.|thumb]]
Many renowned Australian artists, including Tony Albert, Nell, JD Reforma and Wrong Solo (Agatha Gothe-Snape & Brian Fuata), have worked in Carriageworks' studio spaces.
A number of resident organisations, all working within the contemporary arts sector, used the space: Contemporary Asian Australian Performance, Erth, Sydney Chamber Opera, Force Majeure, Performance Space, Moogahlin, Felix Media, and Marrugeku.
={{anchor}}Erth=
Erth have been producing visual theatre since the 1990,{{cite web | title=Erth | website=Carriageworks | date=1 June 2019 | url=https://carriageworks.com.au/events/erth/ | access-date=11 May 2020}} including puppetry-based productions and community projects. The company is inspired by natural history, Indigenous Australian folklore, sociology and urban mythology. They have produced long-running shows such as Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo and Erth's Prehistoric Aquarium, as well as new shows. The Liminal Hour and Winter Camp at Barangaroo for were commissioned for Vivid Sydney in 2018 and 2019.{{cite web | title=About us | website=Erth Visual & Physical Inc. | url=https://www.erth.com.au/about | access-date=11 May 2020}}
={{anchor}}Felix Media=
Felix Media is an independent film company set up by film producers John Maynard and Bridget Ikin.{{cite web | title=About us | website=Felix Media | url=https://www.felixmedia.com.au/company | access-date=11 May 2020}} Works include Coral, a work for the fulldome screen, by Lynette Wallworth; three multi-screen works Citizen's Band, The Calling, and In the ear of the tyrant by Angelica Mesiti; and the trilogy of adaptations by William Yang, Friends of Dorothy, My generation, and Bloodlinks.{{cite web | title=Home | website=Felix Media | url=https://www.felixmedia.com.au/ | access-date=11 May 2020}}
={{anchor}}Force Majeure=
{{main|Force Majeure (dance company)}}
Established in 2002 by artistic director Kate Champion and now led by Danielle Micich, Force Majeure produces dance theatre works, a combination of dance and storytelling. Apart from producing new works, the company trains and mentors both established artists and the next generation through their INCITE program.{{cite web | title=Force Majeure | website=Carriageworks | date=14 April 2019 | url=https://carriageworks.com.au/events/force-majeure/ | access-date=11 May 2020}}
={{anchor}}Moogahlin Performing Arts=
Moogahlin Performing Arts is an Aboriginal theatre company formed in Redfern in 2007,{{cite web | title=Moogahlin Performing Arts | website=AusStage | date=4 May 2019 | url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/organisation/35231 | access-date=11 May 2020}}{{cite web | title=Moogahlin Performing Arts | website=Carriageworks | date=10 November 2019 | url=https://carriageworks.com.au/events/moogahlin-performing-arts/ | access-date=11 May 2020}} by a group of Aboriginal performing artists and community workers to honour the late Kevin Smith's request and in memory of the founding members of the Black Theatre.Redfernoralhistory.org,. 'Redfern Oral History: Moogahlin Performing Arts'. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 Feb. 2015. The company was incorporated in 2009, hosted by the Redfern Community Centre and Gadigal Information Service becoming a resident company of Carriageworks.{{cite web | title=About Us | website=Moogahlin Performing Arts | url=https://www.moogahlin.org/ourstory | access-date=11 May 2020}} Moogahlin works closely with emerging and established Aboriginal theatre practitioners and communities.{{cite web | title=Redfern Oral History: Moogahlin Performing Arts | website=Redfern Oral History | date=10 May 2020 | url=http://redfernoralhistory.org/Organisations/MoogahlinPerformingArts/tabid/275/Default.aspx | access-date=11 May 2020}}
In 2012 the company performed a play-reading of Bob Merritt's 1975 play The Cake Man, presented by the Sydney Festival and Carriageworks] in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and on 16 January 2015 Moogahlin did a reprise at Eora College (which was founded by Merritt) in Redfern to mark the 40th anniversary of the play.{{cite web | title=The Cake Man | website=AustLit | url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C16106| access-date=9 December 2021}}
={{anchor}}Performance Space=
{{main|Performance Space}}
Performance Space is an organisation for the development and presentation of interdisciplinary arts and experimental theatre, established in 1983.{{cite web | last=Low | first=Lenny Ann | title=Performance Space to celebrate 30th birthday in customary style | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=19 November 2013 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/performance-space-to-celebrate-30th-birthday-in-customary-style-20131119-2xt7a.html | access-date=11 May 2020}}
=Sydney Chamber Opera=
{{main|Sydney Chamber Opera}}
Established in 2010 by artistic director Louis Garrick and music director Jack Symonds, the Sydney Chamber Opera is noted for innovative programming, musical rigour and focus on theatre-making.{{cite news |author=McCallum, Peter |title=Classical And Opera In 2014: Robertson Settles In As Operatic Highlights Come From Companies Big And Tiny Kj |work=Sydney Morning Herald |date=9 February 2015 }}
={{anchor}}Marrugeku=
Marrugeku is a dance company led by co-artistic directors choreographer/dancer Dalisa Pigram and director/dramaturg Rachael Swain, who have worked together for 23 years. The company has Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working together to create new dance dance performances, working from both Broome in Western Australia, and Carriageworks.{{cite web | title=Marrugeku | website=Carriageworks | date=1 June 2019 | url=https://carriageworks.com.au/events/marrugeku/ | access-date=11 May 2020}}
Between 2015 and 2018, the company toured Cut The Sky, featuring singer Ngaire Pigram around the world.{{cite web | title=Ngaire Pigram | website=AusStage | url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/521683 | access-date=29 August 2024}}{{Citation | last= Delaney | first= Brigid | title= Cut the Sky review – angry and political story told through dance and theatre | url= https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/jan/15/cut-the-sky-review-angry-and-political-story-told-through-dance-and-theatre | periodical= The Guardian | date=15 January 2016}} The play, described as "mix[ing] contemporary and traditional music, poetry, contemporary dance and visual media", was created by collaborators from Australia, West Africa, Belgium, Papua New Guinea, and India. The play was based on an historic Aboriginal land rights protest, and featured poems by Edwin Lee Mulligan and songs by singer-songwriters Ngaiire, Nick Cave,{{cite web | title=Cut The Sky | website=AusStage | url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/169729 | access-date=29 August 2024}} and Buffalo Springfield, which were sung by Pigram.{{cite web | title=Marrugeku: Cut the Sky | website=Dance Australia |first= Margaret|last= Mercer| date=2 March 2015 | url=https://www.danceaustralia.com.au/review/marrugeku-cut-the-sky | access-date=29 August 2024}}
On 9 December 2022{{YouTube |pEZQxLcw6qg| This Is Australia by Marrugeku}}, 9 December 2022. Marrugeku released a music video of a remake of Childish Gambino's 2018 song "This Is America", called "This Is Australia", with vocals led by Noongar rapper Beni Bjah. The song features many local references, and criticises Australia's treatment of refugees, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and migrants. Their show Jurrungu Ngan-ga (Straight Talk) toured around the Kimberley region in Western Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, and "This Is Australia" was shot there later, at Fitzroy Crossing, on Bunuba country. Jurrungu Ngan-ga is scheduled to be performed at the Adelaide Festival in March 2023.{{cite web | last=Cain | first=Sian | title=This Is Australia: First Nations dancers remake Childish Gambino's This Is America | website=The Guardian | date=17 January 2023 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/17/this-is-australia-first-nations-dancers-remake-childish-gambinos-this-is-america | access-date=22 January 2023}}
=Contemporary Asian Australian Performance=
Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP), formerly Performance 4A, led by Annette Shun Wah, produces cross-artform Asian Australian theatrical works.{{cite web | title=Contemporary Asian Australian Performance | website=Carriageworks | date=4 July 2019 | url=https://carriageworks.com.au/events/contemporary-asian-australian-performance/ | access-date=11 May 2020}}{{cite web | title=About Us | website=Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP) | url=https://www.caap.org.au/about-us | access-date=11 May 2020}} Its incorporated association was formerly known as Theatre 4A.{{cite web | title=Theatre 4A | website=AusStage | date=2014 | url=https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/organisation/30667 | access-date=22 September 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926152902/https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/organisation/30667| url-status=live| archive-date=26 September 2020}} The company has its origins in the Asian Australian Artists Association Inc., which founded Gallery 4A (now 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art) and Performance 4A in 1997.{{cite web |website=Australian Centre for Contemporary Art |url=https://acca.melbourne/program/defining-moments-founding-of-gallery-4a/ |title=Defining Moments: Founding of Gallery 4A| access-date=22 September 2021| format=Podcast + text| date=26 October 2020|others=Lecture titled Founding of Gallery 4A and the inaugural exhibition in 1997, given by Mikala Tai. (This information is given in the podcast.) |first=Mikala|last=Tai}}
Carriageworks Farmers Market
Carriageworks Farmers Market, is a weekly farmers' market for over seventy regular stallholders featuring seasonal fresh produce including organic, biodynamic foods from farmers and food producers across rural and regional New South Wales. It has operated at the venue since 28 February 2009.{{cn|date=July 2020}} The permanent market site is housed in the custom-renovated blacksmith's workshop. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the market was attracting about 5,000 visitors each weekend.
Exhibitions
In November–December 2016, the 40th anniversary of NAISDA Dance College was celebrated in an exhibition at Carriageworks. Naya Wa Yugali ("We Dance" in Darkinyung language) featured oral histories, photographs, film footage and artwork by Tracey Moffatt, Michael Riley, Juno Gemes, Lee Chittick and Elaine Kitchener as well as a specially commissioned work by Vicki Van Hout and Marian Abboud.{{cite web | title=NAISDA celebrates 40 years | website=The Dictionary of Sydney | date=24 November 2016 | url=https://dictionaryofsydney.org/blog/naisda_celebrates_40_years | access-date=26 August 2022}}{{cite web | title=Naya Wa Yugali - We Dance | website=Carriageworks | url=https://carriageworks.com.au/events/naya-wa-yugali-we-dance/ | access-date=26 August 2022}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Carriageworks}}
- {{official website|http://www.carriageworks.com.au}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 2007
Category:Arts organizations established in 2007
Category:2007 establishments in Australia
Category:Contemporary art galleries in Australia
Category:Art museums and galleries in Sydney
Category:Performance art venues
Category:Performing arts venues in Australia