Mayor to hold crisis summit for live music venues in the Inner West

Thursday 11 March 2021

With the news that iconic Inner West live music venue Old 505 Theatre is to close down at the end of March, Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has announced he is holding crisis summit to discuss ways to help the ailing industry.

Mayor Byrne said the Live Music Crisis Summit will call for immediate action from the NSW Government to save venues across Sydney, while also looking at ways to resuscitate the industry when the lockdown eventually comes to an end.

“With the JobKeeper program finishing on 31 March, industry experts have forecast that as many as 85 per cent of venues could end up closing their doors,” he said.

“Six months ago, the live music industry launched the ‘Save Our Stages’ campaign in a desperate plea to the NSW Government to provide urgent support for music venues.

“The organisers made it very clear at the time that without financial support from the Government many venues would not be able to survive the months of stringent COVID safety measures and social distancing restrictions.

“The closure of Old 505 Theatre is just the canary in the coalmine for live music venues across the city. The Government must immediately roll out a stimulus package to help music venues survive, or watch as more of them go to the wall,” he added.