Inner West Arts Recovery Summit
Monday, 4 April 2022
The Inner West creative community coming together for the Inner West Arts Recovery Summit.
The Inner West arts, music and performance community has been hard hit by two years of the COVID pandemic with massive loss of earnings and several venues having to close their doors. In response, the Inner West Council in partnership with the Sydney Fringe Festival and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance is bringing the creative community and political leaders together for the Inner West Arts Recovery Summit to identify ways of revitalising the local industry.
The Summit will be held at the Marrickville Town Hall on the second of June and will include local artists, musicians, performers and creative businesses. Both the NSW Arts Minister, Ben Franklin and the Federal Labor Shadow Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke have agreed to address the summit.
Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said, “After two years of the pandemic and economic hardship, the Inner West arts and music sectors are in a state of crisis.
“As we emerge from the pandemic, it’s now time to look forward and identify opportunities for revitalisation and recovery. So, in partnership with the Sydney Fringe Festival and the MEAA, we’re bringing together local artists, performers, creative businesses and policy makers to agree on a plan to reinvigorate this vibrant and vital part of our Inner West community.
“We really appreciate the NSW Arts Minister Ben Franklin and the Federal Shadow Arts Minister Tony Burke agreeing to come along and open the summit. All state and federal parliamentarians in the Inner West will also be invited. We must all come together and work as one to get our arts scene back up and running.
“The arts-based businesses that have survived the last two years can survive anything. Now it’s time to build on that resilience and get the sector moving again.
“Prior to COVID the Inner West was the beating heart of Sydney’s arts scene and the revitalisation of the creative economy depends on the arts and music bouncing back here.”
Kerry Glasscock of the Sydney Fringe Festival said “After two terrifying years for the sector it’s time to come together to both assess the lay of the land and think about what the future looks like. We have an incredibly resilient community and a number of new, unprecedented opportunities that have risen from the crisis, so it’s a wonderful time to get everyone in a room and plan for the future.”
“The Sydney Fringe is a proud advocate for our sector, we partnered with the NTIA recently bringing together the night time industries to tackle recovery and the results were amazing. Now it’s time to hear from artists, creatives, venues and audiences to set the vision for the city they want.”
Inner West Arts Recovery Summit - 2 June 2022, Marrickville Town Hall
For further information please contact Jonny Browne at Jonny.Browne@innerwest.nsw.gov.au