A MESSAGE FROM THE RESIDENT COMPANIES OF CARRIAGEWORKS
Shakira Clanton in The Weekend by Henrietta Baird. Presented by Moogahlin Performing Arts, Carriageworks, and Sydney Festival January 2019. Image by Jamie James.
We the eight resident companies of Carriageworks are deeply concerned about Carriageworks entering voluntary administration. We call on the NSW Government, particularly the Hon. Premier of NSW Gladys Berejiklian, as Minister for the Arts, to work with the Board of Carriageworks and KPMG to ensure a stronger, independent, and more resilient organisation emerges from the process of voluntary administration.
The founding vision for Carriageworks to be a world leading contemporary performing arts centre urgently needs increased resourcing. Its distinctive financial model supporting both the not-for-profit and commercial arts sectors sets a unique example. At the same time this requires a finely tuned balance to maintain vital support for our local and national arts ecology.
As eight of Australia’s leading contemporary arts organisations we punch well above our weight and together we are a success story, offering Sydney and NSW audiences unforgettable artistic experiences time and time again.
As resident companies we are the artistic heart and soul of the building. Together each year we deliver a diverse array of world-class performances, exhibitions, festivals, workshops and events to appreciative audiences— all created inside this iconic building. Collectively, we are renowned for bold and experimental works across First Peoples performance, dance, theatre, opera, screen arts, live arts, and socially engaged practice. As a champion for the small to medium sector, Carriageworks is a natural home for our companies.
Our partnerships with Carriageworks are paramount to our successes individually and collectively. This exceptional arts centre needs to be adequately supported to be set up to succeed rather than the bleak alternative. To do otherwise would risk a profound and far-reaching impact on the ecology of the arts sector and be of great detriment to the community that it has fostered.
These are extraordinarily difficult times for all Australians but it is well documented that our artists and the arts are taking some of the hardest hits. We acknowledge that state and federal governments have the unenviable task of providing support and rescue packages for us to survive so that we can thrive again one day.
Our organisations stand ready to work with Carriageworks and the NSW Government on the solutions to the issues facing our industry sector and especially Carriageworks at this time.
Prepared by Contemporary Asian Australian Performance, Erth, Felix Media, Force Majeure, Marrugeku, Moogahlin Performing Arts, Performance Space, and Sydney Chamber Opera
CONTEMPORARY ASIAN AUSTRALIAN PERFORMANCE
Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP) champions Asian Australian artists and stories to take their place on main stages nationally and internationally. Its compelling, high quality works have featured at major festivals around Australia. – Annette Shun Wah
FORCE MAJEURE
As a leader in dance theatre, Force Majeure produces provocative new works reflecting contemporary and urgent issues. Carriageworks offers the best platform for us to deliver on this mission and to create unforgettable theatrical experiences for our audiences. – Danielle Micich and Colm O’Callaghan
FELIX MEDIA
Felix Media produces screen-based works of the highest quality, in collaboration with the most talented artists, and always looking to embody diversity and explore innovation. In the last year, for instance, Felix Media produced Australia’s entry at the Venice Biennale, and the country's nomination in the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film. – Bridget Ikin and John Maynard
MARRUGEKU
Marrugeku is dedicated to Indigenous and settler artists working together to develop new dance languages that are transformative and unwavering. Working from our bicoastal operations in the remote town of Broome Western Australia and the urban centre of Carriageworks, Marrugeku builds bridges between remote and urban Australia and local and global situations, touring all productions throughout Australia and to the Pacific, Europe and The Americas. – Rachael Swain and Dalisa Pigram
MOOGAHLIN PERFORMING ARTS
As one of only a handful of Blak performing arts companies in the country, it has been critical for us to secure a home in the Redfern area - a place of significant change and history for our peoples. Carriageworks has offered us a space to grow in our practice, to celebrate our culture, to connect to our community, and to establish Moogahlin Performing Arts in the local and national arts ecology. – Lily Shearer, Liza-Mare Syron, and Ali Murphy-Oates
PERFORMANCE SPACE
Performance Space—alongside many of our fellow resident companies—has forged extensive networks in the Asia Pacific that have put Carriageworks firmly on the international map as a centre for artistic excellence. By presenting our annual Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art at Carriageworks, Performance Space attracts over 50,000 audience members to the precinct each year, alongside national and international artists and festival directors who visit to experience what’s next in contemporary art. – Jeff Khan
ERTH
Erth is a company fuelled by beautiful accidents; a team of creators, makers and performers pushing the limits of design, content and experience. Erth’s puppetry-based theatrical productions and innovative community projects have challenged and inspired audiences for more than 30 years. Touring extensively nationally and internationally, the company’s core motivation is to inspire, motivate and empower people to make an impact in the world through their own actions.
SYDNEY CHAMBER OPERA
Sydney Chamber Opera is a fresh and youthful answer to some of the difficult questions facing today’s opera industry, critically acclaimed for its innovative programming, musical rigour and strong focus on compelling theatre-making. Our home at Carriageworks is vital in allowing us to take artistic risks, making opera with a 21st-century outlook that resonates with a new, younger audience, showing how vibrant and relevant the artform can be.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Ali Murphy-Oates, Managing Director, Moogahlin Performing Arts: info@moogahlin.org, ph: 02 8571 9096