NIMBY (not in my backyard) has long been the catch cry of many brave cultural fighters in Sydney,and their battles have saved important sites. To safeguard culture is a tremendous thing,but to save a building at the cost of the activity that should go on inside is not. After all,is it the building or the stories inside that make a site culturally valuable? And if a site has been sitting unused for decades,what are we doing to ensure that future use becomes its legacy for the next generation?
The current fight that is playing out in the inner west of Sydney around the historic Callan Park site showcases this cultural conundrum. In arecent survey undertaken as part of the community consultation,over 70 per cent of residents surveyed wanted hospitality and 60 per cent wanted arts and cultural use on site. Callan Park is perfectly positioned for such use,and many would assume – based on its recent history housing a film school and a college for the arts – that this would be a natural progression. There’s only one problem,cultural use is currently not permitted on site.
Welcome to the absurd world of NSW red tape where our state – despite housing 48 per cent of the nation’s cultural industries – has actively curbed its growth. But change is on the horizon and anyone who cares about culture (NIMBYs included) should be grabbing this change with both hands.
In 2020,a once-in-a-lifetime suite of regulatory changes were passed through the upper house of the NSW Parliament that swept away over 500 pieces of outdated regulation to support cultural businesses and the night-time economy. Now public sites are being examined to ensure they adequately serve community needs,and top of that list is providing space for arts and cultural use. The Greater Sydney Parklands Trust Bill,tabled in Parliament last week,is proposing to change the use of Callan Park to enable arts and cultural activity on site. Excellent. But here is the kicker,it is also proposing to add food and beverage as a permitted use and the NIMBYS don’t like it.
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Those of us in the cultural sector know that to operate viable businesses you simply cannot have one without the other. Cultural businesses rely on hospitality services to subsidise the loss leader that is the arts,and hospitality businesses rely on cultural activity to drive footfall. Those opposing the bill fear the inclusion of food and beverage will set the stage for commercial takeovers and mass corporatisation. When they oppose commercial operations in Callan Park they are opposing arts and cultural activity because in 2021 they are two sides of the same coin.