The board of Redfern-based arts venue, Carriageworks, has announced that Australia’s largest contemporary arts centre will go into voluntary administration.
It is the first major arts venue in Sydney to declare financial strife and may prove an ominous portent for other major gallery and performance spaces if state and federal governments resist funding a cultural rescue package. Major cuts to recent Australia Council funding rounds and mass cancellations of productions and exhibitions across the country have left many arts organisations and artists facing an uncertain future.
Government funding accounted for one-quarter of Carriageworks' annual revenue. The venue otherwise relied on event bookings for the majority of its income, but the timing of the current crisis dealt a brutal blow to that vital revenue stream. The cancelled Sydney Writers' Festival would have been in full swing now, with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia and design event Semi Permanent, running during VIVID Sydney, also scrapped.
“Following the earlier loss of shifts for casual staff, in early-April we stood down almost half of our core staff and asked those remaining to move to a three-day week, Carriageworks CEO Blair French said. “Focussing on essential work only, we have been striving to find a way through the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown.”
Since opening in 2007, Carriageworks has become a major hub for Sydney’s cultural scene, attracting some 1 million visitors annually, including around 5,000 every Saturday for the much-loved Carriageworks Farmers Market.
French noted that though the venue had enjoyed NSW and federal government support, and the generosity of many partners and donors, the ongoing lockdown confronted the board with an impossible situation. “With restrictions on social gatherings likely to remain in place for some time to come, the board determined that it had no alternative but to place the company into voluntary administration.”
KPMG’s Phil Quinlan and Morgan Kelly have been appointed voluntary administrators. Quinlan said, “We will be working closely with the Carriageworks’ executive and its stakeholders to try and secure the future of Australia’s largest multi-arts precinct. We will be exploring the possibility of a Deed of Company Arrangement to stabilise Carriageworks’ financial position and allow it to continue its important role for Australian arts and culture. All options are on the table.”
French hoped a pathway towards survival could be found. He stated his concerns for the many artists and partner companies who call Carriageworks home, including Sydney Chamber Opera, contemporary dance company Force Majeure and film and television production company Felix Media.
“The Carriageworks board regret that this action has had to be taken. They are mindful of the impact of this situation upon independent artists and partner companies across the performing and visual arts at a time when the effects of Covid-19 related closures have made this sector so vulnerable,” he said.
Want to know more about Carriageworks? Read about their recent commission 'Remember Me' here.
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
