It was 2007 when Fergus Linehan, then Festival Director of Sydney Festival, first stepped inside Carriageworks, a cavernous former railway workshop in Eveleigh. Back then, Linehan and the Sydney Fest team were responsible for bringing to life the first ever show to be housed within the venue's historic walls – a spectacular dance performance with a rousing soundtrack by the internationally-renowned composer and producer Nitin Sawhney. Carriageworks had just opened its doors after a major $34-million renovation, transforming the 23,500-square-metre space into one of Sydney’s most progressive creative hubs.
Almost two decades on, Carriageworks is setting on a new track (ahem), and Linehan is now at the helm. Following the launch of the new program in March, we spoke with the Carriageworks CEO about the future of this potential-filled space, and the threads that have remained the same. (Hint: If you’re a techno fan, you’ll want to read on.)
Since its inception as a contemporary arts organisation, Carriageworks has operated a dynamic, relatively unstructured schedule – with major annual events forming the pillars of the calendar, and the weekly markets bringing a steady stream of visitors. And though fascinating events would pop up in the space throughout the year, they’d often seemingly come out of nowhere – an art exhibition here, a dance party there, high fashion runways, etc. However, since May 2024, Carriageworks has taken a fresh approach to its scheduling – responding to the evolution of the city to create what Linehan describes as "what a cultural centre should be in 2024".
people’s idea of culture is changing... people consider food, art and theatre as equally important
"The city's changing, the creative heat has moved in the Redfern/Parramatta direction. And people’s idea of culture is changing too – I think people consider food, art and theatre as equally important. Sydney has always been a huge urban city, but back in the noughties, all the good stuff was hugging the harbour. Now, culturally, the energy’s moving west, and it’s our job to respond to that," says Linehan.
For Carriageworks, this means meeting the city where it’s at at any given moment, and a big part of that is moving with the seasons. “Sydney is a really seasonal place – it’s quite a serious place in July, and in January it’s such a silly, giddy place, it’s like a different city.”
So moving forward, alongside as the major events that will continue to call Carriageworks home (such as Sydney Writers Festival, Sydney Contemporary and Australian Fashion Week – events that the team refer to as their “pillar” events) the space is now following a seasonal program – giving Sydneysiders shows that suit the city’s fluctuating appetites. The topline: bookmark winter for theatre, November and December for dance events, and late summer for live music.
Highlights of the theatre program – known as Carriageworks Stages – so far include the recent sold-out season of the globally lauded Counting and Cracking from Belvoir St Theatre and Cut the Sky; a narrative-based dance performance by Marrugeku, Australia’s genre-defying intercultural Indigenous dance theatre company; and Griffin Theatre Company's staging of Swim, a play by award-winning Aboriginal Australian writer Ellen van Neerven. This kind of narrative work is the main focus through the winter months, when Sydneysiders love nothing more than settling in to a warm room and being transported elsewhere by the power of storytelling.
As part of the Carriageworks Sounds series, Carriageworks will welcome a new full-length Australian opera, Gilgamesh by composer Jack Symonds, coming to the venue courtesy of Sydney Chamber Opera and Opera Australia (Sep 26–Oct 5).
As springtime sets in, things will take a whimsical turn – with Bay 17 (one of the largest venues inside Carriageworks) transforming into an immersive indoor garden, home to a giant spiegeltent that will play host to a series of transporting cabaret-style shows, as part of the Carriageworks Moves dance-focused events series.
“We're still trying to think this through – whether to create a kind of mystical winter garden or something more bright and springlike. It’s supposed to be a fantastical world, with the tent as this Fabergé egg hidden within,” Linehan muses.
Later in the summer, the focus will turn back to music, with the full program still to be announced. Linehan teases: “It’s about using the space in as many ways as we can, and offering the kinds of experiences that people can’t get anywhere else. We’ve been focusing on pretty big shows, but we also want to reflect some of the grain of what's going on locally – using the profile we're building to leverage younger Australian artists, offering shows for 200 people as opposed to 2,000.”
Responding to what Linehan describes as Sydney’s “giddy” January mood, the 5,000-person venue (Bays 22-24) is set to host a series of high-energy dance parties, taking inspiration from X Club, which brought thousands of Sydneysiders under one laser-streaked roof as part of Vivid Sydney 2024. Details of the full line-up are yet to be announced, but based on the appetite for the already sold-out show from American techno producer Sara Landry (who's bringing her signature brand of elating heavy techno to Carriageworks on December 14), we're expecting big things.
Though the latter months of summer are when Carriageworks Sounds will really come into its own, we were treated to a preview of what’s to come earlier this year. When Vivid turned Sydney into a kaleidoscope of sparkle, Carriageworks brought a different kind of energy to the city – with boundary-pushing shows from the likes of experimental American producer Yves Tumor and beloved Aussie electronic music duo Electric Fields taking over their industrial, confidently anti-sparkly performance spaces. At the Pond show in June, which turned Bay 17 into a (delightfully courteous) mosh pit, the vocalist shouted into the crowd: “This is crazy!” And the euphoria was a collective one, with 1,500 winter-weary Sydneysiders packed into a throbbing space that felt worlds away from our supposedly tame city. Outside in the foyer, warm bulbs hung from the high ceilings, and groups of friends gathered around tables busy with drinks and excitable conversation.
While Carriageoworks' seasonal approach to programming is new, behind the scenes, a lot will remain the same. In an adjacent building on the east side of Carriageworks, workshop spaces have played host to a pretty constant roster of artists, with ten (mainly visual artists) taking up residency to work on the art that would go on to shape Australia’s cultural landscape – all part Carriageworks Makers.
“There's a lot happening on the site that isn’t public-facing. Rehearsals are always going on in our rehearsal rooms, and shows that go on to be performed here and elsewhere were written by artists in residence,” Linehan explains.
And then, of course, there’s the food, which Linehan describes as “the new social hearth of this city”. Thankfully for the hungry among us, Carriageworks Food will continue to play a year-round role, with the incredible people at Plate It Forward bringing a Colombo Social pop-up to the space earlier this month (a companion to Counting and Cracking, packed with Sri Lankan flavours) and the weekly Farmers Market brining some of the city’s best producers together every Saturday.
Another thing that’s remained constant is the focus on platforming and celebrating First Nations creativity and excellence, and Linehan is keen to stress that this focus isn’t going anywhere: “A lot of the Aboriginal population has left Redfern, but it’s still an incredibly important place. Redfern is the Blak capital of Australia, so it's pretty central to who we are…every element of our program has strong First Nations representation.”
And it’s true, you can’t visit Carriageworks without the important reminder that this is Gadigal land, and the traditional custodians of the place we call Sydney have radically important, woefully under-represented stories to tell. The last time I visited, for instance, a short film exploring the impact of climate change on Country (starring Garrwa woman Shirley Simon) was playing in Bay 19, while Bay 20 was playing host to a powerful dance theatre show from Marrugeku, and the foyer was busy with students taking part in the Solid Ground program; an initiative that provides education, training and employment pathways for Indigenous Australian youth.
At all times, the space is home to two resident First Nations companies: Moogahlin Performing Arts (the team behind the biennial Yellamundie Festival, who also collaborated with STC on The Visitors, which was nominated in the inaugural Time Out Arts & Culture Awards) as well as Marrugeku. November will welcome the Southeast Aboriginal Arts Market, with Carriageworks connecting artists from across Australia directly to buyers. If you ask us, it’s this commitment that really forms the Carriageworks DNA – it’s an arts organisation before it’s a venue, and that distinction speaks volumes.
You can learn more about the Carriageworks program over here.
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