The Sydney Fringe Festival has found new space for 2017 with a new partnership with property developer HPG Australia (HPG) which will see HPG join City of Sydney as a Principal Partner. HPG’s partnership will see them freely providing 7,000sqm of empty warehouse space to house the Fringe’s headquarters and main venue for events, during 2017.
In addition to the provision of the flexible space, HPG has also made a substantial cash contribution to assist the Fringe in delivering its annual marketing campaign.
The warehouse, roughly the size of an airport hangar, is on the site of HPG’s future low-rise premium apartment development, currently being referred to as ‘Sydney Park Life’, which will be uniquely located directly adjacent to the south-eastern corner of the iconic community amenity, Sydney Park, in Alexandria.
Sydney Fringe lodged a development application with City of Sydney Council to utilise the warehouse on the 22 December 2016 and is keenly awaiting council approval so the local arts community can take full advantage of such a rare opportunity.
It is expected that Fringe administration will occupy the warehouse on Euston Road from May until the end of 2017, when it is scheduled for demolition.
The partnership enables the festival to host its activities far earlier than its usual annual time of 1-30 September, with events and activations to be held monthly starting as early as late May.
HPG’s Managing Director, Dr Adrian Liu, said the Sydney Fringe Festival was a natural fit for HPG as it embodies and embraces the very principles which the company will be delivering at its vibrant new precinct at Sydney Park.
“We are at the start of this very dramatic and transformative journey and we’re delighted that an arts festival as much loved and celebrated as the Sydney Fringe Festival is a part of that story,” Dr Liu said.
“This partnership is also allowing us to open our doors and welcome the community in to explore this huge, cavernous space and be a part the transformation which will take place over the coming years.
“By initiating this collaboration, we have established a unique model of utilising otherwise disused development sites for cultural activations during the lengthy development approval process, and I would encourage our developer colleagues to also consider following suit.
Whilst the redevelopment of what is at the moment an unattractive warehouse, will eventually morph into a stunning new place to live, the warehouse does offer something extremely scarce in Sydney – free open space for the arts community. The warehouse is such a huge, cavernous space which, as we’re discovering, can be used for so many different artistic purposes and we couldn’t be happier enabling that – it’s a rare find indeed.”
Fringe, together with HPG and the City of Sydney, will welcome the surrounding communities to come and experience a myriad of live performances and art exhibitions ranging from rehearsals by the Australian Youth Orchestra, through to collaborations by international street and Indigenous artists who are merging digital art with traditional content.
Festival Director and CEO, Kerri Glasscock, said this collaboration is a ‘ground-breaker’ in that it enables an organisation like Fringe to run both its ‘back office’ as well as active operations all under one roof.
Currently known as ‘Sydney Park Life’, the site to be developed by HPG Australia spans approximately 2.1 hectares and is set to become one of Sydney’s most revitalised, mixed-use precincts incorporating world-class architecture, public art, vibrant retail spaces, green spaces and common areas. When completed, it will be Sydney’s only inner-city residential community to be incorporated within a 42-hectare park environment.
Image copyright: jankranendonk / 123RF Stock Photo
