Marrickville To Jump On Live Music Bandwagon

Sydney's inner-West Marrickville Council look set to be the next local government structure to throw their weight behind live music with tonight's ordinary meeting set to discuss Leichhardt's Sydney Live Music Precinct plan and the state of pop-up warehouse venues in the suburb.

Last month Leichhardt's Labor Mayor Darcy Byrne pushed through a motion to begin the development of a live entertainment precinct on Parramatta Road between Sydney University and Taverner's Hill, part of which included liaising with the Marrickville and Sydney councils. Marrickville Labor councillor Jo Haylen has put forward a motion to discuss the plans and Live Music On Parramatta Road is item 20 on tonight's meeting agenda.

The motion asks that the council resolves to investigate the proposal and work with Leichhardt Council to develop policies that would foster a live music-friendly environment. The policy ideas, including extended trading hours and increased noise allowances, were outlined in Leichhardt Council's motion.

Today Marrickville's Deputy Mayor and fellow Labor Councillor Emanuel Tsardoulias told theMusic.com.au, “We need to allow live entertainment in local pubs and bring back the culture and make it viable for the venues… there's a lot of great entertainers out there who are limited to be venues they play, but also venues need to be sustainable. [If we can achieve this] it's a win-win situation.”

As part of Haylen's motion the council will be advised to investigate why the suburb's wealth of warehouse venues are not able to be classified as legal. Naming Dirty Shirlows and Median, comments from the Manager of Culture and Recreation note, “Informal feedback indicates that the fire, safety and accessibility requirements expected of the venues make it financially unsustainable for small business owners to open and operate a music venue legally. This research could be used to inform the development of Council's role in fostering the live music industry.”

The warehouse scene has often been at odds with the council due to health and safety regulations. There is also an underlying opinion in operators of 'legal' venues that it would be unfair to provide the 'illegal' spaces with regulation breaks on matters that they themselves have adhered to.

Today Tsardoulias said that they needed to manage both sides of the debate in any discussion about warehouses.

“I strongly support the warehouse stuff. I think we need to look at both sides and come up with some sort of balance… as far as I'm concerned they're a business.”