Wollongong has once again been hailed as a leader when it comes to live music and culture, with its nightlife held up as an example for the rest of the state at a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday afternoon.
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At their first regional hearing, a panel of upper house politicians heard from musicians, venue operators and Wollongong council management about how the city has changed over the past six years.
The inquiry was set up last year to look at the impact of controversial “lockout laws” in Sydney on live music, and come up with ways to revive the state capital’s ailing night life.
At two earlier Sydney hearings, venue operators spoke of a downward spiral in live music attendance and a city in crisis over a lack of venues, the priority given to real estate developments and restrictive planning rules.
In contrast, Labor committee member John Graham said Wollongong had a “fantastic story”, which is why the inquiry had made the city its first regional stop..
The first speaker – council’s economic development manager Mark Grimson – outlined what he called “a city transformed”, telling how changes to the council’s planning rules and the establishment of strong policies guiding the arts, live music and a night time economy had made a difference.
“The Wollongong CBD has undergone a significant transformation in recent years, there had been $1.3 billion worth on investment in the past six years and there’s $600 million in the pipeline,” he said.
“This has flowed through to the evening economy, which attracts people to visit, socialise, eat and listen to music in our city, and since 2012 we’ve seen over 80 small bars and cafes open.”
Earlier this year, Newcastle council followed Wollongong’s lead, adopting a slew of measures based on the policies put in place here five years ago.
These included blanket DAs for eight city sites to allow events to progress without red tape and a change to notify residents buying apartment buildings in the CBD that they were buying into a live music precinct.
An example of the city’s success, Adam Smith from Yours and Owls and Jeb Taylor from Music Farmers fronted Wednesday’s inquiry.
Mr Smith spoke of how much had shifted since he and business partners Ballun Jones and Ben Tillman opened their tiny cafe Yours and Owls in 2010.
“Things have changed a lot since then,” he said, explaining how the venue transitioned into a music booking company and one of Wollongong’s biggest annual events, the Yours and Owls festival.
“We saw a number of great changes happening in the council, but at the time there wasn’t a culture of small bars and venues in Wollongong.”
“It was quite intimidating for a young business owner to be faced with all these different legislative bodies and rules, DAs and dealing with licencing police.
“We were just lucky that after this… the council were willing to come on board and say ‘well lets try out these new systems, like generic DAs.”
Compared to when he first started working in music in Wollongong, Mr Taylor – who runs the record label Farmer and the Owl – said it had become easier to see bands across the city, and find new talent at small venues like Rad Bar.
“About 10 years ago, you used to be able to go out see bands maybe two to three nights a week at the most,” he said.
“Now it’s every single night, and most nights there will be multiple things of live music between venues like Rad, the UniBar and Servo [Food Truck Bar].
“There’s a lot more diversity now, and a lot more opportunities to go out and see things.”
Once it has finished its public hearings, the parliamentary inquiry will publish recommendations on how to better support venues, red tape reduction and funding for the music and arts sector.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
