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October 10, 2009
Renew Newcastle is associated with Marcus Westbury and it addresses the urban decline and decay manifested in closed shops and empty space in the CBD by offering the spaces rent free for artists musicians, film makers and designers. The disused spaces are done up, occupied and used and have access to free wireless internet.
Westbury has argued that Adelaide is the least interesting cultural place in Australia because it lacks this kind of urban renewal or revitalization.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, doorway, Adelaide CBD, 2009
Renew Newcastle is on Flickr. An ABC NSW Stateline video on Renew Newcastle gives an overview of the process of renewal and it mentions some of the many projects. It is a model to bring life to the Adelaide CBD, which constantly defers its future through a failure to re-imagine the city.
A number of photographers are involved in the Renew Newcastle project --such as Shannon Hartigan who produces panoramic landscape images and is on Flickr. Another photographer involved in the project is Alexandra Thompson's Surfhouse Photography; a space that is a retail outlet for her surf photography. A photography Gallery is another project---Gallery Raw Newcastle House of Photography which has its roots in Flickr.
Westbury in his Creative Initiative: 2009 Hunter Valley Research Foundation Lecture states that:
The cultural world is has become a very “top heavy” place. It is heavily bureaucratised – it is full of people whose job as curators, directors, bureaucrats and administrators is to essentially pick winners. That’s how we think about culture when we don’t actually stop to think about it.A cheaper and far more effective strategy is to ensure that our cities, particularly those with abundant empty spaces can become cost effective places of creation and distribution of living culture. It is far cheaper to intersect with and animate the passions and motivations of people who actively seek to create.
Small scale, small impact can only happen in an environment of low capital and that has to mean with a low regulatory cost.
The aim of Renew Newcastle is to treat all the empty space as an asset and a opportunity---to allow people to access those spaces while they sit empty. It brokers access for people who want to access spaces and helps them get started. It is based around short-dated leases, often just 30 days long, which roll over so long as the landlord hasn't found a permanent tenant.
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