limelightmagazine.com.au: The loss of three priority venues is a massive loss to the thousands of people who want to experience great music and art in great venues and the artists who develop their careers. This disappearing cultural infrastructure is dimming the light of Sydney’s sense of place and identity and destroying vital spaces for socialising, creativity, employment and fun.
2 comments:
Man, I can't help but feel upset over this. Every venue closed is another lost opportunity to listen to live music or see new live performances. While I appreciate the work of the bureaucracy to designate certain spaces as cultural havens, it just feels like it's a never-ending war to fight for a space where the arts and culture can have a space to express themselves and be enjoyed. I still appreciate though when government acknowledges that spaces need to exist for cultural/artistic expression, and they actively work to make sure those spaces exist and they are afforded the proper protections and rights those places require.
Clearly, I haven't done enough research to verify if all of this is true. NSW is very different than America, that is to be certain, but the principles of expression should remain certain across all countries. Have we been afforded these liberties recently? I leave that to the reader to draw their own conclusions.
COVID should not equate to cultural loss. However, it is sad that this is what is has come to for many countries and communities around the world. The closing of such significant venues in Sydney is not only a blow to audience members and the arts community, but a blow to those who work within the theatre industry. It's devastating to see the decline of nightlife, cultural activities, and arts events–but of course, COVID adds more nuance to it than just being government negligence. The pandemic is real, so is government negligence, but there are other parties who have a hand in this all. I'm interested in if, hopefully, how Sydney will revive these three aspects of society going forward, not necessarily 'post-COVID' but certainly in a COVID-safe manner or after COVID risk is minimised. Hopefully, this will be soon and hopefully, this closure will not have a long-lasting, negative impact upon Sydney's cultural scene.
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