Council hands space to Oxford St artists

The City of Sydney is looking for artists after Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP announced cheap rent for artists in sixteen underused areas on Oxford Street.

The empty offices and shopfronts between Riley Street and Crown Street will offer short term leases to creatives with subsidised rent.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said: “The best thing about this project is that instead of sitting vacant, these spaces will be put to good use by the creative sector, offering new, bespoke products and changing the mix on the strip.”

Making these spaces available, at lower rents and specifically for artists and creative enterprises is about bringing a bohemian feel back to the strip,” Ms Moore said.

Lesley Dimmick is the manager of TAP Gallery and has been living near Oxford Street for 40 years. She said the area has lost some of its creative atmosphere.

“40 years ago all the artists and musicians lived here. It was a very creative space. There were so many old buildings run by artists but then the real estate prices went up,” she said.

“We just want it to come back.”

Sue Ritchie, Vice President of the 2010 Darlinghurst/Surry Hills Business Partnership praised Ms Moore’s late announcement and said the 2010 post code needs a good mix of commercial enterprise and creative industry.

“We need to shift from fast food and convenience stores. We have enough of those already.”

“The more creative artistic people the better,” she said.

Ms Dimmick said the space will help nurture the large community of struggling artists.

“It’s very hard for artists to sell their work,” she said.

“Any form of accommodation or visibility is great for artists . . . We want to support the artists. We need to give them a platform.”

Ella Hirst is an arts student who knows all about the crawl to find cheap space for a workshop.

“I was looking for two to three months. There just weren’t enough spaces.”

“I had to look out further than Stanmore and Sydenham,” she said.

“Most of my friends can’t find affordable spaces.”

Ms Hirst said one of her friends has been asking bars and pubs whether she can use their cellar as a workshop and storage in exchange for paintings.