It’s playtime in Surry Hills

Surry Hills’ famously creative spirit has been turbocharged for the month of April with a new feel-good festival that celebrates the neighbourhood’s artists, creatives and community connections.

The Surry Hills @Play festival, funded by a City of Sydney Precinct Activation Grant, aims to spark community participation and business regeneration through a diverse program of activities, including pop-up picnics, live music, free bike tours, art installations, a scavenger hunt, school holiday workshops and more.

“We think play is for everybody,” says Susie Rugg, the Creative Producer of Surry Hills @Play festival. “Surry Hills has always been a playground for artists. That spirit of creativity is still very much alive and we wanted to showcase and celebrate that with this festival.”

Adding a splash of colour to the streets, the Perfect Match shopfront window activation program, curated by Pip Hall, matches eight contemporary artists with local businesses.

“These incredible artists have really thought about the context of their work and created art that speaks to and complements each individual business,” Rugg says.

Orlando and Nicola Reindoft, owners of The Standard Store, were paired with artist Jodie Whalen. In a nod to the retailer’s high-fashion aesthetic, Whalen covered the front steps in a psychedelic pearlescent vinyl wrap.

Another artist, Jason Phu, teamed up with boutique bottle shop Native Drops, creating two miniature sculptures representing the god of dark spirits and god of light spirits that stare out the window at passers-by.

The spacious interiors of cult yogurt bar, Yo Chi proved the perfect creative space for Rosie Deacon, who adorned the ceiling with a giant beaded necklace inspired by the friendship trinkets of her childhood in the 1980s and ‘90s.

The Carrington Hotel, a favourite haunt of the neighbourhood’s pooches, joined forces with renowned pet photographer Annabel Osborne, who selected a group of four-legged patrons to be her models. Their portraits are on display at the pub for the month of April. “Annabel went all-out on this one,” Rugg says. “She even hired a wind machine. Her portraits present these dogs as superheroes, each with their own special superpower for us humans.”

The portraits have also been made into sticker decals and hidden along a circuit through Surry Hills as part of a scavenger hunt. Kids can pick up a map from the Surry Hills Library or download one from the Surry Hills @Play website, then follow clues to help them find all the decals.

Offers for successful scavengers include a free Messina gelato scoop, two for one at Flave burgers,  free chips when they buy a wrap at Henrietta, a free yoga class, a dog meal at The Carrington Hotel and children’s meal at The Clock hotel.

Rugg says Surry Hills @Play was designed around three basic pillars: kids, dogs and bikes. “We looked at kids because I think kids are very often overlooked in inner-city festival programs. And then we looked at dogs, because Surry Hills is famous for its love of dogs and they are also the kids of Surry Hills! And then we looked at bicycles and supporting active and sustainable lifestyles.”

Viewing the festival highlights on two wheels is encouraged. There’s also a free bike tour that takes in historical and artistic destinations around the neighbourhood.

For aspiring architects, the Play Design competition invites participants to design and make a portable, easy-to-assemble play item that can be transported between locations and conveniently stored when not in use. These will be displayed, played with, and judged at the Play Day extravaganza that concludes the festival on Sunday 30 April.

For Play Day, Shannon Reserve will be transformed into a family and fur-baby-friendly carnival overflowing with free events, such as a beginner’s yoga workshop, an ‘80s-style aerobic class with Retrosweat, performances and workshops from Brolga Dance Academy and music by Vegetable Plot and DJ Pete.

Dogs and their owners will take to the catwalk for an interspecies fashion parade. There are also E-bike test rides, free bike tune-ups, a Kids Makers Market run by children selling their handmade wares and SURRYTOPIA in collaboration with the cardboard legends Box Wars.

“SURRYTOPIA is basically a section of the park where kids get to take over and build, in cardboard, their very own vision of what Surry Hills should look like,” Rugg says. “They get to make the rules. They get to build the buildings. They decide who lives there.”

Festival organisers hope Surry Hills @Play will ignite a spark for similar events and collaborations in the future.

“We’re trying to build programs and relationships that will have a legacy beyond the month of April,” Rugg says. “Whenever you visit Surry Hills this month, there’ll be something exciting to see and do.”

Now until Sunday April 30

For full program and details visit: surryhillsatplay.com