More outdoor community events to revitalise arts sector

Inner West Council will invest in new outdoor COVID-safe community events in a bid to provide more support to the arts and culture sector and foster community connections.

In particular, Council will seek to build on the success of the St.Anmore music festival, expanding the popular live music event to five festivals across the entire local government area.

Councillor Chloe Smith, who moved the motion at Tuesday night’s Council meeting, said many residents were seeking entertainment in COVID-safe outdoor venues.

“We’ve all been in and out of lockdown – some of it self-imposed – for two years now and people are desperate to get back out there and mix and mingle with their neighbours and friends, but in a COVID-safe way,” she said.

“One top of that, Inner West is home to the largest number of artists and musicians in Sydney, and this sector has suffered horrendously from lost revenue and employment.

“Council has already kickstarted support for outdoor dining and live performance to help local businesses recover from COVID-19 impacts so it makes sense that we look at increasing our outdoor events as much as possible as well,” Councillor Smith said.

“In particular, the 2019 St.Anmore Festival of Music was incredibly popular and I want to see that replicated right across our Council area,” she said.

On Tuesday night, Council voted unanimously to:

• Commence immediate planning with St.Anmore Festival of Music organisers on a November 2022 event

• Investigate and fund the expansion of St.Anmore across all five wards of the local government area (LGA) during this term of Council

• Support and budget for a series of COVID-safe outdoor film screenings, to be held in local parks across the LGA on a rotating basis

• Support and budget for an Inner West Film Festival to be established in partnership with local cinemas, theatres, and filmmakers, to take place in summer 2022-23

The new COVID-safe outdoor events would be in addition to Council’s current events program which includes Inner West Fest from 25 February to 10 April.