BY CHRISTOPHER HARRIS
The co-founder of an Annandale community arts centre has been handed an eviction notice requiring them to vacate one day before a scheduled community rally.
The eviction notice stipulated that the tenants must vacate by December 11, with the community set to rally on the issue on December 12.
For the past ten years, the Archway 1 Theatre Company and Art Studio has operated out of an enclosed archway, and has staged performances since 2012. It also provides dance and acting classes.
The eviction notice is the latest development for the community theatre’s three year battle to save the space in Annandale.
Co-founder Rachel Jordan said she still does not know from where, or why, the plan to shut down the theatre space came.
Ms Jordan said that the eviction did not make sense to her.
“I am wondering if this is racial discrimination, because there is no other explanation, and people have said it is looking discriminatory, but we can’t say for sure, because that is difficult to prove.”
“The council is all on the same page to get us out, and not interested in dealing with us,” she told City Hub.
Ms Jordan said that at the start of the proceedings, she considered the attempts to shut the theatre down might just be the workings of local government bureaucracy.
But, after three years of dealing with the council, she said it has been hard to meet with anyone to discuss the arts centre’s future.
Agitation from the council to move the centre started after a 2013 Johnsons Creek Master Plan report suggested “opening up viaduct arches to increase views and access”.
Ms Jordan said with the master plan in place, she was not pleased about the prospect of moving, but had been prepared to accept the inevitable.
But then when the community rallied behind her, she said she realised that her theatre was of more importance than she had previously thought.
She said she now has hundreds of local community supporters, many previously unknown to her.
“Everybody has written a letter. We understood when the development started, we might have to go, but when the community backed us being in the archway, the reason why the train derailed was because the council has pushed the agenda to get us out quickly, because we have infuriated people for wanting to stay where we are,” Ms Jordan said.
Further problems for the Archway 1 art space arose when they were ordered by the council to stop selling coffee from the premises in September this year, because they did not have council consent to operate as a café.
“No development consent has been sought nor given for the current use of the premises for theatrical purposes with an associated ticket sales box office and coffee shop,” a notice issued to the premises said.
At a council meeting in October, City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone said that the site was uncertified in accordance with standard fire codes.
City Hub has also previously reported that Ms Barone told an Environment Committee meeting on October 19 that the threat of closure had been looming for a decade.
Ms Jordan said she is still not certain why there is a dogged determination to shut the theatre down.
She said that she could not participate in the Johnson’s Creek Master Plan because her submissions as a stakeholder were ignored.
A City of Sydney spokesperson told City Hub that the master plan responded to long-standing community calls to reopen the viaduct archways
“All members of the community had the opportunity for input into the Master Plan consultation and into the refined concept plan, which Council adopted in October 2015
following further public meetings,” a City spokesperson told City Hub.
She said the council had offered the theatre a meeting room to use at Glebe Town Hall as a replacement space.
Ms Jordan said this alternative would not be adequate.
“They haven’t bothered to come down here and see what we do, and if they did they would realise that what we do is not suitable for a single meeting room.”
A City of Sydney spokesperson said “the City has offered the company alternative venues for scheduled performances and will discuss waiving hire fees”.
“After meeting to discuss the situation and alternate venue options on October 22 this year, the company has declined to meet further with City cultural staff. To help it
continue, local community spaces such as Glebe Town Hall, Peter Forsyth Auditorium and St Helen’s Community Centre have been recommended.”
“The City has also advised the theatre company of opportunities to apply for its Accommodation Grants and Creative Spaces programs or hire other suitable Council venues.”
Balmain Greens MP Jamie Parker described the City of Sydney Council’s eviction notice as “cynical”.
“It is disappointing that the City of Sydney is not respecting the enormous contribution this organisation has played or realising the benefit it brings to the whole community,” Mr Parker said.
“It is clear there is strong community opposition to the imminent eviction. People want to see performing arts continue in the inner west.”
“If Archway 1 must vacate the viaduct, a suitable alternative venue needs to be found so they can continue as a genuine artistic hub.”
“While the master plan provides many excellent sporting and recreational facilities, it must also ensure the unique cultural framework of our community remains,” he said.
A City spokesperson told City Hub that the theatre does not have a lease agreement with the City. “As long ago as 2012, the operators were informed that theatre use was not authorised and could not continue without approval.”
The spokesperson said that the theatre was recently ordered to stop theatrical performances and coffee shop operations beneath the light rail viaduct, due to fire hazard and other safety risks.
City of Sydney Greens Councillor Irene Doutney said that the theatre had faced a series of unfortunate events over recent years.
She related the eviction to the recent issues between council and Darlinghurst’s Tap Gallery.
She said that council bureaucracy was not something creative people were adept at dealing with.
She noted rent had been paid consistently and that the space had been run successfully for ten years without council intervention.
“Creative people don’t give a stuff about bureaucracy. You find a space, you do what you want to do. They’re doing their thing, and they don’t think about the forms to submit to council,” she told City Hub.
“I got involved with them [the theatre] in 2012, when they had problems. The whole thing has been a lot of mix-ups, a lot of crossed information and lost opportunities. I was under the impression they were going to get much longer to stay, and then suddenly they were going because of an eviction notice.”
The public rally is still scheduled for December 12 at the archway at 2.30pm.
