Making Space for Making Symposium

New directions for urban cultural policy symposium

Keynote: Andy Pratt (City University, London)

Sponsored by Monash Urban Planning & Design and the School of Creative Industries, University of South Australia 

Friday 28th February, 12.30-5pm 

Studio 1, Brunswick Mechanics Institute. 270 Sydney Road, Brunswick VIC 3056 

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/making-space-for-making-new-directions-for-urban-cultural-policy-tickets-93409621693 

This half-day seminar examines the present and future of making and manufacturing in the city. While the disappearance of affordable working and living space for creatives has been a pressing issue for over two decades, efforts to address this have rarely looked beyond the provision of studio, co-working and exhibition spaces for visual and performing arts, media, and design. The specific impacts on other forms of creativity including craft and the manufacture of cultural products (e.g. furniture, clothing, metal working) has been frequently overlooked despite their vital role in the urban cultural economy. Alongside this, policymakers continue to re-zone scarce industrial land in the inner city to reflect the rise of an ostensibly “post-industrial” economy and the “inevitable” decline of manufacturing. This has been a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the vast range of creative making and manufacture are squeezed into smaller and tighter areas of the city. 

In this seminar we will cover three aspects. First, we will outline some of our research on ‘cultural manufacturing’ and its spatial dynamics in the city. This will form the basis of a discussion with local policy and planning actors about Melbourne’s attempts to deal with these issues. Second, we will outline why we think the provision of a diversity of space beyond desks and laptops is absolutely crucial for the cultural economy of the city. We will hear from Marcus Westbury about the rationale for CAP in Collingwood, which is about to open its doors. Finally, Professor Andy Pratt (City University, London) will bring an UK and International perspective on creative hubs and workspaces. Rather than acting as loss leaders – or short-term gold mines - for property developers, we need to look at building curated networks and places of interaction. Hubs as points of translation across diverse ecosystems not as sites of value extraction. 

Schedule

12.30 - 1pm Registration, light lunch, tea and coffee

1 - 1.15pm Welcome: Carl Grodach and Justin O’Connor

1.15 - 2.30pm Zoning and Cultural Manufacturing: Presentations by Declan Martin and Carl Grodach (Urban Planning & Design, Monash University), Bec Fitzgerald (Hodyl + Co), Will Coogan (City of Moreland), followed by Q&A session

2.30 - 3pm Marcus Westbury: Collingwood Arts Precinct

3 - 3.15pm Break

3.15 - 4pm Making and the Creative City: Presentations by Xin Gu (Monash University), Justin O’Connor (University of South Australia)

4 - 5pm Andy Pratt (City University, London): Hubs: Translation not Extraction

5 - 6pm Drinks