Decision details

Moved by Councillor Ellsmore, seconded by Councillor Scott –

It is resolved that:

(A)        Council notes that:

(i)           the City of Sydney is committed to ensuring equitable participation in the cultural life of the city by all members of the community;

(ii)         a range of community members face social or financial barriers to attending cultural events, including those who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, people from underrepresented culturally and linguistically diverse communities (including people from migrant and refugee backgrounds and/or people of colour); trans and/or gender diverse people; and/or those living with disability;

(iii)        the City of Sydney provides support for cultural activities through a range of Grants and Sponsorship Programs, and through access to City-owned properties, including iconic venues such as the Sydney Town Hall; and

(iv)        the City’s Creative City Cultural Policy includes “Improving Access, Creating Markets” as a Strategic Priority Area, with several actions aimed at providing access to cultural events for families, children, young people, people with disabilities and people on low incomes;

(v)         grant applicants are encouraged to deliver events that are free or at low cost to the City’s community;

(vi)        the City provided seed funding to Shopfront Arts to establish Playwave, which provides low cost tickets to secondary school students;

(vii)      cultural and creative grant funding agreements encourage grant recipients to work with Playwave to offer tickets to their events;

(viii)     the City uses its sponsorship agreements to leverage tickets for distribution to targeted community groups from cultural organisations with the capacity to provide them;

(ix)        several theatres operating the City of Sydney provide access to heavily discounted tickets, set aside free tickets for people who couldn’t otherwise afford them, or promote ‘pay it forward’ schemes;

(x)         ‘equity ticket’ programs support participation in the cultural life of the city by setting aside free or low-cost tickets to cultural performances for members of the community who might otherwise by unable to attend; and

(xi)        not all cultural organisations have the capacity to offer ‘equity tickets’ as many operate on tight budgets and deliver little or no financial returns to the people involved;

(B)        Council acknowledge that not all cultural organisations have the capacity to offer ‘equity tickets’ as many operate on tight budgets and deliver little or no financial returns to the people involved, and that this notice of motion is intended to explore opportunities for the City to reduce barriers to access to cultural activities, rather than increase cost or burden on cultural organisations; and

(C)        the Chief Executive Officer be requested to provide advice to Council on other actions the City can take to increase or facilitate access to cultural activities and events, including:

(i)           on its own initiative, for example by offering an increased discount for hire of iconic City venues such as Sydney Town Hall, in return for offering an equity tickets to cultural performances;

(ii)         in partnership with others;

(iii)        through liaison and advocacy; and

(iv)        by encouraging other appropriate organisations to establish an ‘equity ticket’ or ‘pay it forward’ program.

Carried unanimously.

X086659