Decision Maker: Council
Decision status: Recommendations Determined
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
Report author: Erin Cashman
Publication date: 22/08/2022
Date of decision: 22/08/2022
Decided at meeting: 22/08/2022 - Council
Accompanying Documents: