Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being used for filming, festivals, fairs and commercial exhibitions. The largest such venue in Australia, it is a cultural facility of the NSW Government, and receives support from Create NSW and the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts. The centre has commissioned new work by Australian and international artists, and has been home to eight theatre, dance and film companies, including Performance Space, Sydney Chamber Opera and Moogahlin Performing Arts, and a weekly farmers' market has operated there for many years.
On 4 May 2020 Carriageworks Ltd, the company that operates the venue, declared it would be entering voluntary administration and closing, citing an “irreparable loss of income” due to government bans on events during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the consequent negative impact on the arts sector. Carriageworks successfully emerged from voluntary administration and reopened its doors to the public in August 2020.
History
The Eveleigh Rail Complex Yards were built on the site between 1880 and 1889, including the heritage-listed Eveleigh Railway Workshops, and the decommissioned Eveleigh Carriage Workshops site, part of which is occupied by Carriageworks. The rail yards contain the history of Australia's major rail network. Train carriages for Sydney's expanding rail network were built and maintained within the building and included the Royal Carriages constructed specifically for the Governor General of Australia and visiting Royalty, the first electric carriage, and the first air-conditioned train in Australia. From 1973 productivity at the site declined due to its inefficient older buildings, restrictive union practices and increased privatization of carriage construction and the site was closed in 1988.
In June 2002, the NSW Ministry for the Arts completed the purchase of the Carriage and Blacksmith Workshops at the Eveleigh Rail Yards site. Soon after, a construction project on the site commenced under the name of Carriageworks. Adaptive reuse of the workshop site began in 2003 with the housing of numerous contemporary arts practitioners, and Carriageworks was officially opened in 2007. In 2008 the Australian Institute of Architects awarded Tonkin Zulaikha Greer with the AIA Architecture Award for the adaptive reuse of CarriageWorks, and the AIA Greenway Award for the heritage work.
In August 2013, the Carriageworks cultural precinct doubled in size, adding to its existing premises in Redfern. Major programs presented at Carriageworks in 2013 included Ryoji Ikeda's Test pattern (No 5) presented in association with Vivid Sydney 2013; FBi Radio's 10th birthday; and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia.
In 2014 Carriageworks presented Christian Boltanski’s Chance; Ganesh Versus The Third Reich by Back to Back Theatre; Tehching Hsieh’s Time Clock Piece.
In 2015 exhibitions included Sydney Buddha by Zhang Huan, 24 Frames Per Second an exhibition of 24 screen-based works of 18 Australian and 6 international artists, Siamani Samoa by Michel Tuffery and the Royal Samoan Police Band, Ryoji Ikeda with Superposition, and Xavier Le Roy's Self Unfinished presented by Carriageworks and Kaldor Public Art Projects.
On 4 May 2020, the company operating the venue, Carriageworks Ltd, declared it would be entering voluntary administration and closing, citing an "irreparable loss of income" due to government bans on events during the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent negative impact on the arts sector. Having appointed KPMG as voluntary administrators, the Carriageworks management and stakeholders began working together to explore possibilities for its future. Carriageworks was the first major arts venue in the country to collapse during the pandemic. The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance called for an urgent rescue by the state government.
Carriageworks successfully emerged from voluntary administration and reopened its doors to the public in August 2020.
Description
Carriageworks is Australia's largest contemporary multi-arts centre. It has been supported by the New South Wales Government, receiving funding through Create NSW, and also federal government through the Australia Council.