Pop-Up Parramatta

How did Pop-Up Parramatta come about? What is its current role?

It was begun in 2010 by Parramatta City Council to transform Parramatta into a thriving hub where creative practitioners create, develop and sell their work. Pop-Up Parramatta aims to build a vibrant, connected and creative community.

It offers training and support to develop the entrepreneurial and business skills of artists in the area. It also provides opportunities to create connections between artists, local communities and the business sector in Parramatta .

Pop-Up Parramatta’s partners include Arts NSW, the Department of Trade & Investment, G & J Drivas Pty Ltd, Telado Pty Ltd, Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE), Westpac (Parramatta) and Macquarie Partnership. It has a creative broker and has nine contractors who provide mentoring and workshops in areas such as marketing, business planning, curatorial skills and social media merchandising.

What are your current projects?

• Studio Projects [top floor, Westpac building, 266 Church Street] – 11 projects.
• Shopfronts [Connection Arcade, 162-172 Church Street] – 6 projects.
• Shopfront [shop 17, Greenway Plaza, 222 Church Street] – 1 project.

What have been your key achievements to date?

In the first five months, there were 54 artists participating, 17 properties across three sites, 17 artist studio /shop front contracts in place and four public programs/ events held with eight planned, attracting more than 2,000 visitors.

The first survey of artists participating in Pop-up Parramatta showed a 92.9% satisfaction rate with the project. There has been a fall in overall vacancy rate from 10.8% in July 2010 to 9.6% in January 2011. (source Autumn/Winter 2011 report, www.colliers.com.au/vital).

What makes Pop-Up Parramatta special?

The project is attracting a lot interest from some neighbouring councils in Western Sydney. We are working towards the project being seen as best practice in local government.

What are your plans for the future?

We aim to develop and support more emerging artists and explore opportunities to reclaim empty spaces for creative enterprise in Parramatta.

We will focus on stronger links between the arts and the local business community and evaluate the impact of the business development of artists involved in Pop-Up Parramatta through our professional development workshops,

We also intend to develop unique communications strategy across the life of the project and foster and grow strong, innovative and dynamic creative enterprise.

In 2012 we plan to develop an iPhone app and create incentives for more established artists to become involved in our project.

What are your main challenges?

Working with the commercial property sector, there are a rules you have to follow regarding zoning and relevant legislation. Many artists have experience in the making processes but aren’t as familiar with planning requirements. It’s been essential to walk them through this process.

There are many different interest groups who have a stake in this project so that’s been quite challenging, managing all those different levels of expectation. However, at end of the day, it’s about making the artists as comfortable as possible when they’re in the spaces and when they’re doing the projects. It’s of utmost importance, and that has been the core focus.

Building up trust between the business community, creative practitioners and with Parramatta Council (one of the landlords), particularly in the early stages of the project, has been critical to Pop-Up Parramatta’s success so far.

Want to contact Pop Up Parramatta?

Email mspencer@parracity.nsw.gov.au or contact@popupparramatta.com

Website: http://www.popupparramatta.com