In the heart of Australia’s first Purple Flag District sits YCK Laneways, a network of venues between Sydney’s Town Hall and Wynyard Station. Here, in 2022, YCK Laneways utilised a CBD Revitalisation Grant to inject $390,000 into ‘Front & Centre’, an activation which sought to elevate women, non-binary and underrepresented groups.
The activation attracted over 6,500 people to the diverse events and venues within the District, ranging from truffle tasting sessions and pickling masterclasses to musical acts, DJs and other performers within YCK Laneways’ venues.
“We wanted to shine a light on and celebrate underrepresented groups, so we did an activation, Front & Centre, where we put females and gender diverse people at the front and center of everything we did for four weeks,” said Karl Schlothauer, District Coordinator for YCK.
“[Part of the activation] included a series of outdoor events over a weekend with masterclasses during the day and live entertainment at night on Barrack Street. Anyone who attended these events were given vouchers to go into other participating venues within YCK.”
‘Front & Centre’ featured 50 events across 15 venues, drawing sponsorship from Bacardi Martini Australia and a media partnership with Concrete Playground.
Schlothauer believes that the District model helped YCK Laneways’ to earn the CBD Revitalisation Grant used to host the event, as well as a slew of other government support, as the shared value proposition means “the money is going to many businesses instead of one.”
“We're now over $3.5 million worth of grants that we've achieved, and we've done maybe 10 major activations within the precinct,” Schlothauer added.
Though this isn’t the only benefit to the collective approach, Schlothauer remarks.
“There's also all the stuff that the people don't see, like, ‘I need this, I've run out of that, can you lend me this for the event?’”
“We're also looking now into group buying in terms of food and beverage suppliers, and even looking at shared waste facilities.”
To learn more about Front & Centre or YCK Laneways, contact Karl Schlothauer at karl@houseofpocket.com.au or visit https://www.ycklaneways.com.au/
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