If you missed the 2022 AGM at the brilliant new music mecca of Adelaide, Hindley Street Music Hall – we’ve included a copy of the President’s Report to keep you up to speed with the latest.
Dear West Enders,
It is with great pleasure that write my first President’s Report. With some very big shoes to fill, I am honoured to have the opportunity to continue the incredible legacy of my predecessor Andrew Wallace.
The AWEA’s focus remains strong; advocating and driving improvements and opportunities for the businesses, communities and people who work, live, study and play in our precinct. A precinct renowned for its diversity, creativity and unique mix of qualities and challenges that set it apart from its neighbours in the CBD and wider city surrounds. There is by no means a one size fits all, approach to planning and development that could ever apply to the West End without endangering its distinctive and creative essence, yet we are excited about the prospect of seeing a long-planned upgrade of Hindley Street come to fruition.
With a rich history of creating and producing trailblazing events including the Waymouth Street Party and Houndwave, the impact of COVID -19 on our stable of activations has been profound over the past few years. In 2021-22 however, we began our road back with Lit during Illuminate and played a significant role in the realisation of the West Village during Fringe 2022. West Village started as a collective of Fringe Venues in the West End coming together to counter the drain on traffic and trade to the East from the major festival installations there. By working together with Fringe under a united banner, “West Village” presented a new kind of Fringe Hub, one connected to the bricks and mortar businesses who serve our city 52 weeks a year. The West Village initiative was spearheaded by Karena Slaninka and the team from Mercury CX whose efforts to birth the concept into life cannot be understated. It was a huge undertaking, which I can attest to as one of the team who made it happen through countless volunteer hours. As such, it is so important to myself and the entire AWEA Committee that we continue to support these foundations so that West Village can continue to evolve and grow in 2023 and beyond.
We are delighted to be continuing to carry the West Village torch into 2023 so that more West End businesses can get involved. Once again we are thrilled to be working with the Fringe team so that all venues–performance and hospitality–can simply join the West Village as part of their standard Fringe registration. Our AWEA funding support can then be directed towards amplifying awareness and activations for all West Village venues as our collective festival brand.
It is our hope that this brand will grow and become activated during other key Festival periods in 2023, including Illuminate and WellFest.
It has been fantastic over this past year to be part of the Lord Mayor’s Hindley Street Round Table with fellow Committee member James Economos. The forum has proven an excellent opportunity to connect, share and collaborate with the City of Adelaide, along with key stakeholders from SAPOL and AHA to Encounter Youth on short, medium and long-term strategies to improve the street for the workers, visitors and businesses that it supports.
A key part of my work towards this vision has been supporting and connecting Forza Group who are developing the defunct former cinema site at 128 Hindley Street and driving a transformational opportunity for the Precinct, starting with Urban Climb who are bringing their state-of-the-art world-class bouldering gym and lifestyle community to the heart of the city in 2023, breathing new vibrancy into the West day and night throughout the week.
Behind the scenes much work has been undertaken in preparation to launch our new Membership drive and subscription model. Whilst we waived membership fees through the pandemic and its fall out, it’s important for the long term that we develop a model for membership that invites wider participation and contributes towards building a robust and forward-facing precinct group.
It does take a village and AWEA are fortunate to have a great team leading and advising the direction of the Association and its projects. I’d like to thank and acknowledge all of them: James Economos (Econ Group), Paola Coro (Apoteca), Tony Scrivener (Grand Chancellor Hotels), Anne Wilberg (Light Adelaide), Christine Ormsby (Visualcom), newly joined Nikki Hamdorf (JamFactory), Philip Johnson (UNISA Business School) and Taryn Walton (Hindley Street Music Hall).
On behalf of the Committee, I would like to sincerely thank two special individuals who have made tremendous contributions to the Committee over the past years. Firstly, Geoff Barclay, our former Treasurer who played a great role in advocating for the development of the West Tce Skate Park and in organising annual Neighbour Days. Secondly, our outgoing President Andrew Wallace, a true bastion of the West End and City of Adelaide. Andrew’s work and stewardship for the organisation is unparalleled and we are deeply grateful for all he has contributed.
Finally, a huge thanks to our former Coordinator, Alexia Frangos and new Coordinator Karen Devenport. I hope you will all get to meet Karen in the coming months along with all the members of our Executive as we launch our new memberships and continue to work and advocate for the people who, invest, work, live, study and play in our Precinct.
Thank you.
WE are the West End!
Taren Hocking – AWEA President