Back in September and October 2019, John Wardle from the Live Music Office and Sydney Fringe Festival set to work quietly mapping each and every type of show or performance they could uncover across The Inner West Local Government Area in Sydney, just outside the City of Sydney CBD.

In these months before COVID hit, the amount of live music and performance was now building to ever increasing levels, no surprise to the many venues and artists plying their trades in Marrickville or Newtown for example, or to the flocking visitors who were in the know, and plugged into this leading cultural and night time economy destination in greater Sydney.

This highly detailed data set and analysis accompanied by a suite of evocative photographs and destination maps as well as referencing the leading policy, better regulation, and advocacy work of Council has now been made available through the Inner West Live Music and Performance Census 2019, which mapped live music and performance across venues, festivals, and art-forms through September and October 2019, and with census data identifying a remarkable amount of live music and performance happening weekly in the Inner West Local Government Area (LGA).

Speaking to the Census, Inner West Council Mayor Clr Darcy Byrne said:

“Creativity and culture are essential to the Inner West’s community, identity and economy. We are home to literally hundreds of studios, production houses, artist initiatives, galleries and performance spaces.
This Census provides us with a snapshot of how vibrant the arts and live music scene was in the Inner West pre-COVID, and it gives us the tools to breathe life into the live music and performance sector”.

Census author John Wardle from the Live Music Office speaks to the value of the research, the latest in a series of 8 that the Live Music Office has supported across Australia since 2013:

“There’s a lot to learn about the cultural and night time economy in Sydney through the findings of this research.
What is readily apparent from the census findings is the broad diversity of venues, art-forms and genres that provide many many jobs and opportunities on a weekly basis”.

And from Census partner Kerri Glasscock – CEO and Festival Director Sydney Fringe Festival

Many of us Inner Westies have known for a long time that this LGA is the cultural capital of NSW, it is so fantastic to see that claim backed up by hard data in this detailed census.

Download the Inner West Live Music and Performance Census 2019

Key findings of the Inner West Live Music and Performance Census 2019 include:

• 2,496 performances and 1,842 events in the Inner West across September (1485 performances / 1124 events) and October 2019 ( 1011 performances / 718 events)
• 88 venues in September and 87 venues in October 2019 regularly presenting live music and performance
  The Factory Theatre in Marrickville had the most performances of any venue at 278 separate performances in September
• Hotels provided the most live music venues with 30 individual venues in both September and October 2019, along with Clubs 14/15, Bars 12/13 and Theatres 12/8
• Camelot and Django Bar, Lazybones Lounge, Gasoline Pony and Butchers Brew, all in the Marrickville/Dulwich Hill precinct are presenting a lot of music, as is the Bridge Hotel in Rozelle

Census data indicates a number of live music and performance areas or clusters in the Inner West LGA, comprising:

• Marrickville / Dulwich Hill – 25 venues presenting 497 events / 573 performances in September and 264 events / 364 performances in October 2019
• Newtown / Enmore / St Peters – 20 venues presenting 239 events / 350 performances in September and 145 events / 231 performances in October 2019
• Balmain / Rozelle – 17 venues presenting 103 events / 166 performances in September and 94 events / 115 performances in October 2019
• Lilyfield / Annandale / Leichhardt – 15 venues presenting 148 events / 166 performances in September and 137 events / 163 performances in October 2019
• Stanmore / Petersham / Lewisham / Summer Hill / Ashfield – 16 venues presenting 112 events / 154 performances in September and 104 events / 134 performances in October 2019

Other findings include the significant contribution of Sydney Fringe Festival to the Inner West in September 2019, with:

• 505 separate performances in September
• 19 venues presenting events including small bars, medium and large theatres as well as galleries and hotels.
• 34,008 attendances at Fringe events in the Inner West including an estimated 15,000 people for the King St Crawl (presented in partnership with the City of Sydney)

The Inner West Council EDGE and Festivals Program greatly supports the local venue scene and community participation in arts and culture in the Inner West, through:

• Providing 122 separate performances across 25 events and 5 festivals in September and October 2019
• Providing 41 performance opportunities for young people to perform in profile events in their local community
• Strong cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) programming with 38 separate performances and events in September and October 2019
• Supporting local venues to curate live music stages featuring local artists

Download the Inner West Live Music and Performance Census 2019

The Inner West Live Music Census 2019 was produced independently by John Wardle, supported by an Inner West Council Independent Artists Grant.

The Inner West Live Music and Performance Census 2019 data collection were by John Wardle and The Sydney Fringe Festival.

Report content and design are by John Wardle from the Live Music Office.