Inner West Council Responds To City Of Sydney's Ban On Live Music In Parks, Welcomes More Events

The Inner West Council has responded to the City of Sydney’s blanket ban on live music and other events in council parks, offering to host more events in its vicinity.

In case you missed it, this week, the City of Sydney stated that live music events would no longer happen at council parks due to climate change. This has subsequently led to “severe weather events” and considerable time and money spent on re-turfing grass after major events.

The Council added that re-turfing the grass has a significant cost—tidying up the affected grass can cost up to $250,000 and require fencing off for up to 13 weeks.

While live music events at the City of Sydney parks are now off-limits, the Council will still support events such as Mardi Gras Fair Day, the Yabun Festival, and the Pyrmont Food and Wine Festival.

Now, the Inner West Council has called on “any displaced event promoters and organisers” to consider hosting their events in Inner West Sydney.

Stating that the Inner West is the “beating heart and soul” of Sydney’s music and cultural scene, the Council doesn’t want festivals and events to stop happening in Sydney due to the City of Sydney’s new ruling. 

Mayor Darcy Byrne said, “We’re issuing a call out to all festival promoters and organisers that our door is open if they wish to bring their events to our parks and venues.

“Sydney can’t afford to lose any more of its live music events, and we disagree with the City of Sydney about the use of parks for these cultural activities.”

Bryne added that banning events in parks is a “retrograde step” and encouraged the City of Sydney council to instead look for answers to solutions rather than blanket bans.

Byrne’s statement continued, “We have a range of iconic venues and parks, including Enmore Park, Camperdown Memorial Rest Park, Leichhardt Oval, and Henson Park, that we are open to using for live performances and festivals.

“We urge anyone in the music industry who wants to hold events in Sydney to contact us directly to explore all options for hosting them in the People’s Republic of the Inner West.”