Caroline Gates

This ‘Not-Only-Artist Run Initiative’ in Marrickville is a three bedder that’s been turned into a multi-purpose creative space complete with kitchen garden and research library. The aim here is to build community by allowing participation and collaboration between people with a passion for culture. It’s a place where the process of making art is just as important as the result.

Welcome to the 29th guest blog post of Time Out Sydney's 52 Weeks of #SydCulture 2017 challenge! July’s culture selector is Caroline Gates: program director at FBi Radio. Every Wednesday of July, Caro will be telling us what she loved the week before. Think of it as your recommendations for this week, from someone who sees a helluva lot of arts and culture. Over to her. I’m being watched. My movement is being tracked by a robot that looks like a server rack minimally decorated with LEDs, electronics and a laptop. It’s not alone - there are seven others to keep it company – but somehow the mood they induce is more playful than ominous. This little dance is happening in a darkened room at Gymea’s Hazelhurst Regional Gallery – 40 minutes from Sydney CBD down the Princes Highway. For years now some of Sydney’s best contemporary art has been bubbling up from the edges thanks to local governments investing in galleries such as Hazelhurst, Casula Powerhouse, Blacktown Arts Centre and Campbelltown Arts Centre. Each space is an invaluable community hub as well as a honeypot for day-trippers from other postcodes, like me. Dream Machines is a new exhibition that explores harmonies between science, technology, engineering, maths and art. Curator Carrie Kibber has gathered works by James Dodd, Wade Marynowsky, Cameron Robbins, Tricky Walsh, David Lawrey and Jaki Middleton. Their inventions invite you to participate and play as well as look and think.   Wade Marynowsky 'Robot Operetta' a

Welcome to the 28th guest blog post of Time Out Sydney's 52 Weeks of #SydCulture 2017 challenge! July’s culture selector is Caroline Gates: program director at FBi Radio. Every Wednesday of July, Caro will be telling us what she loved the week before. Think of it as your recommendations for this week, from someone who sees a helluva lot of arts and culture. Over to her. I’ve got good news. Saving Sydney live music is pretty bloody easy. For a little while there, the health of Sydney’s live music scene was looking critical. Venues had been closing for years. One of the city’s best small band rooms was becoming a mini-golf bar. But then, just down the road, the Lansdowne’s lights flickered back on, signalling a small but encouraging renaissance. New owners Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham (Mary's and the Unicorn) are being lauded as white knights and they’re having fun playing the part. As I head up the stairs to see Melbourne artist Ainslie Wills in their new performance space, I’m given a wristband that reads “I’m fucking saving Sydney”. Is that all it takes to resuscitate our city’s culture? Enjoying a gig on a Thursday night? I can do that. You can do that. Supporting venues that stage live entertainment means they keep supporting live entertainment. Our role really can be that simple.   Ainslie Wills at the Lansdowne Photograph: Anna Kucera     Before the main act takes the stage, the scrubbed-up space gets all my attention. It’s simple and it works. The bar is off to the si

Welcome to the 27th guest blog post of Time Out Sydney's 52 Weeks of #SydCulture 2017 challenge! July’s culture selector is Caroline Gates: Program Director at FBi Radio. Every Tuesday of July, Caro will be telling us what she loved the week before. Think of it as your recommendations for this week, from someone who sees a helluva lot of arts and culture. Over to her. It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m listening to Mariah Carey. Sort of. In front of me is a Korg MS-20 synthesiser doing its best to warble along to ‘Vision of Love’ and match the diva’s five-octave range. I’m sitting around a communal table with ten welcoming strangers at Frontyard, a ‘Not-Only-Artist Run Initiative’ in Marrickville. It’s a three bedder that’s been turned into a multi-purpose creative space complete with kitchen garden and research library. The aim here is to build community by allowing participation and collaboration between people with a passion for culture. It’s a place where the process of making art is just as important as the result. For two hours on Sunday, electronic musician Bridget Chappell turned Frontyard into a sound laboratory. An open, free workshop where people with an interest in synths and music-making could get hands-on with gear, learn together, and experiment with sound. The focus was on skilling up musically-inclined queer, non-binary and female participants; anyone with questions about making electronic music who might be too shy, broke, or intimidated to ask elsewhere.   Brid

Welcome to the 26th guest blog post of Time Out Sydney's 52 Weeks of #SydCulture 2017 challenge! July’s culture selector is Caroline Gates: Program Director at FBi Radio. Every Wednesday of July, Caro will be telling us what she loved the week before. Think of it as your recommendations for this week, from someone who sees a helluva lot of arts and culture. Over to her. Each Tuesday night for the past several weeks, a motley crew of musicians, community radio volunteers and other music industry types has gathered on Alexandria’s Alan Davidson Oval come rain or shine to run laps and practice their ball skills. It’s not some cruel boot camp for the under-sunned. They’re in training for the sixth annual Sydney Reclink Community Cup, which will be held at Marrickville’s Henson Park on Sunday August 6.   The charity AFL game started in Melbourne and has since spread nationally. It raises funds to help Reclink Australia provide sporting and artistic opportunities for disadvantaged Australians. Sydney’s iteration is a good-natured grudge match between the Walers (musicians) and the Sydney Sailors (media including volunteers from FBi Radio and 2SER). The amped up drama between these two teams, plus the dog-friendly atmosphere, Young Henry’s tinnies and an inevitable streaker, draws spectators out for the one match each year.   The 2016 Walers team Photograph: Rod Hunt     In previous years, the lead up to game day has been marked with a few fundraising gigs. This time, the Cup was