Museums traditionally open with a ribbon cutting. Powerhouse Parramatta is opening with 23 days of live music, DJ sets, dance, film, food, talks and performances.
When the new Western Sydney institution opens on November 7, its Opening Festival will present more than 170 programs across three weeks and four weekends. 65% of the events will be free, while the museum will remain open until 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
That's not exactly how museums typically launch. But more than that discrepancy, what Powerhouse Parramatta has us wondering is how integrated this contemporary art space will be with the Sydney live music scene going forward; especially because of how the Sydney Opera House has vibrantly embraced live music lately.
Let's dive in to the details.
The museum has a rooftop stage
The festival’s dedicated Rooftop Music series will turn the museum’s fourth-floor pavilion into a sunset venue overlooking Parramatta and Western Sydney.
The program includes Country Always, a Diwali day party curated by South Asian collective Kerfew, Western Sydney’s Three Rivers Ensemble, Beat Kitchen Records, BOY SODA and First Nations violinist and composer Eric Avery performing with salllvage.
Elsewhere in the museum, Sydney hardcore band SPEED will perform on November 13, Tamil-Swiss artist Priya Ragu appears November 14 and ABC Radio Australia host Hau Lātūkefu will close a day of public broadcasting programs with a DJ set.
Music in Exile, a nonprofit label supporting Australian musicians with lived experience of migration, is hosting a free rooftop showcase bringing together sound artist akka, Reuben Lewis, Maissa Alameddine, Mahya Panahi, Ashkan Shafiei, Sui Zhen, and Heart Armour. Choral performances will also accompany British artist Es Devlin’s installation Come Home Again, plus performances from the Jannawi Dance Clan and more.
This is not a museum occasionally placing a musician briefly in a vernissage event. Live performance is part of how the institution intends to introduce itself.
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A cultural institution built around its community
That matters because Powerhouse Parramatta is not opening in Sydney’s traditional cultural center. Rather, the space sits more than 20 kilometers west of the Sydney CBD in one of Australia’s fastest-growing and most culturally diverse regions.
For decades, Western Sydney artists and audiences have traveled east for access to many of the city’s largest cultural institutions. This architectural marvel negates and reverses that traffic trend. According to the museum’s opening announcement, 51% of the festival’s collaborators come from Western Sydney. More than 1,200 people are participating across its music, performance, food, film, science and design programs.
That local involvement is indicative of the goal here. A major institution does not become part of a community simply by constructing a large building. It has to create stages, commission opportunities, and dish out reasons for local audiences to return after opening weekend.
So, will rooftop concerts, late-night programming and partnerships with Western Sydney musicians remain part of the museum’s identity? Or will live music recede once the opening banners come down?
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