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Open weekend for CarriageWorks

Sydney’s new home for contemporary arts is holding an open weekend to celebrate its debut on the local arts scene reports Arts Hub Australia on Wednesday, January 10, 2007.

CarriageWorks was officially launched last Friday by NSW Minister for the Arts, Bob Debus. His speech singled out the centre’s inaugural director, Sue Hunt.

“Sue has worked pretty much day and night since she started," he said, "to not just make this opening possible, but to put in place the foundations for an incredible new resource for the arts in this city which, will go on and grow for many, many years.”

Mr Debus described the venue – the result of a $49 million redevelopment program at the former Eveleigh Rail Yards – as “a significant investment by the NSW Government”.

“It is about making work as much as it is about presenting work. And it is about growing and developing the contemporary arts companies, through the catalyst of infrastructure.”

“No one knows precisely what will happen here over the next ten years or more... but the power and significance of a permanent site to the arts is generally acknowledged, around the world.”

The new centre will hold its open weekend on 20-21 January. Visitors will be able to take guided tours through the new theatre spaces, rehearsal rooms and scenery construction workshops at 11:00 am and 2:00pm on both days, and take part in one of four panel discussions on contemporary arts and dance, the rail history of CarriageWorks, and the adaptive re-use of the building (12:00pm and 1:00pm daily).

There will also be an audio-visual exhibition on the building’s history, entitled Trains of Treasure, and a testimonial booth where people who worked on the site during its years as a railway carriage workshop will be given the opportunity to record their story.

Source: http://www.artshub.com.au/ahau1/news/news.asp?Id=150963

More information: http://www.carriageworks.com.au/whatson/whatson.html