After closing down in November last year, World Bar nightclub in Kings Cross will soon be reopening as a performing arts venue, as part of a plan, funded by the City of Sydney and the NSW government, to draw artists to the inner city.
This venue, which will be known as Fringe HQ, will include provision for four low-cost performance spaces across three levels of the former bar as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival.
Kings Cross’ infamous World Bar is set to reopen as a multi-level performing arts venue, thanks to Sydney Fringe Festival.
Sydney Fringe Festival, with $120,000 in funding from the NSW Government and the City of Sydney, will turn the infamous Kings Cross Victorian terrace into its headquarters for the one-month festival, and for an additional five months after. The new venue will give up-and-coming artists with small budgets the space to develop their productions, and more established artists a place to test new material in front of an audience.
There will be four performance spaces across Fringe HQ’s three levels, and artists of all kinds can hire the spaces for week-long runs for less than $1000. “Finding affordable inner-city space for artists is a huge challenge,” said City of Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore, as she launched the project on Monday. “Supporting innovative new creative projects is one way we’re helping breathe new life into the Cross’ night-time economy and cultural offerings.”
The new venue will add to a growing theatre precinct in Kings Cross, with other performances spaces such as the Old Fitz Theatre, Hayes Theatre, Stables Theatre, Eternity Playhouse and Kings Cross Theatre at Kings Cross Hotel.
Sydney Fringe Festival will feature performances from more than 2000 artists at roughly 60 venues throughout September. During the six-month pilot period, this one building could double the existing theatre activity in Sydney.
Sydney Fringe Festival chief executive Kerri Glasscock said that establishing the new venue was an opportunity to be “part of a new narrative for the Kings Cross area as a thriving theatre precinct, amplifying and adding to the already wonderful established spaces in the area. Having non-curated space that is open to any and all artists to perform in is absolutely imperative to the health of the entire arts sector.”
The first performance at Sydney’s Fringe HQ is set to take place on the 3rd of September. You can find out more about the new venue, upcoming shows, and hiring performances spaces here.
