Tuxedo Cat in 2012: With support from Le Cordon Bleu, Maras Group and Commercial and General

As of December 5^th, Renew Adelaide is extremely proud to announce that Tuxedo Cat are moving into 199 and 200 North Terrace. The use of this site, owned by Le Cordon Bleu, and under development by Maras Group and Commercial and General, is slated for a major redevelopment in the near future. We were approached to consider the potential for activation whilst that development is in preparation.

Obviously, the reactivation of a site this large is a job only for the very best of cultural managers and, based on having done our best to help/hinder them in their reactivation of Electra House, we knew the only real contender was Tuxedo Cat, who’ll be turning 199 and 200 North Terrace into a six theatre complex for the Adelaide Fringe. This is, with the exclusion of the Garden of Unearthly Delights, about to become the biggest venue in the 2012 Fringe. Along with Arcade Lane, who are currently taking permanent occupation of their site off Grenfell Street, and Shimmering West’s work in the West End, it heralds a pretty significant step forward in the growth of the Fringe, with the advent of Edinburgh style ‘super venues’ finally hitting Adelaide.

For Renew Adelaide it heralds something else. Firstly, it’s the start of our new relationship with ArtsSA, who are not only taking over from TACSI as our funding body but are working with us to see that something that comes out of this site which makes it easier for people to run creative spaces and culturally focused enterprise in Adelaide.

Secondly, it’s a chance to remind ourselves that the goal of Renew Adelaide isn’t just about putting people in buildings, it’s about seeing them succeed. This is an immense project and whilst the in-kind commitment from the owners and developers is getting well over the $75,000 mark, ultimately the expenses of setting up and running the venue rest on the bankcard of Cass and Bryan from Tuxedo Cat. What we need to look at here isn’t just how to get into the building, but how to make it possible for someone to curate the kind of activity that can, within the space of a month, attract 20,000 or more people into Adelaide and thereby kick start our early evening economy, counteract the lack of small performance and rehearsal space and provide an avenue for locally produced content to seep back into our city.

The building is the medium. It’s, to use a term borrowed from a council interstate, the ‘Cultural Managers’ that produce the activity that produces the audiences that create the much fabled ‘city vibrancy’.

For us to attract and retain skilled ‘cultural managers’, we need to recognise their projects cost money, even if their industry isn’t a high yield, profit driven field. Melbourne and Sydney’s matching grants, creative spaces programs (modelled, notably, on the Renews), and direct funding through councils like Cairns, indicate that investing in this area is seen as worthwhile for cities actively trying to develop a cultural economy. Adelaide competes on a national level and, during Fringe, on a global level for people who know how to go into an empty building and, within a short time frame, give thousands of people the chance to turn off the television and visit that site.

Right now, Renew Adelaide has the capacity to arrange access to a building. This reduces a significant hurdle, but it doesn’t magically create ‘city vibrancy’. For that to happen, we need to look at the pathways for turning ‘cultural managers’ into financially sustainable enterprise. Ultimately our goal over the next six months is to identify what’s working both here and elsewhere, what’s not working, and what we need to do to make ventures like Tuxedo Cat succeed.

For those of you interested in sneak previews of the site, get in touch. We’ve already arranged one initial site inspection but we’re keen to take our supporters along on the journey.

And for those of you with a particularly nerdy interest in this area, I’d also encourage you to look at the structure, operations and funding systems creating some of the comparable spaces interstate and overseas, such as Queen Street Studios and River Studios.

The reactivation of 199 and 200 North Terrace is made possible by Le Cordon Bleu, Commercial and General and Maras Group. Renew Adelaide is funded by, and works with, ArtsSA with the specific goal of identifying further pathways for those trying to set up creative spaces. The production, venue management and reactivation of this iconic building is being undertaken by Tuxedo Cat.

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