Eastern suburbs provide audience for the West

An increased flow of works and ideas between cultural organisations in Sydney’s east and west is helping to unify the once-divided NSW capital.
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Publicity image for Powerhouse Youth Theatre’s Jump First, Ask Later via pyt.com.au

Once the wrong side of Sydney’s tracks, greater western Sydney – home to almost half the city’s population – is increasingly a powerful player in the city’s cultural life.

In the past, eastern suburbs creative activities sometimes trickled west to feed cultural demand in the city’s other half. But now the situation is being reversed and western suburbs organisations such as Powerhouse Youth Theatre are premiering work in the west and ‘exporting’ it to eastern Sydney​.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts