Latest news with #PowerhouseMuseum
The Age
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
As Parramatta's Powerhouse Museum reaches full height, secret lifted on target opening date
Parramatta's $915 million Powerhouse Museum is being targeted to open in September next year after four years of construction on the largest new cultural institution in the state since the Sydney Opera House. The intended opening date puts it close to two years behind its promised opening date, which has been pushed back due to unseasonal rains and a complex building process. The new target opening date was inadvertently revealed by Premier Chris Minns at a press conference at the site on Friday morning, during which he announced a $5 million donation from the philanthropic Neilson Foundation for a range of exhibitions at the site. 'It's not far away, probably September of next year it'll open its doors, and it'll be an exciting day for our beautiful city,' he said. When a reporter clarified the target opening date, Minns responded: 'Well, it may well be that I wasn't supposed to say that, but that's what we're aiming for, and so it's not too far away. We really want to open as soon as possible. 'If it's held back, it will only be because it'll be a bigger, better exhibition.' The museum has now reached its full 75-metre height, and its exoskeleton – the 'milk crate'-like external steel pillars that leave the internal floor space free of columns – is also complete. The Neilson Foundation's donation will go towards new exhibitions at the venue, including The Dark, a children's exhibition focusing on 'the new frontiers of discovery', said billionaire founder Kerr Neilson. While Powerhouse Parramatta is expected to open next year, its Ultimo site (which will still house exhibitions) is also undergoing a major renovation. The museum's move to Parramatta has been controversial, with cost blowouts and changes made over concerns the area, next to the river, could flood.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
As Parramatta's Powerhouse Museum reaches full height, secret lifted on target opening date
Parramatta's $915 million Powerhouse Museum is being targeted to open in September next year after four years of construction on the largest new cultural institution in the state since the Sydney Opera House. The intended opening date puts it close to two years behind its promised opening date, which has been pushed back due to unseasonal rains and a complex building process. The new target opening date was inadvertently revealed by Premier Chris Minns at a press conference at the site on Friday morning, during which he announced a $5 million donation from the philanthropic Neilson Foundation for a range of exhibitions at the site. 'It's not far away, probably September of next year it'll open its doors, and it'll be an exciting day for our beautiful city,' he said. When a reporter clarified the target opening date, Minns responded: 'Well, it may well be that I wasn't supposed to say that, but that's what we're aiming for, and so it's not too far away. We really want to open as soon as possible. 'If it's held back, it will only be because it'll be a bigger, better exhibition.' The museum has now reached its full 75-metre height, and its exoskeleton – the 'milk crate'-like external steel pillars that leave the internal floor space free of columns – is also complete. The Neilson Foundation's donation will go towards new exhibitions at the venue, including The Dark, a children's exhibition focusing on 'the new frontiers of discovery', said billionaire founder Kerr Neilson. While Powerhouse Parramatta is expected to open next year, its Ultimo site (which will still house exhibitions) is also undergoing a major renovation. The museum's move to Parramatta has been controversial, with cost blowouts and changes made over concerns the area, next to the river, could flood.
Sydney Morning Herald
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The radical plan to finally give Gen Z a voice in Sydney's museums and galleries
As a university student, NSW Arts Minister John Graham would often attend theatre performances and realise he was the youngest person there. Even now, as the sector's state leader, Graham still sometimes finds himself 'at the younger end' of audience demographics, which is why NSW will become the first state to legislate to give a voice to Generation Z on the boards of leading cultural institutions. Under draft legislation before parliament, emerging arts leaders aged between 18 and 28 years will be eligible for a guaranteed seat on the board of the Sydney Opera House, Art Gallery of NSW, Powerhouse Museum, Australian Museum, State Library of NSW and Museums of History NSW. The bill was drafted after Graham became impatient for real-time demographic changes on the boards and trusts of the six institutions. If adopted, the laws will apply from October this year. 'There is a range of other views around mentoring and more gentle ways to [achieve those aims] but I don't accept that,' Graham told the Herald. 'I want these representatives on the board as equal participants. There are two goals: to bring on the next-generation audiences, and [to bring on] the next-generation cultural leaders.' The youth seat plan comes amid concern that arts boards across the country are stacked with too many corporate leaders and patrons without real-time arts experience. It follows the Creative Australia board's sacking of its freshly appointed Venice Biennale representative, Khaled Sabsabi, in February. Last year, Sara Mansour from Bankstown Poetry Slam became the Opera House Trust's youngest-ever board member, aged 30. She said it has given her valuable experience in the way cultural organisations deal with complex operational, financial and governance issues. 'Given young people make up over 30 per cent of NSW's population, I think this initiative from the arts minister is brilliant,' she said. 'It not only gives them a seat at the table – it allows them to be heard, and it is also enabling them to gain integral corporate governance and strategic experience that they then can take back to their own community to upskill at a grassroots level. '
The Age
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
The radical plan to finally give Gen Z a voice in Sydney's museums and galleries
As a university student, NSW Arts Minister John Graham would often attend theatre performances and realise he was the youngest person there. Even now, as the sector's state leader, Graham still sometimes finds himself 'at the younger end' of audience demographics, which is why NSW will become the first state to legislate to give a voice to Generation Z on the boards of leading cultural institutions. Under draft legislation before parliament, emerging arts leaders aged between 18 and 28 years will be eligible for a guaranteed seat on the board of the Sydney Opera House, Art Gallery of NSW, Powerhouse Museum, Australian Museum, State Library of NSW and Museums of History NSW. The bill was drafted after Graham became impatient for real-time demographic changes on the boards and trusts of the six institutions. If adopted, the laws will apply from October this year. 'There is a range of other views around mentoring and more gentle ways to [achieve those aims] but I don't accept that,' Graham told the Herald. 'I want these representatives on the board as equal participants. There are two goals: to bring on the next-generation audiences, and [to bring on] the next-generation cultural leaders.' The youth seat plan comes amid concern that arts boards across the country are stacked with too many corporate leaders and patrons without real-time arts experience. It follows the Creative Australia board's sacking of its freshly appointed Venice Biennale representative, Khaled Sabsabi, in February. Last year, Sara Mansour from Bankstown Poetry Slam became the Opera House Trust's youngest-ever board member, aged 30. She said it has given her valuable experience in the way cultural organisations deal with complex operational, financial and governance issues. 'Given young people make up over 30 per cent of NSW's population, I think this initiative from the arts minister is brilliant,' she said. 'It not only gives them a seat at the table – it allows them to be heard, and it is also enabling them to gain integral corporate governance and strategic experience that they then can take back to their own community to upskill at a grassroots level. '
The Age
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘You could feel her in the room': Carla Zampatti label returns to form
It's out with the new and in with the old as the Carla Zampatti label celebrated its 60th anniversary by opening Australian Fashion Week at Circular Quay in Sydney on Monday night. Behind the scenes at this year's annual industry event everything is different, with new operators the Australian Fashion Council and fewer big names on the schedule, but the spectacular runway show by Carla Zampatti was as comforting as one of the brand's signature black crepe gowns. 'Opening AFW is an honour that we don't take for granted,' says Alexander Schuman, Carla Zampatti chief executive, and son of the designer who died following a fall in April 2021. 'Mum was always altruistic towards the industry.' 'This collection is a bold statement of where we are, offering a contemporary DNA for the next generation of customers.' With a focus on separates and fresh blazer silhouettes alongside evening wear, it is deliberately not as bold as last year's fashion week presentation, where risque sheer pieces and plunging cuts had traditional customers clutching their Paspaley pearls. Loading Captains of industry, newsreaders and mothers of the bride who worship Zampatti as the patron saint of style can relax. 'The shift is a sign of the times because women have moved into a different space,' Schuman says. 'It's no longer all about the glamour of the gown. There's still sex appeal for the fashion-forward customer in their 30s, but we are thinking about the professional woman who is the mainstay of the brand.' Adding a layer of new to Carla Zampatti's aesthetic, so familiar that the collection is called Ubiquity, were dresses by designers including Christopher Esber, Akira Isogawa and Zampatti's daughter Bianca Spender. Rather than challenge customers, these pieces were designed for the Powerhouse Museum.
