Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

For decades the hip-hop culture emanating out of Western Sydney – considered the epicentre of emerging talent in the genre – has had no fixed address to call home.

Now music and street art representing neighbourhoods between Parramatta and Penrith will be honoured and sustained at Powerhouse Parramatta when it opens in 2025, under a cultural partnership between the new museum and Blacktown City Council.

Performers at the 4Elements Hip-hop Festival, Maya Jupiter, festival producer Vyvienne Abla, and performer MC Trey in Blacktown.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

The Powerhouse Parramatta and Blacktown City Council Foundational Cultural Partnership is a five-year program set up to tell the urban and suburban stories of Blacktown, one of the most multicultural areas of Australia, with residents coming from 188 different birthplaces.

It aims to spotlight the diversity of the creative skills of the communities, ranging from street art from Mount Druitt, and hip-hop across the region to Pacific Islanders’ weaving.

Powerhouse Parramatta will be the new home of 4ESydney, which empowers youth, and champions emerging hip-hop musical talent, as well as hosts Australia’s only hip-hop festival and conference, called 4Elements.

This year’s festival featured MC Trey, a Western-Sydney based Fijian/ Samoan/Australian hip-hop performer and Mexican-born Australian rapper Maya Jupiter, for the second year of its three years in Blacktown City, before it moves to Powerhouse Parramatta in 2025.

Screen printing by Mount Druitt’s Garage Graphix.Credit: Blacktown Arts

As hip-hop celebrates its 50th year, the news is welcome says Vyvienne Alba, the founder of Vyva Entertainment, which produces the 4Elements festival.

“It’s an important milestone for us as all eyes are on Western Sydney, it’s the leading spot for hip-hop in the country,” Alba said.

Blacktown Arts Director Alicia Talbot also welcomes the news that the Garage Graphix Archive, a collection of 400 print works of national significance will have a permanent home.

“This is work by a group of artists and creatives who ran a print studio from a garage in Mount Druitt, telling western Sydney stories about everything from housing commission to radical action of all kinds,” said Talbot.

Mount Druitt’s Garage Graphix Community produced hundreds of political and socially relevant screen-printed posters with Western Sydney communities through the 80s and 90s.Credit: Blacktown Arts

“When the organisation couldn’t pay its rent, Blacktown Arts took a bunch of containers of art 10 years ago, and we are now unpacking and framing them to better present them,” she said.

Program Producer of Pacific in the Powerhouse First Nations team, Donita Vatuinaruku-Hulme is also developing the WE’VE program to showcase the works of Pacific Islander weavers throughout western Sydney.

“Around 25 per cent of Australia’s Pacific Islander community lives in western Sydney, so we hope to showcase weaving from Tongan, Samoan and Maori communities in the area,” Vatuinaruku-Hulme said.

“We hope this will bring a skills revitalisation of the ancient practice of weaving and a greater awareness of this Pacific Islander art among the general public,” she said.

“We are also working with Penrith Council to look at planting weaving crops – like pandanus – in public spaces to connect with people who may not weave but love gardening.”

Powerhouse Parramatta Chief Executive, Lisa Havilah said: “The Powerhouse Parramatta is thrilled to announce this exceptional multi-year cultural partnership with Blacktown Arts, and work with the local communities to amplify and connect with audiences across Western Sydney, Australia and the world.”

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.

Most Viewed in Culture

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article