Ben Apfelbaum

THE ARTS AND WINE BARS TO SPUR SYDNEY’S NIGHT TIME ECONOMY

For some time now Sydney City Council has been concerned with the lack of a night time economy for both the City Of Sydney and Kings Cross. In relation to the city  there have been discussions about the opening of restaurants and cafes till late at night as well as wine bars attracting the more ‘gentrified’ clientele.

In relation to Kings Cross the Committee for Sydney think tank regarding the night time economy stimulus has noted that Kings Cross  had lost its way. “It needed to learn how to balance naughty and nice, like cities such as Amsterdam. “

Central to the idea of  revitalising Kings Cross was a.freshening up of the station from its grubby and unsafe atmosphere. In step with this plan there is a push to reopen the old Minerva theatre in Potts Point with the hope of creating a new theatre and arts precinct.

Dulcie’s Kings Cross bar owner Brandon Matignago is leading the action group to reclaim the 1,500 seat theatre which he hoped would draw people back to the central area of the Cross.

Further more, currently to the north is the Hayes Theatre and the Griffin Theatre to the south.

There was much discussion when plans for the reinvigoration of the Theatre Royal was announced that it would remain at its current capacity of 1,100 seats.

Many in the the theatre industry believe that Sydney needs  a 1,500 seat theatre.

The Minerva Theatre is a 1.500 seat theatre although the quality iof its backstage facilities are unknown by the writer at this stage.

Needless to say these plans assume a post Covid 19 world.

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.