Latest news with #PowerhouseMuseum
The Guardian
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Heartbreak High's Chloé Hayden: ‘I left the op-shop bawling my eyes out'
In a bunker in Sydney's north-west, the Heartbreak High actor Chloé Hayden poses on a white circular plinth. Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan – one of Hayden's favourite artists – is playing on repeat, and the revolving floor beneath her is surrounded by objects: an old wooden rocking horse, a tattered teddy and a pair of embroidered suede Miu Miu boots. Hayden is filming a video for a new exhibition at the Powerhouse museum, one she has co-curated about textural objects. Every object in the exhibition has been selected by the 27-year-old from the Powerhouse's vast collection. 'All of the objects here represent me in some form – the cows are my favourite,' she says, referring to ornate miniature cattle dating back to the 1870s, made from papier-mache, beeswax and cow hair. 'It's very common for autistic people to build connections with inanimate objects, and these cows are very similar to the toy animals I have at home.' The fragile figurines will be on display in a new exhibition series titled Powerhouse Materials. Hayden is the inaugural guest curator for the series, which showcases a fraction of the items from the 500,000-plus objects in the museum's collection. Hayden was given the theme 'textiles'; later in the year, children's author Andy Griffiths will curate an iteration with the theme 'paper'. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Hayden spent a month working with the museum to whittle down a long list of objects to 17 items, including a child's Annie Oakley costume from the 1950s and a silk chiffon Barrier Reef dress and accompanying seaweed cape by the fashion designer Linda Jackson. It's Hayden's first time working with an institution on a project of this scale. 'Chloé is an activist and advocate for many things, including her personal style and sensibility,' says Clare Holland, director of program at the Powerhouse. 'Her unique way of engaging with the world has shaped the materials she has chosen.' Hayden, who is nominated for a silver Logie this year for best supporting actress as Heartbreak High's Quinni, frequently shares TikTok videos of her colourful and textural outfits, as well as her experiences with autism, ADHD and chronic illness. Quinni has been a 'huge part of my identity', says Hayden, 'but it's one facet'. 'I feel like I wear many faces. The one I know – that my family, husband and friends know – isn't the face the public knows. This is Chloé,' she says, gesturing to her clothing and the items around her. Since finishing filming the third and final season of Heartbreak High (out later this year), Chloé is reconnecting with her first love, horses, on her farm in regional Victoria. Hayden says horse riding was her 'whole identity' before the Netflix series. 'Now no one even knows that about me.' One of the Powerhouse collection items she has chosen to represent her country lifestyle is a men's Driza-Bone jacket, gifted to the museum in 1994. 'My first Driza-Bone was one my mum wore when she was a little girl … I wear one every winter when I ride my horse.' She competes in an equestrian sport called Extreme Cowboys. 'The best way I can describe it is like an agility course for dogs – but you're on a 500-kilo animal. You have to do the obstacles as fast as you can, as accurately as you can,' she says. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Her mother, Sarah Hayden, who wrote Parenting Different about raising neurodiverse children, runs an equine therapy clinic. In the book, her daughter writes that 'riding with a group of 'cowboys', who … only judged me on how I rode and loved my horse, gave me a time in my week to stop masking and just be Chloé'. Embracing her special interests – animals, horse riding, fashion – come through in the items she has selected, such as a skin-tight green Jordan Gogos outfit made of fabric scraps. 'I think fashion should be fun,' she says. 'We play dress-ups as kids and we forget how to play dress-ups when we grow up.' Today she's wearing an embellished halterneck and miniskirt by Camilla, created in collaboration with Wicked the Musical. Another connecting thread is toys and childhood nostalgia. For the exhibition, Hayden chose a Japanese teddy from 1927, a Mickey Mouse soft toy and a silk-printed teddy bear backpack designed by Akira Isogawa. She says she gets emotionally attached to toy animals. At home, Hayden has accumulated 140 model horses by Breyer and Schleich – a collection only outdone by her teddy bears. 'I have 150 of them,' she says. 'When I was 18 I went to an op-shop and found this mangled teddy bear deer. He was missing an eye and his ear was off, but I had to have him. 'I left the op-shop bawling my eyes out. My mum, knowing what I was like, drove an hour back to the op-shop just so I could pay the lady 50 cents and take this deer home.' She still has the op-shop deer. 'Once they come home with me they never leave, that's why I have 150.' Overall, the Powerhouse exhibition is a way for Hayden's fans to see all her passions together, in material form and not just in a 30-second reel. 'I think there are definitely things that people who don't know me intimately would go, 'That's an interesting choice' but people that know me would go, 'This is the most Chloé exhibit you could ever think of.'' Powerhouse Materials: Textiles is at Powerhouse Castle Hill from 28 June to 9 November
AU Financial Review
06-06-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Why feeding the food industry is a part of the Western Sydney growth puzzle
Discretionary spend at venues has dropped and margins are tightening throughout the industry as household budgets are squeezed. Despite this, we are seeing an increased trend for Australians to dine out, rather than dining at home. According to the Australian Foodservice Advocacy Body, the average Australian household spent around 37 per cent of their total food and beverage budget on eating out prior to the pandemic (known as the food service dollar). That proportion dropped naturally during the lockdowns to around 13 per cent at its lowest but rebounded strongly, achieving pre-pandemic levels as quickly as 2023. In May, Australia's food service dollar surpassed these levels to a record high of 39 per cent. It is expected to increase further as cost-of-living pressures ease. Greater Western Sydney is well placed to lead the national resurgence of the food service and hospitality industries, being home to cultures from all corners of the globe and offering a wide and diverse range of dining choices. Significant infrastructure projects in Sydney's west will continue to boost demand for food service businesses across the supply chain. The new international airport opening in 2026, and the surrounding Bradfield City hub will more than likely create jobs in heavy industries where staff will be required on-site, with less ability to work at home, thereby creating further opportunities for food service growth. Meanwhile, the new Sydney Metro West will create precincts where the provision of hospitality and food service will become important in shaping those hubs. Projects like Parramatta's Powerhouse Museum and the new football stadium in Penrith will also attract hungry tourists and sports-goers to spend money in Western Sydney. KPMG's latest Enterprising Cities report predicts 173,000 new jobs will be created in Western Sydney over the next five years. Many new jobs created in the region in 2024 were within white-collar and population-oriented industries, such as healthcare and education. This population growth in the region will naturally have flow-on effects to the food and hospitality sectors. Planned growth and migration into Greater Western Sydney; the broader food service spend increase; vibrant multicultural cuisine offerings, infrastructure projects and job creation in the region; changing demographics, social trends and socio-economic standings – the list can go on. What does this mean? The business case will stack up for food service and hospitality participants to double down on success in the Greater Western Sydney region. While it might be tough right now, the commercial rationale will soon surface, a sentiment shared with a range of clients we work with in this sector. And let's not forget this: hospitality and entertainment venues have the unique ability to shape and create an identity and a vibe within new and old precincts and locales. It isn't the buildings or the roads or amenities that necessarily create this identity, or that facilitate the connection between loved ones. It is the ambience, the atmosphere and the hospitality of these venues that will generate the desire for patrons to attend, connect and spend. This is sometimes forgotten or understated when it comes to the growth conversation of Western Sydney. Nobody wants to live in a place where there's nothing fun to do and nowhere exciting to be, so hospitality is a vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to the region's growth. Rather than growth for the sake of growth, now is the time to support the development of a place where people can really thrive through this industry. The opportunity is now for food service and entertainment to flourish in Greater Western Sydney.
The Age
30-05-2025
- 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
30-05-2025
- 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. '
