Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC), commonly referred to as Casula Powerhouse, is a

multi-disciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

arts centre in

Casula Casula is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 34 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Liverpool. Casula is the first suburb immediatel ...

, a south-western outer suburb of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. Before being renovated and converted into an arts centre, the building was known as Liverpool Powerhouse. Since 2016 CPAC has hosted the

Blake Prize The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and since 2016 has been a ...

s, comprising two art prizes and a residency, as well as the

Blake Poetry Prize The Blake Poetry Prize is an Australian poetry prize for a new work of 100 lines or less, focused on non-sectarian spiritual and religious topics, connected to the Blake Prize, an art prize. The prize, worth , is presented biennially by the Casu ...

History

Liverpool Powerhouse was constructed in 1951, one of a number of identical

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

s built to cater for growing demand in Sydney winters. In 1955, a high

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

was built to replace four shorter ones, which allowed the smoke to blow over residents' houses and soil their washing. In 1976 the power station was shut down, and bought by Liverpool City Council, New South Wales, in 1978 and allowed to become derelict for nearly ten years. In 1985 a residents'

plebiscite A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

voted for the building to be converted into an arts centre, and work began in 1987 to provide an electricity supply and create office space. In 1993, during

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator, currently serving as a member in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ...

's tenure as mayor, the renamed Casula Powerhouse was allocated funding in the council budget. Inaugural Director John Kirkman invited

Judy Watson Judy Watson (born 1959) is an Australian Waanyi multi-media artist who works in print-making, painting, video and installation. Her work often examines Indigenous Australian histories, and she has received a number of high profile commissions ...

to design the floor of the centre, which became known as the Koori Floor. Influenced by Western Desert art as well as local Aboriginal heritage, the names of the three

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the land:

Tharawal The Dharawal people, also spelt Tharawal and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Dharawal language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, s ...

, Gandangarra and Dharuk, are inscribed in

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

, inlaid in the floor. The newly refurbished building opened as an arts centre in October 1994. It proceeded to host many exhibitions and events, including a number with

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

ese themes. From June 2006 until 5 April 2008, a capital project was undertaken to improve and expand the centre, collaboratively undertaken by the

NSW Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

Create NSW Create NSW is a government agency of the Government of New South Wales, that falls within the Enterprise, Investment and Trade cluster. The agency was created on 1 April 2017 from an amalgamation of Arts NSW (ANSW) and Screen NSW. Create NSW is ...

, Liverpool City Council and its communities.

Description

The building is located on the banks of the

Georges River The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River, is an intermediate tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, located to the south and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river travels for approximately in a north and then easterly ...

, within the Casula Parklands and next to

Casula railway station Casula railway station is located on the Main South line, serving the Sydney suburb of Casula. It is served by Sydney Trains T2 Inner West & Leppington and T5 Cumberland line services. History Casula station opened on 1 November 1894. In O ...

, at 1 Powerhouse Road. The centre houses an exhibition space that meets international standards, a 326-seat theatre, a multi-purpose theatre/performance space, artists' studios and residency spaces, and seven additional exhibition spaces. There is also a collection storage space and additional office space. Bellbird Dining & Bar (launched in 2017) provides restaurant facilities, and the centre is open every day of the week. The centre is located in a very

multicultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

area; Liverpool is one of the two most diverse

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

s in Australia (with around 150 languages spoken), and CPAC's programmes reflect this. It engages will local as well as global communities.

Governance

Craig Donarski, whose parents are Polish migrants, has been director of CPAC since 2016.

Collections

The Liverpool Collection, co-managed by CPAC and Liverpool Regional Museum (opened 1989), comprises around 30,000 artworks and cultural heritage artefacts, and both preserves items of historical significance as well as showcases work of established and emerging artists.

Events and exhibitions

Blake Prizes

After the Blake Society had lost sponsorship for its art prizes in 2015, CPAC and

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

announced that they would be funding and managing the prizes from 2016, with the exhibition and awards moving to

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

from their former venue partner, the

UNSW Art & Design The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

(now UNSW School of Art & Design) in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

Other events and exhibitions

CPAC also hosts the annual Mil-Pra AECG (Aboriginal Education Consultative Group) and Liverpool Art Society exhibitions. In September 2001, an exhibition featuring the work of post- Tianenmen Square migrant Chinese migrant Fan Dongwang, entitled ''Shanghai Star'', was mounted at the centre. In September/October 2015, CPAC celebrated its 21st anniversary, with an exhibition of works by 21 contemporary Australian artists who had had a close connection with the centre in the past, such as having their work exhibited there for the first time. During January and February 2018, the centre hosted free screenings of Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

films as part of the ''Manga Hokusai Manga'' touring exhibition program, put on in collaboration with

The Japan Foundation The was established in 1972 by an Act of the National Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture, and became an Independent Administrative Institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministr ...

. In February 2019, CPAC launched the first of a series of live music events, featuring local hip hop group Freesouls to headline the concert. During the first wave of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

in 2020, the centre was forced to close for some weeks. During this time, the exhibition ''Pulse of the Dragon'', an exhibition showcasing the art of five

Chinese Australian Chinese Australians () are Australians of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chinese ...

and five Chinese artists, went online. In November, it reopened with four new exhibitions, after the Koori Floor (see History, above) had been restored. The centre reopened on 3 June with two exhibitions, ''Adaptation'' (comprising works by artists with

disability Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be Cognitive disability, cognitive, Developmental disability, dev ...

chronic illness A chronic condition is a health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects or a disease that comes with time. The term ''chronic'' is often applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three mo ...

) and ''A Familiar Place I’ve Never Seen'', an exhibition combining

Persian calligraphy Persian calligraphy or Iranian calligraphy ( fa, ), is the calligraphy of the Persian language. It is one of the most revered arts throughout the history of Iran. History History of Nasta'liq After the introduction of Islam in the 7th centu ...

and photography, with input from Western Sydney residents who had been immigrants and refugees. The first Casula Powerhouse Aboriginal Scholarship Award was announced in 2020. Two exhibitions of

Ken Done Kenneth Stephen Done (born 29 June 1940) is an Australian artist best known for his design work. Although his simple, brightly coloured images of Australian landmarks have adorned a very popular range of clothing and homewares sold under the " ...

's work were scheduled to run in July 2021, an evening of conversation with Done on the 31st. However, this coincided with the

lockdown A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison ...

s that commenced in mid-2021 owing to a second wave of COVID-19 in NSW. With Sydney back under lockdown, the centre offered an extensive online programme, including virtual tours of the centre and several exhibitions, including a 3D tour of the work of local Croatian-born artist Gina Sinozich, who died in 2020; free screenings of films; a book club for youth; online activities for children; videos of young musicians and various instructional videos.

References

External links

* {{coord, -33.9493, 150.9128, type:landmark_region:AU-NSW, display=title Contemporary art galleries in Australia Art museums and galleries in Sydney Performance art venues Performing arts venues in Australia Arts centres in Australia Studios in Australia Decommissioned power stations in New South Wales 1994 establishments in Australia Art museums established in 1994