ABC takes the story to western Sydney
After opening a newsroom in Parramatta, ABC partners with local community on a multimedia project.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
The ABC has partnered with multimedia public space storytelling project, Storybox Parramatta, after opening a newsroom in the area in March.
Snapshots of life in Parramatta from the 1950s and 1960s, drawn from the ABC Archives will be on display in Parramatta Square from today.
ABC Managing Director, David Anderson, said “Earlier this year we opened our first Western Sydney newsroom in Horwood Place, Parramatta, to strengthen the ABC’s coverage of Western Sydney’s diverse communities. Over the next five years we are committed to relocating around 200 ABC staff outside of our Ultimo headquarters and many we hope will find their new working home in the Parramatta area.”
The ABC hopes to have a larger presence in the proposed cultural precinct in Parramatta and is in talks with the NSW Government.
City of Parramatta Lord Mayor Cr Bob Dwyer said: “Council is proud to be a key partner in Australia’s first Storybox – a new media platform in the world-class Parramatta Square precinct that allows our diverse community to share their own stories about Parramatta in an innovative way.”
The ABC’s Content Ideas Lab has curated a series of stories for the Parramatta community which include archival footage of an Italian farming family in Epping in 1958; a wool fashion parade at Elizabeth Farm in 1959; Cedars of Lebanon footage along with interviews with community members from 1963; and a Ukrainian/Australian ballet performance recorded at the Parramatta Town Hall in 1959. There is also animated Indigenous language lessons as well as a look to the future with interviews from local residents about what they want their community to look like after the pandemic.
Created by digital placemaking studio, Esem Projects, Storybox provides an innovative public platform for storytelling designed to connect artists, creative thinkers and the community to their shared outdoor space in Parramatta Square.
Storybox Parramatta has been created by Esem Projects in partnership with the City of Parramatta, ABC Content Ideas Lab, Western Sydney University, Story Factory, FORM Dance Projects and Curious Works.
7 Responses
Absolutely ridiculous, 2 studios set up in the same city? relocate your staff to Darwin, Cairns, Launceston or any other regional towns
ABC does have regional offices (including news in Darwin, Northern Tas, Far North Qld) where reporters can file for radio / TV / online.
… ABC “Western Sydney” came about in 2013 when Julia Gillard, desperate to win/keep seats in that area, gave the ABC additional funding tied to establishing a news bureau in Parramatta (and also for the same reason in Geelong and Ipswich) … when she was rolled by Kevin Rudd, the funds stayed with the news department but were renamed “enhanced news gathering” … it’s the same as Simon Crean, as Minister for Regional Development, allocating funds to western Sydney from the Regional Development Fund in an attempt at pork-barrelling in the same area at the same time … in both cases it was real “regional” areas that missed out as a result …
Western Sydney is not a thing. It’s the western suburbs of Sydney. So they’re relocating staff from Sydney to Sydney. I don’t understand why the media plays into this “western Sydney” BS like it’s a separate city. The people in the western suburbs still have more opportunities for jobs and “storytelling” than most Australians because they live in Sydney.
huh?
The City of Parramatta Council is a local government area located west of central Sydney in the Greater Western Sydney region. Relocating from City of Sydney to City of Parramatta.
Yeah they could relocate somewhere like Wollongong, Newcastle, or Canberra (even better somewhere like Darwin or Hobart), hardly groundbreaking moving the same staff a few suburbs away.