Sydney’s Venue 505 to close, citing end of JobKeeper & lack of support

Sydney live music space Venue 505 has announced it will be closing its doors for good at the end of this month.

Owner Kerri Glasscock, who is also the director of Sydney Fringe, announced the venue’s closure earlier this week, having managed the business since 2004. Glasscock said the future of the venue would be untenable following the end of JobKeeper and the lack of any confirmed support from the NSW Government.

“As an owner of a live music venue, we have no future in NSW without JobKeeper,” Glasscock said.

“My venue has been the first to fall but it won’t be the last. Live music is the lifeblood of our industry and integral to our cultural identity. The deafening silence of inaction in NSW will result in a reckoning as venues are closed, jobs are lost and our economic contribution to the city and state evaporates.

“The next generation of local Grammy winners, film score writers, chart toppers and global exports will emerge from states such as Victoria and South Australia, which have delivered packages to ensure their venues remain viable…”

The NSW Labor opposition has repeatedly brought up the uncertainty of venues once JobKeeper ends on March 28. After being questioned by shadow minister for music John Graham, customer service minister Victor Dominello said he would speak to the NSW treasurer Dominic Perrottet about specific funding for venues.

“The NSW Treasurer’s remarks this week coincided with conversations I was having with my staff, contractors, suppliers and customers that my business would be closing permanently because operating was no longer viable,” Glasscock said.