Changing Lanes Festival

Moaning about the scarcity of awesome things happening in Sydney is beginning to get a bit old. If the scene is as full of holes as many would have you believe, why not get off the couch and actually do something about it? Such was the thinking of the indomitable Ruby Marshall. Along with logistical juggler extraordinaire Danae Goiser, Ruby has masterminded the Changing Lanes festival, which is set to light up Newtown with some cruisin’ tunes, phat beats and live art this Sunday.

The idea behind Changing Lanes is simple: to shift public perceptions of what kinds of events are possible in Sydney. Not that this was at all the initial plan. “I was volunteering at FBi when the Save FBi gigs came up,” explains Ruby. “I was thinking of doing something like having a few market stalls [to raise funds] on a Saturday outside the Hub.” Realising that her ideas were quickly snowballing, she hit upon Eliza St – bookended by two well-known watering holes, the Courthouse Hotel and Zanzibar – as a more appropriate site. She floated the idea to Danae and from there things exploded: “Before we knew it, we were working on a full blown festival!” laughs Ruby.

Inspired by various events in Melbourne, the duo set out to create a festival that drew upon pre-existing venues, unique infrastructure and the local creative talent in a celebration of all of the above. So, why hasn’t someone tried to put on a festival of this kind before? “Because it’s so hard!” says Ruby. “It’s taken almost two years to get off the ground and we’ve worked seven days a week for the last four months. You’ve got to really want it and believe in it and have a lot of incredible people behind you to make it happen, or it just won’t. With [local] council there’s no infrastructure to help get events off the ground. The paper work you have to go through is so ongoing – it’s not tailored to setting up events.”

For Ruby and Danae, diversity has been the name of the game when selecting the performers most likely to set the streets ablaze (figuratively speaking). With sounds as eclectic as smouldering songstresses Bridezilla, hip-hop crew Thundamentals, pensive tunesmith Ernest Ellis, and veteran beat-benders Itch-E & Scratch-E, they seem to have succeeded, though the late addition of Tame Impala to the line-up was a particular triumph. “It was very last-minute,” says Ruby; Danae adds, “They’re such good-hearted guys.”

The attractions won’t just be musical however, with artists including SMC3, Vars, Gem Lark, Ears and Max Berry set to transform the wall of the Courthouse Hotel with a back-to-back collection of works in a diverse array of styles. While punters won’t be watching the unfolding creation of a permanent Newtown icon (the space is heritage listed), pieces done on the day will be displayed at aMBUSH Gallery after the event. “We kind of wanted to give back a bit to the artists that are involved,” explains Ruby, “and give them the opportunity to get a bit more exposure and sell some pieces.”

Considering the amount of red tape that’s been tangled with, it’s heartening for all involved that community response has been so overwhelmingly positive, with tickets rapidly selling out. And with the first Changing Lanes set to be a roaring success, the organisers are already looking towards next year – though ideally, the idea will spread beyond that. “I hope we do it again or that it inspires people to go away and do something themselves,” says Ruby. “I hope that when people leave this event they’ll go, ‘Yeah, that was really great’ and are inspired to make art themselves.


First published in The Brag, Iss. 379, September 13th 2010