• Stakeholders from across the hospitality, live music, tourism and transport sectors come together in Sydney next week to plan the city’s night-time economy.
• Global Cities After Dark 2021 will feature workshops and keynote speeches from international industry titans.
• Sydney faces significant headwinds and opportunities thanks to COVID-19 and the recovering economy.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Next week in Sydney, stakeholders from the city’s night-time economy will come together to discuss how the city will pull itself from COVID-19 and the end of lockdowns to have its “phoenix rising moment”.

Global Cities After Dark, described as the the “first forum in the Asia Pacific dedicated to the future of nightlife, night time and social economy” will host a program of keynote speeches and workshops bringing together the private and public sector in an effort to reignite a flame under the harbourside city.

In September last year, the state government released the “Sydney 24 Hour Economy Strategy”, which lays out a plan for making Sydney into a city “that is world renowned for its vibrancy, diversity, safety and access to amenity”. It sets out a strategy for encouraging diverse night-time activities, allowing hospitality and entertainment businesses to extend their operating hours across the Greater Sydney area, as well as supporting better transport links and more integrated planning across government and the private sector.

Long-term plans to revitalise Sydney’s night-time economy after the end of the lockout laws were hamstrung by the coronavirus pandemic, which took a sledgehammer to most activities out of the house, let alone after dark. Global Cities After Dark is the first major event after the pandemic night-time economy stakeholders come together to actively plan the implementation of the strategy.

Vince Kadlubek, founder of US art collective and production company Meow Meow – one of the international speakers at the event – said Sydney’s nightlife has “unlimited potential”.

“It feels like a bunch of fireworks waiting for the right spark,” he said. “After recovering from COVID Sydney has an incredible opportunity to take advantage of its global position.”

Speaking at Global Cities After Dark are a variety of voices from across the hospitality, live music, tourism and transport sectors, hosting a series of sector-specific workshops from Monday 22 March – Thursday 25 March.

The week-long program concludes on Friday 26 March with the ‘Celebrate Local’ closing event, described as a “live music, performance and culinary experience”. Featured is Sydney’s new 24-Hour Economy Commissioner Michael Rodrigues, the former managing director of Time Out Australia.

Rodrigues, who officially steps into his new gig on March 29, told Business Insider Australia his vision for the future of Sydney’s night-life is based around “options”.

“It’s less about fixed formats and more about giving people plenty of options both in the inner-city and also in the areas where they live to do things that are fun and affordable,” he said.

Rodrigues will be featured in conversation with VibeLab’s Mirik Milan at the closing event of Global Cities After Dark.

You can read more about Global Cities After Dark Sydney 2021 at the website.

Jess Scully, Sydney’s deputy lord mayor, will be delivering the opening remarks at the closing event next Friday.

While excited about the future of Sydney now that the last vestiges of the lockout laws have been extinguished and the state government makes nightlife a priority, Scully is concerned about the elephant in the room: the end of the JobKeeper supplement, a lifeline for many of the businesses which sustain Sydney’s night-time economy.

“With JobKeeper ending at the end of the month, a lot of these businesses are really going to struggle to keep their doors open,” Scully told Business Insider Australia.

“In the short-term, that is the biggest issue and roadblock for keeping Sydney’s night-time economy alive.”

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