Italian Forum Cultural Centre Opens

After 20 years, Sydney's Italian Forum Cultural Centre has finally opened.

The first stone was laid 20 years ago by Italy's then-President, Francesco Cossiga, but Centre, in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt, has been empty ever since, a concrete shell between a pizzeria and a gelato shop.

The project has been plagued by almost two decades of in-fighting, false starts and legal disputes. It began in the mid-1980s, when the NSW Greiner Government gave the vacant Norton Street site to the Italian community as a bicentennial gift. The only condition was that 10% of the land be devoted to cultural facilities.

After the site was handed over, the non-profit group Italian Forum Limited struggled to raise funds and incurred heavy debts. Chase Property Investments was eventually signed to build the project but left the centre unfinished. A court settlement against the building company provided the $3.5 million needed to finish the job.

Today the cultural centre is a modern space with imitation marble floors and Ferrari-red feature walls. Downstairs is a 320-seat theatre and foyer bar, upstairs are a blank-walled gallery, an industrial kitchen and three large, but so far unfinished, conference rooms.

The venue has attracted interest from the Sydney Festival, Musica Viva and the Bell Shakespeare Company. The Sydney Dance Company may use it for dance classes and Opera Australia is considering it as a rehearsal space.

The Italian Forum Limited plans to run its own events, funded by the proceeds from venue hire. A jazz festival and a singing competition for Italian arias are in the works.

"If we can put into practice half the ideas we have, it will be a very hot place," says Pino Scuro, a representative of the Italian Forum Limited. "It is going to be a place where Italian culture has a home but the performances will be varied and relevant to the community at large."
Louise Schwartzkoff, Sydney Morning Herald