Community Billboard 14 July – 20 July

New Romance: art and the posthuman brings together artists from Australia and Korea whose works encourage us to question what it means to be a human today and what it might mean in the future. It is presented in association with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.

The artists draw their inspiration from a variety of sources, including science fiction, biology, psychology, robotics, consumer technologies, and social media. They attempt to explore the posthuman encounter, considering the human place in the world as one intelligent life-form among others. Many artists take on the roles of curious inventors or mad scientists when creating, using experimental means such as life organisms, building imaginary creatures, or designing artificial worlds.

The creations can elicit a number of reactions, from pulling on our heartstrings to raising questions about the difference between humans and other species, organisms and machines, plants and animals, and nature and culture. Some of the works examine our relationships as humans with kinetic objects, and some others try to gain a perspective of the world from a non-human view.

Art & About Sydney is now inviting budding photographers from 3-11 years old to submit their best pictures of Sydney for the annual Little Sydney Lives photography competition.

Little Sydney Lives celebrates the unique viewpoint of Sydney's young people. The competition will culminate in a large-format outdoor gallery displaying the works of twenty junior photographers from 15 September - 9 October 2016.

The competition is split into two age categories: 3-7 and 8-11. The winner of each category receives a $500 value gift and will be announced at the opening night of the exhibition.

For more information or to enter the competition, click HERE. The competition closes to new entries at midnight on 29 July.

Woolloomooloo residents came together over the weekend to finally see the changes and renovation completed by the City of Sydney to its much-loved community centre.

The centre, named the Juanita Nielsen Community Centre, includes a revamped gymnasium, community halls, and refurbished facilities that will further meet community demand for gathering space. Over the weekend the locals were able to get a peek at the new changes and got a chance to ask questions of those completing the project.

The centre, first opened in 1984, has been a popular and important community meeting place and the new renovations aim to continue this trend.

Construction was started in December of 2014 and will finish later this year. Once complete, the centre will host a new elevator and more accessible facilities, an updated gym and other facilities including air conditioning, outdoor play areas and spaces for children's programs, as well as additional rooms for classes and community hire.

The centre was named after Juanita Nielsen to honor her efforts and brave campaigning to protect the area's heritage. Nearly 40 years ago, after many editorials and other efforts, Juanita Nielsen mysteriously disappeared.

Nielsen was a local newspaper publisher who helped to unite the community to fight against the redevelopment of Victoria Street and Woolloomooloo. She was supportive of the 'Green Bans' strikes held by trade unions and labor groups in the 1970s with teh aim of protecting local heritage and the environment. Such bans were placed on the entire suburb of Woolloomooloo and Victoria Street, Potts Point where Nielsen herself lived.

Then, on 4 July 1975, Ms. Nielsen disappeared. After her disappearance, it was generally believed she was kidnapped and murdered because of her anti-development and anti-corruption stance, as well as her outspoken editorials.

Now, many years later, Juanita Nielsen's legacy remains known and honored through the community centre which works towards so many of the same goals that she herself did.

Artist Nick Cave's newest performance involves partnerships with a local choreographer and 60 Sydney-based dancers and musicians. In a reimagination of Heard made especially for Sydney, Cave will be transforming public spaces through two spectacular performances on Thursday 10 November, and two performances at Carriageworks on Saturday 12 November.

Heard-Syd is a direct response to the city of Sydney and the architecture, parks, and urban landscapes it occupies. This is the first time Cave has brought a major work to Australia, but he is one of the most importance artists of his generation. He is best known for his sculptures known as "soundsuits" that traverse art, fashion, dance, and music. They are visually stunning static sculptures as well as objects in motion.

Heard-Syd celebrates the creativity of Sydney explored through the eyes of one of the world's great artists in a colourful and vibrant display of world-class public art.

A newly-constructed childcare centre, one of three being built this year by the City of Sydney, will open in Alexandria on July 23.

The Huntley Street Early Learning Centre features five indoor playrooms and a landscaped outdoor play area with sand pit, bike track, water play areas, and veggie patches.

The new centres are being opened to meet the current and future demand for childcare, especially in the inner city where more and more families are choosing to live.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said that since June of 2013, there has been a net increase of 967 new operating places and more than 2,500 places in development. The City plans to have an increase of more than 3,500 places, which puts them on track to meet the growing demand.

The Huntley Street Early Learning Centre will be run by Goodstart Early Learning, known as Australia's largest early learning provider and not-for-profit social enterprise. They offer early education and care for more than 71,500 children nationwide.

The Goodstart program is committed to enhancing outcomes for all children, including children in vulnerable situations, by insuring that children have access to high quality early learning.

CEO of Goodstart Julia Davidson even mentioned that they will be equipped to provide priority access to children with additional support needs, such as children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds as well as children who speak a language other than English at home.

Julia Davidson said, "We aim to create a centre that is a highly valued part of the inner west community."

The two other centres to be opened later this year in September will be located on Bourke Street in Darlinghurst and on Chapman Road in Annandale. Additionally, the City is building the Waranara Early Education Centre on Joynton Avenue, Zetland which is due to have construction completed in the first half of 2017.

The Huntley Street centre is now accepting enrollments and is expected to be up and operating fully by September 2016.

At the beginning of September, Sydney is going to be filled with dangerous ideas. A festival of them, to be exact. The Festival of Dangerous Ideas is a bringing together of leading thinkers and cultural creators from around the world meant to foster challenging, inspirational, and robust discussion.

"Why Black Lives Matter" by Alicia Garza with Stan Grant opens the festival on September 3, discussing the call to action used by an entire generation of US human rights activists to denounce the violence and prejudice still experienced by African Americans. Following the violent deaths of numerous African Americas such as Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner at the hands of white police officers and others in authority positions, this talk comes from one of the voices that created the powerful hashtag to discuss why this is a point of contention in America and even around the world.

This first talk is followed by "Break a Rule Day" by Lionel Shriver, who questions human compliance to every regulation and how this compliance defies the much-valued "freedom" that is the entire premise of democracy.

September 4 hears from Jesse Bering, Raewyn Connell, Cordelia Fine, and Alicia Garza as they discuss whether or not the world conversation has loosened the biological constraints of gender, and how we should deal with gender-based social inequality and injustice in "Gender Doesn't Matter."

Jennifer Rayner closes the weekend with "Generation Less," a talk which examines the reasons behind why young people are worse off than their parents, and why the gap between younger Australians and older Australians growing wider. She asks the question, "Is Australia cheating the young?"

The weekend promises to be one of deep discussion and revolutionary ideas to keep the audience questioning themselves and the society they live in.

The City of Sydney has developed the most comprehensive urban planning strategy for Central Sydney in 45 years during its creation of a vision for the city's future skyline.

The future skyline may have building heights in excess of 300 metres (80 metres taller than the Governor Phillip Tower), all while still allowed for sun access to the city's main public places and parks.

The City has identified opportunities to unlock 2.9 million square metres of additional floor space in order to meet long-term targets for the city centre's growth. The Central Sydney Planning Strategy's key move is to identify concentrated 'tower cluster' areas where 300 metre tall commercial buildings may come to exist (pending federal airport approval).

However, despite this upward growth, the City's plan retains essential solar access planes to Hyde Park, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Martin Place, Wynyard Park, and other important public areas.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the strategy will encourage economic and employment growth over the next two decades. "Central Sydney has limited capacity to grow north, west, and east because of natural geography and harbour surrounds...which limit potential future renewal and change of use to meet the needs of a changing society."

Allowing the city centre to grow up instead of out allows for the infrastructure to keep pace with growth in terms of transport, cultural and societal institutions, and affordable housing.

The Lord Mayor said, "We need to preserve and maintain what is positive and unique about our city, while reshaping its other attributes to meet the needs of tomorrow's Central Sydney."

For more information about the 20-year plan and the 10 key moves the City intends to make, click HERE.

On Thursday, July 21 at 6pm, the Commune Waterloo will be transformed into a sensory explosion when the Middle Eastern Night Markets set up.

The event will be a celebration of Eid, a holiday which marks the end of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and a holy month during which participants fast, pray, and give to charity. The aim of the holiday is to celebrate empathy, generosity, and gratitude.

The event will showcase a massive variety of street food, arts and crafts, design, music, photography, and film. All revenue from the market will be going to Act for Peace, a charity that assists Syrian refugees.

With more than 12,000 RSVPs on facebook already, it's sure to be a night to remember. Opportunities to contribute are also available and the organisers are still open to suggestions for stalls.