Security staff have been slammed for allegedly shutting down an impromptu street dance party at Sydney’s Vivid festival.
Footage of the incident emerged on Saturday night, showing a group of people dancing at The Rocks at around 10:30pm.
“I was only aware they were shutting me down when they came right up to me. I could see a police car near but other than that no indication,” event organiser Christie Aucamp-Schutte she told Junkee.
Aucamp-Schutte has run several ‘Free Dance Parties’ before this event and says she planned the location specifically; one that had plenty of space and was not blocking entries or exits.
She told The Feed she was given no explanation on the night as to why the event was shut down, nor had she received any comment from authorities since.
Video of the dance party has gone viral on Facebook, with many criticising the strict nature of the shut-down.
Source: The Feed
Source: The Feed
Source: The Feed
Blame shifted among New South Wales authorities:
Although vision of the incident clearly shows security staff moving the group along, it seems no one is willing to take responsibility.
It was earlier reported that NSW Police were involved in the shut down, but a media department contact told The Feed that the decision appears to have been directed by council rangers.
City of Sydney Councillor Jess Scully commented directly on the post, clarifying that the rangers seen in the video were not, in fact, from the council.
“First thing we did was verify that they weren’t our staff,” Scully told The Feed.
Source: The Feed
That’s not how our staff would operate.
She said the Vivid festival area is controlled by Place Management NSW and Vivid Sydney staff.
A separate spokesperson for the City of Sydney council confirmed this. In a statement, they said:
“Vivid Sydney is a NSW Government event, and The Rocks precinct is controlled by Property NSW.”
Property NSW said Vivid event organisers and precinct owners had agreed crowd management measures in place.
“As the activity on Friday night was unfortunately obstructing the pedestrian flow, the land owner, along with police and security, respectfully asked the performers to move on and no fines were issued,” a spokesperson told The Feed.
Speaking to The Feed, Ms Aucamp-Schutte said, “We were not blocking entrances, it was a huge, cleared road. I made sure to do it in a place that was not blocking anything. They’re just trying to assert their petty authority”
“We didn’t get any complaints, none of the bars were affected.”
Despite the alternation Ms Aucmp-Schutte says it will not stop her Free Dance Parties.
It’s just made me pissed off really. I wish I had pushed back little more because it was VIVID and it was a party. I really feel like this came out of pure spite.
Here’s where things get a little more complicated:
Councilwoman Scully says there are - surprisingly - a number of areas across the city that are controlled by the NSW state government. These include places like The Rocks, Darling Harbour, Barangaroo and even train stations.
Between the two levels of government, there are different rules for what’s considered ‘live entertainment’ - and that makes things complicated.
It’s understood the City of Sydney Council have been working on this issue, primarily in relation to buskers.
“We have been asking state government to allow us to take control back of these patches, or to have a more streamlined approach to these areas,” Scully told The Feed.
“We’d like to see more consistency across the board.”
The Councilwoman said Vivid is a special case, given the larger emphasis on crowd control.
“It’s really asking: how do you keep people safe and crowd control but allow expression and spontaneity?”
Jess Scully noted that the rangers were in a tough position: “No one wants to be a party pooper and shut down a street party.”
