Sydney/NSW Sydney Mini 2023 Interest Thread

[keithsw1111]

Sydney-siders,

Mid March and we have not really started to organise a mini this year so I guess it is time to get cracking.

The venue this year may be an issue so my first call out is for anyone who knows of a venue that we might use for 1-2 days some time in May/June/July accommodating somewhere around 50-80 people. We have been really spoilt over the past few years but I am not sure we are going to be able to get that venue again this year.

If you have any ideas please reach out to Michael/Troy or myself.

Also if you are interested in helping out all assistance is welcome. I know personally I am struggling for spare time this year and would love the help.

This is a community event and requires input and assistance from the community to make it happen so now is your opportunity to step in and assist.

Keith

 

[Skymaster]

I'll look around the Sydney area to see what venues are available.
It may be that we need to hire something at a cost - an indication in this thread of your interest and/or any offers of help would be appreciated - so that we can gauge numbers, which would obviously determine whether such a place would be cost-effective or not.

As Keith mentioned, feel free to reach out to either of us or Troy, or in this thread.

Cheers
Mike.

 

[burto51]

Fortunately, LOL I migrated from Sydney in 1986, so cannot help with facilities, however; a couple of ideas at least.
I worked with Tafe for 30 years, it was common practice to have community organisations and in my case vehicle manufacturers to be able to use the facilities eg classrooms at night and weekends. It was seen to be part of our charter as "being a good corporate citizen". Usually there was no charge except for the weekend when it was necessary for a security person to open and close the building and lock the gate. The person to contact those days would have been the principal or whatever they are called now in this new world. If someone has contact with a TAFE Campus perhaps its worth an ask. I realise that the world has changed but we welcomed the opportunity rather than have a $3m facility sitting idle.
I am sure that it would be possible to self cater for lunch and smoko.

Or possibly a community hall, ??
Greg

 

[Ben F]

I can’t help with a venue, but happy to lend a hand in running things. I will likely only be able to make one day this year though..

 

[Skymaster]

Usually there was no charge except for the weekend when it was necessary for a security person to open and close the building and lock the gate.

Thanks Greg, a good suggestion. I did a quick peek into this and they require that events hosted have public liability insurance. Obviously as a "group of mates" (for lack of a better phrase) as opposed to an actual organisation, this may be difficult and/or expensive to obtain. If anyone is better qualified in this area then I'm all ears.

Or possibly a community hall, ??

There are numerous places available, plenty of scout halls and the like. Availability for two days over a weekend is a bit more complex, but a single day shouldn't be too difficult. On the cheaper side they range from about $30 to $70 per hour - so somewhere in the order of $300 - $700 for a full day. We would need an idea of numbers to see if this can be absorbed reasonably into an attendance fee.

 

[thewanderingpine]

@Skymaster - I talked to my local men’s shed about the Melbourne mini potentially. They had a one-off event insurance for $15. So the insurance might still be possible. (Shame they had bookings every Sat and Sun morning making it impractical for a mini or we would have a venue for the Melbourne one)

 

[Noel Richards]

Depending when as Sharon is undergoing major back surgery I would attend.

 

[David Hayes]

I’ll be going and will confirm when final dates are announced.
Also happy to contribute for sessions as per past years.

 

[B4IGO]

Keen to go this year. One option could be a school hall...

General community use of school facilities

One-off or regular use for up to 12 months by individuals, very small community-based businesses, and not-for-profit organisations

education.nsw.gov.au

 

[Pavle]

Confirming interest to attend. Also will try and contribute where I can.

I've used this facility before (yes, it's a long way from where we have had the last couple, but closer to the airport).

Cost is $66.50 per hour and would then need to look at a catering / tea coffee solution on top I assume.

We truly were spoilt for the past few!!!

 

[Ben F]

Hey Guys
John D from the Academy of Interactive Entertainment here in Canberra has offered to sponsor the event by providing space at his campus in Watson ACT!

This would be a great venue with plenty of parking and nearby accomodation options.

The Academy of Interactive Entertainment caters to 3D games artists, programmers and film producers which might be if interest to some of the lighting community!

 

[JohnDe]

Thanks Ben for contacting me about this. I've not been on the Auschrismaslighting site for about a year, as last year I did not run the Huddy Street, Forde, Canberra Xmas lights and am yet to start planning for this year. I might be of assistance. I own/run Canberra Technology Park (an old TAFE like site ) www.canberratechpark.com.au as well as the Academy of Interactive Entertainment www.aie.edu.au . I could provide rent free for the following weekend dates: May 19-20, June 3-4, June 24-25, July 1-2. Ive attached some photos of some of the rooms that would be available. We could get one large massive room, plus two other rooms; a training room and a board room. You could use the main hall as the area for people to show things and the board room and training room for specific talks ? WE also have other possible rooms. It's a big facility. All of our facilities are non profit and its part of our charter to help grow the video games and film industry in Australia and would be happy to explore ways we can help beyond providing a facility for the Mini.

So a bit of background info:

You may or may not know that I ran Xlights across 12 Huddy St, Forde in Canberra and all the whole Huddy street in cooperation with some 24 houses for two years (2020,2021) and help from this site.

We get tens of thousands of people down the street and in the past it was walking only as the crowds make it impossible to have cars going down. It's a big project requiring 6 weeks of setup by a large paid team of 10-15 people and requires a ton of traffic management across multiple streets and several weeks to take down. A feature is that we turn all the light poles down the street into giant 5m christmas trees using a custom rig. It takes some months of full-time work for me and a lot of help, but I was not up to the task last year. I’m open to show our “build and storage room” which is quite a large investment of lights and equipment and while I did not do Huddy Street last year, I am planning to do Huddy Street lights again this year (high probability) if I am able to train a small team and put them through a traffic management course as we would need to manage several streets and we would need a cherry picker as well.

More importantly, the whole point of this exercise was for me to get familiar with Xlights as I’m planning to create a much bigger semi-permanent installation in our Stage 1 building phase of the new campus. www.community.aie.edu.au. where you can find the master plan. It's a very large investment. Lights might go up for Xmas 2024 but probably Xmas 2025.. We start building Stage 1 mid next year. I've attached some photos of the rooms that would be site as well. The trees along the site will have permanent pixels, as well as custom designed components. I need to build a substation to power this and also our soundstages that will feature LED Volumes (Mandalorian anyone ?). We have 4 LED volumes across 4 cities setup for our students at https://aiefilmschool.edu.au/ . Our plan is to have students work on some of the installation work in a paid capacity once we have it all done and introduce Xlights in our curriculum perhaps.
I'm happy to host a session where we will tour AIE, the LED Volume for our film students (its a 12m Led stage using Unreal 5) on the site, as well our our Pixel storage and build room, and look for anyone that could give us advice as we start the planning of the site for next year.
We have ample free car parking.

 

[midnight]

Thanks Ben for contacting me about this. I've not been on the Auschrismaslighting site for about a year, as last year I did not run the Huddy Street, Forde, Canberra Xmas lights and am yet to start planning for this year. I might be of assistance. I own/run Canberra Technology Park (an old TAFE like site ) www.canberratechpark.com.au as well as the Academy of Interactive Entertainment www.aie.edu.au . I could provide rent free for the following weekend dates: May 19-20, June 3-4, June 24-25, July 1-2. Ive attached some photos of some of the rooms that would be available. We could get one large massive room, plus two other rooms; a training room and a board room. You could use the main hall as the area for people to show things and the board room and training room for specific talks ? WE also have other possible rooms. It's a big facility. All of our facilities are non profit and its part of our charter to help grow the video games and film industry in Australia and would be happy to explore ways we can help beyond providing a facility for the Mini.

So a bit of background info:

You may or may not know that I ran Xlights across 12 Huddy St, Forde in Canberra and all the whole Huddy street in cooperation with some 24 houses for two years (2020,2021) and help from this site.

We get tens of thousands of people down the street and in the past it was walking only as the crowds make it impossible to have cars going down. It's a big project requiring 6 weeks of setup by a large paid team of 10-15 people and requires a ton of traffic management across multiple streets and several weeks to take down. A feature is that we turn all the light poles down the street into giant 5m christmas trees using a custom rig. It takes some months of full-time work for me and a lot of help, but I was not up to the task last year. I’m open to show our “build and storage room” which is quite a large investment of lights and equipment and while I did not do Huddy Street last year, I am planning to do Huddy Street lights again this year (high probability) if I am able to train a small team and put them through a traffic management course as we would need to manage several streets and we would need a cherry picker as well.

More importantly, the whole point of this exercise was for me to get familiar with Xlights as I’m planning to create a much bigger semi-permanent installation in our Stage 1 building phase of the new campus. www.community.aie.edu.au. where you can find the master plan. It's a very large investment. Lights might go up for Xmas 2024 but probably Xmas 2025.. We start building Stage 1 mid next year. I've attached some photos of the rooms that would be site as well. The trees along the site will have permanent pixels, as well as custom designed components. I need to build a substation to power this and also our soundstages that will feature LED Volumes (Mandalorian anyone ?). We have 4 LED volumes across 4 cities setup for our students at https://aiefilmschool.edu.au/ . Our plan is to have students work on some of the installation work in a paid capacity once we have it all done and introduce Xlights in our curriculum perhaps.
I'm happy to host a session where we will tour AIE, the LED Volume for our film students (its a 12m Led stage using Unreal 5) on the site, as well our our Pixel storage and build room, and look for anyone that could give us advice as we start the planning of the site for next year.
We have ample free car parking.

i place my vote of

JohnDe site​

 

[Ben F]

i place my vote of

JohnDe site​

Me too… This is a great opportunity to really put on a great event.
I’m happy to assist with organising and running the Mini

 

[Pavle]

Not even sure if I would be able to make a mini out of town however, if this ends up in Canberra, what chance of a combined Melbourne / Sydney mini?
The venue looks great btw.