Tough times at the Old Bus Depot Markets last Sunday. Photo: Jennifer Martiniello.
A Canberra artist, academic and former stallholder at the Old Bus Depot Markets has called for the government’s Cultural Facilities Corporation to take over the running of the once-thriving event before it disappears altogether.
Associate Professor Jennifer Martiniello was a regular stallholder at the Kingston markets until about two weeks ago and has witnessed the disturbing decline of the award-winning event under the current management since 2016.
Current operator Iconic Markets and Events Pty Ltd, owned by Anthony Niravong and Sally Liu, is one of four applicants that contested a tender for a new licence.
The tender was expected to be decided in August, but the ACT Government said negotiations were continuing and extended the licence until after the New Year so stallholders would not miss the important Christmas trading period.
Professor Martiniello said this was welcome for stallholders, but she doubted any would return after that if Iconic retained the licence.
She said the tender process, through which the government hoped to re-energise the site and broaden its activities, had proved woefully inadequate.
Given the role the heritage-listed former transport depot will have as a working piece of the soon-to-be-developed Kingston Arts Precinct, Professor Martiniello said something radical needed to be done, and the CFC might be a more realistic solution for the site, or a new government body to run it.
“At least that way it would have an advisory committee of relevant stakeholders,” she said.
“It would be marketed properly, it would be staffed properly, it would be advertised to the best of their ability.”
The CFC manages other heritage assets such as Lanyon Homestead, Canberra Museum and Gallery, and Calthorpe’s Cottage.
“Concern is particularly acute given the fact that the building itself is one of the three ACT Government heritage assets central to the anticipated national and international profile of the precinct, the other two being the already internationally renowned Canberra Glassworks, and the adjacent Fitter and Turners Workshop, which currently serves as the venue for music festivals, art events and various niche markets and expos,” Professor Martiniello said.
“Consequently, it is clear that the crisis embroiling the Old Bus Depot Markets warrants urgent attention and decisive action by the ACT Government to resolve the future potential and appropriate use issues of the Former Transport Depot.”
Professor Jennifer Kemarre Martinello: The markets are dying. Photo: ANU.
Professor Martiniello said the site needed to be activated and vibrant seven days a week, but the current operator just didn’t have the capacity to make that happen.
She disputed Mr Niravong’s claim that plans were in place to revive the markets or that the sector generally was suffering due to the cost-of-living crisis.
She said other markets were not suffering and stallholders were voting with their feet, as well as selling online.
“A large number of stallholders and food vendors have left and have not come back,” she said.
“The morale of those stallholders left is very low, and it has been our collective experience that the current management has done nothing to either sustain or rejuvenate the business.”
Professor Martiniello said Mr Niravong had plans for an expanded food court with a new mezzanine floor, but it would struggle to be compliant or be allowed in the heritage building, let alone bring back vendors.
Mr Niravong had regularly increased rents without making site improvements or efforts to attract customers, such as advertising or updating the website.
Professor Martiniello said stallholders were not even covering their costs with the declining custom at Kingston.
“The best market that I’ve had this year at the [Old Bus Depot] Markets was about $359, whereas at NAIDOC in the North at Belco Arts, I took in $3000,” she said.
Stallholders had been kept in the dark and did not believe anything that Mr Niravong told them.
“The first thing that needs to be done is the government needs to talk to the stallholders who have been the lifeblood of the Old Bus Depot Markets, and that’s draining away dreadfully,” she said.
A government spokesperson said the suggestion that the CFC take control of the site was not under active consideration, but the ACT Government would examine all options available should the procurement process not reach a suitable outcome.
The tender sought ideas for the use of the Former Transport Depot that would include weekdays, as well as weekends, and to prioritise activities that align with the ambition of the future Kingston Arts Precinct, the spokesperson said.
Stallholders’ concerns about the running of the markets should be addressed to Iconic.
