so(hot)right(now)

arts & culture. airs on 2SER (107.3 fm) every Saturday 11am – 1pm.

I’m so honoured to be featured (with Elinor!) in the International Women’s Day special of this month’s @marieclaireau. I got to rave about the inspiration and confidence boost I get from seeing @jacindaardern running NZ, showing the world what compassionate, future-focused leadership looks like, while being a young mum. You can’t be what you can’t see and #BecauseOfHer I feel more empowered to do what I do. I got around to reading this last night while in the ER with my mum, she’s ok, it’s the ongoing crap that follows after cancer. I have to add, it’s #BecauseOfHer that I can do any of what I do. Despite having her own challenges my mum has been so incredibly supportive and present to help making mothering and politics possible. Thank you mum. Also, Pat, life only works #BecauseOfHim being the most dedicated dad. Thank you @lizhamdotcom for the beautiful photos and @alleypascoe for the story. Go buy it! Share it! It’s packed with wonder women to lift your spirit.

Published on March 6, 2020 9:55 pm.
Filed under: stuff along the way

What a way to celebrate 100 #ArtandAbout #publicart works: Lara Schnitger, Patchwork of Light, recognises the women who have shaped this city, from Eora fisherwomen to early suffragettes, to today. It kicked off with a procession from @sydneyoperahouse to Customs House, and you can find the work lighting up Reiby Place – recognising another pioneering woman. A beautiful moment in the lead up to #IWD2020 too…

Published on March 4, 2020 8:50 am.
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Nice work @visitpaddington & @localeastmagazine on your newest creation: #LocalPaddo! I’m a sucker for a classy print number & this is a beauty, it’s already put me on to some fab new Paddo spots. Check it out! Congrats editor Elizabeth Meryment, contributors & all the local businesses looking good inside. Thanks for the great event tonight, Paddington Business Partnership, & lovely to see @priceforpaddington too!

Published on March 3, 2020 12:55 pm.
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I know people are worried at the moment, but we’ve got to keep showing the love for the businesses and people who power our wonderful Haymarket – Chinatown, Koreatown and Thaitown – it was fab to sneak out of Committees prep today and have lunch with my #TeamClover pals. We’re working on some ways to help but one way we can all help is delicious: keep going out!#DontDumpTheDumplings #IllEatWithYou

Published on March 2, 2020 3:20 am.
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‪So much love and diversity, pride, creativity and community on the streets of Sydney tonight! ‬ ‪Much love to our LGBTQIA community: it’s an honour to walk beside you and a joy to march in #MardiGras2020 with #TeamClover and a host of progressive independents from across the city. ‬ ‪Happy #MardiGras – stay fabulous, Sydney! ‬

Published on February 29, 2020 12:14 pm.
Filed under: stuff along the way

I love my #TeamClover fam, it’s amazing to work with talented, experienced, principled people like Clover, Philip, Miller & Robert – as well as the wonderful network of Clover vollies & supporters – it’s such a great community. We share the same values & goal of making Sydney an inclusive, sustainable, creative city for everyone, one that’s a positive model for the future. Our team will be running again in this year’s local government election & we’ll be expanding our team with even more city-lovers soon – watch this space! We can’t do it without your support, please let us know if you want to be part of our fam too!

Published on February 28, 2020 9:38 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

Congrats to @groundswellgiving on bringing together people committed to giving $$$ for #climateaction. If you have the means to contribute $20 a week, Groundswell raises money to fund climate advocacy, such as the work of the retired emergency chiefs who have been fighting misinformation over the colossal summer of fires we’ve just had. Tonight featured a collaborative artwork by @tonyalbert, a projection by Joan Ross @wecallthisatree a talk by Tim Flannery and a performance by Paul Kelly (with friends). Congratulations to the wonderful founders @clare_herschell @climateactionanna and @arielleaxel and to everyone who is giving to make change for our future.

Published on February 26, 2020 10:30 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

Is your business wheelchair accessible? What about your favourite pub, cafe or park? Starting this Sunday in Erko @wheeleasy are rolling out #MappingMarch, a way for all of us to document and promote the businesses and places that welcome everyone. Can you come along and help map your slice of Sydney? Could you list your business?Aside from the session on Sunday in Erskineville, other Wheelie Great Days Out include:March 7th – UltimoMarch 14th – WoolloomoolooMarch 15th – The RocksMarch 21st – Surry HillsMarch 28th – Redfern

Published on February 25, 2020 3:35 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

How accessible is your business, your street, your park? Your favourite beach, cafe, museum or playground? @wheeleasy is the “TripAdvisor of accessibility”, mapping places people with limited mobility can get to with ease – and it’s not just these 3.4 million Australians – it’s their friends and families, too! If you’re not listed, or if you have places to add, be a part of #MappingMarch. Supported by @cityofsydney, @wheeleasy are hosting six crowdsourced map-a-thons in our town centres every weekend this March. Come join in and find out how to add your favourite spots. Big congrats and thanks to @wheeleasy founders Max and Justine for this crucial contribution to a city for all.#sydneylocal #sydneylocalbusiness #accessibility #mobility

Published on February 21, 2020 1:24 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

The beautiful untitled (maraong manaóuwi) by Jonathan Jones at a newly reimagined Hyde Park Barracks. Part of #ArtandAbout, this work combines the emu footprint with the convict broad arrow, made from gravel from Wiradjuri country. Like all Jonathan Jones’ work, it skilfully plays with memory and erasure from the moment it is completed.

Published on February 20, 2020 8:53 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

Want to have a picnic this weekend? Surry Hills has you covered. Incredible treats prepared and packed up for you by the finest providores and restaurants, performances and music across the neighbourhood, and a huge interactive floral art wall, just for starters. Bring some friends, pick up an @aconnsw picnic rug, and enjoy: you’ll be raising funds for a great cause and seeing your city in a whole new way. You can preorder your picnic now, check it out, link in bio… Big congrats to Surry Hills Creative Precinct @shcpinc for kicking off this exciting new addition to Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras @sydneymardigras – pic borrowed from #PicnicSurryHills #MardiGras2020

Published on February 19, 2020 11:55 am.
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#FairDay highlights: meeting the fabulous SES Sydney crew (& their mascot Paddy the Platypus), working the #TeamClover stall with my cute new recruit, seeing Mardi Gras’ powerhouse Kate Wickett and our amazing Sydney MP @alexgreenwich, and of course our team. Thanks to everyone who stopped for a chat today, stay cool out there! #mardigras2020

Published on February 16, 2020 4:07 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

We’re in the shady upper corner of #FairDay, come say hi! #TeamClover @alexgreenwich @clovermoore

Published on February 16, 2020 12:58 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

Tonight was one of those nights that makes me feel like the work we do on council really matters. Clover, Philip, Alex and I joined the other funders and stakeholders for the launch of HammondCare Darlinghurst: a 43-bed nursing home for homeless or at-risk people. It’s a place that will deliver a permanent home and wrap-around services for some of the most vulnerable people in our community, right in the heart of our community, and I’m so proud the City of Sydney stood up to be the first funder of this extraordinary and important project. Sometimes councilyffff can be exhausting, but in the last three years I had the chance to support the first grant for this project, to see it come through our planning committee and design panels, and tonight I got to stand in there and know people will be living here and making it their home in two weeks. I’m so moved and happy to have been a small part in delivering something like this that contributes to the fairer city we can be.

Published on February 13, 2020 11:03 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

So fabulous to be at the Queens Cross Hotel (aka the Kings Cross Hotel) for the first @cityofsydney Nightlife Business Pitch & Collaboration session – we’ll be running these twice a year to help keep creatives & venues in the loop of the grants & planning changes that might help them. The next will be in a couple of months, drop me a line if you want to come!

Published on February 12, 2020 8:25 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

The city just wouldn’t run without the time and care that volunteers put in: a big thank you to all the vollies who help us put on Lunar Festival, NYE, who help us to do the street count*, run tours of Town Hall and tend to community gardens… the list is endless! It was lovely to join Clover tonight to celebrate these generous, committed people who make the world go round.Special shout to out to our international student volunteers, like Rahim and Hamid, who told me how helpful volunteering has been in introducing them to the city and connecting them with new people. Sydney thanks you! *if you’ve been thinking about volunteering on the homelessness street count, now is the time to sign up: link in my bio #SydneyLocal #volunteer

Published on February 11, 2020 8:44 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

#LunarFestival roars along! Come join us on Saturday at the Green Square Lunar New Year Celebrations: there will be a red packet handout, lion dancing performance, lion dancing workshop and classical music program. #LunarNewYear #sydneylocal When/Where: Saturday 8 Feb 10am, Green Square Library and Plaza.

Published on February 4, 2020 12:33 am.
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Another fun #LunarNewYear #LunarFestival event this morning: dotting the dragon boat eyes at Darling Harbour. Scores of dragon boat teams gather to race every new year, while the waters are blessed by Buddhist monks and the boats have the eyes, ears, nose and head painted with red ink by officials (like yours truly and my monkey mate Cr Robert Kok)… a special touch this year was a totally vegetarian ceremonial banquet! The usual roasted pig was replaced by mushroom, beans, peanuts and noodles, along with the regular cakes.

Published on February 1, 2020 6:36 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

Come check out some local talent tonight at the very first @artistsofpostcode2010 exhibition at 205 Oxford St – it’s kicking off from 6!

Published on February 1, 2020 1:45 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

We launched #LunarLanterns last night! So wonderful to meet many of the artists from Sydney to Seoul who’ve designed these works. Come explore them down at Circular Quay for the next week!

Published on January 31, 2020 9:44 pm.
Filed under: stuff along the way

So I’ve been unwell and outta action for a couple of weeks – which is why I’ve been a bit quiet – but I had to emerge tonight. The News Corp lie-in brought together a lot of us who are outraged by the toxic impact that the Murdoch media have had on our country: poisoning public debate and campaigning against #climateaction. It has been astonishing seeing how viciously they target Clover and our work at the City, because we stand for everything – environmental responsibility and social justice – that they seek to undermine. I hope 2020 is the year we finally dilute their influence in our politics and show them that most Australians are more caring and concerned than News Ltd gives us credit for. Thanks for inviting me to speak, wonderful liars (in the street, that is), it was an honour, and I got to see some of my favourite truth-tellers like @paulinelockie and @mehreenfaruqi. #tellthetruth #murdochmedia

Published on January 31, 2020 11:41 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

Have you heard about #LunarLanes this Saturday night? Chinatown will in #LunarNewYear party mode from 5pm, with stages for live music and entertainment, DJs, arcade games and amusement rides, kids craft, lion dances galore and of course, incredible food! I’m particularly excited about the giant gold Metal Rat sculpture and the 10m long LED dragon… in the multi-culti spirit of Lunar Festival there’s performances from Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese and Indonesian communities, so there’s lots to explore. More info in the link in my bio, hope to see you there! #LunarFestival @haymarketlove @cityofsydney

Published on January 21, 2020 5:58 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

There’s nothing natural about this disaster. We’ve been warned for years that summers would get hotter, that floods, fires, cyclones and droughts would get more severe. And yet both sides of politics allowed the climate vandals of the fossil fuel industry to keep exploiting the earth and threatening life itself.That needs to end, now. New permits and mining leases need to be suspended. And for the existing installations, at the bare minimum, we need a Climate Disaster Levy on fossil fuels to #MakePollutersPay. Thank you @theausinstitute for leading on this. ‬ ‪Please sign and spread the word – link in my bio. ‬

Published on January 2, 2020 11:49 pm.
Filed under: stuff along the way

Merry Christmas everyone! We’re halfway through Elinor’s first party season – Scully Christmas yesterday & Armstrong Christmas today – sending you all lots of love! Special hugs for everyone who is displaced or a bit shaken this year, our Mountains fam are all Christmassing far from home because of the fires, thinking of you all

Published on December 24, 2019 8:45 pm.
Filed under: stuff along the way

I wish we didn’t have to be here, but our leaders have failed us and our state, our country, our world is on fire. We need #climateaction before this becomes the new normal.

Published on December 11, 2019 8:20 am.
Filed under: stuff along the way

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  arts & culture in Sydney and beyond. airs as a radio show Saturdays 11am - 1 pm on 2SER (107.3fm) or at www.2ser.org.

  jess[at[sohotrightnow[dot]net