Sydney Fringe has launched An Anthology of Space 2015-2018, a 94-page report outlining prohibitive restrictions preventing Sydney’s creative sectors from activating empty industrial warehouse spaces and retail shop fronts.

An Anthology of Space proposes solutions to overcome the onerous red tape it says is strangling Sydney’s creative sectors.

The report calls for a variation to the National Construction Code – due to be updated in 2019 –  that would allow small arts venues to be treated for planning purposes in a similar way as restaurants.

Sydney Fringe Festival Director and Chief Executive, Kerri Glassock, says the most common problem for artists in NSW is the lack of affordable and appropriate space in which to make and present work year round.

Despite this need, the report points to prohibitive restrictions – regulatory and financial – hindering artists and creative industries from bringing new life to underutilised industrial and retail spaces through temporary artist projects.