Key players reveal how Melbourne can remain the sport and arts capital. Tell us what you think

This week, we’re looking at sport and the arts as we count down to our three-day civic forum bringing together the people, ideas and conversations shaping Melbourne.

Melbourne Assembly, presented by The Age in partnership with the University of Melbourne, will spark crucial conversations about our city’s future across four themes: shaping the city, healthy places and people, innovation and education, plus sport and the arts.

So far, you’ve heard from our city editor Cara Waters, who explored ideas for shaping the city, while urban affairs writer Cassandra Morgan looked at what makes a happier and healthier Melbourne.

Education reporter Alex Crowe brought you the vision for the future of education and innovation.

This week, sports affairs reporter Bridget McArthur announces the big names from sport and the arts who will speak at the forum in October and previews our in-depth look into the future of the sectors.

Over to Bridget.

Melbourne has long claimed the dual status of Australia’s sport and arts capital. With the largest stadium in the country by a long way – hello MCG – it’s easy to win on a bums-on-seats metric. Just ask the NFL and Taylor Swift.

But as our interstate and overseas rivals develop state-of-the-art infrastructure, the jewel in Melbourne’s crown is starting to look a little tired, prompting the state government to co-fund a business case on what a redevelopment of the MCG might look like.

With so many Melburnians and sports codes deeply invested in the stadium’s future, we put a long-floated idea to our readers for the precinct surrounding the ’G – building a park across the top of the nearby railway yards. It proved the second-most popular of 20 future-focused ideas for the city, with 10,300 votes in favour and just 1500 against.

These are the sorts of big ideas to be discussed in the pillar on sport and the arts at Melbourne Assembly, which The Age is hosting in partnership with the University of Melbourne in October.

The keynote address will take the form of a debate – The Age’s senior culture writer Karl Quinn will take on sports journalist Kelli Underwood on the theme of sport versus the arts: what is the true heart of Melbourne?

In an in-depth Age series leading up to the forum, Melbourne Park chief executive John Harnden, one of the Melbourne Assembly panellists, will reflect on the delicate balance between respecting the Australian Open’s hallowed status as one of the city’s “big three” events, and diversifying the use of the precinct in the other 11 months of the year.

According to Harnden, the key to entertainment infrastructure in the future is versatility. Case in point: John Cain Arena. Outside the already expansive tennis, basketball and netball roster, it has hosted everything from bull riding to ice hockey, and everyone from The Wiggles to Kesha.

As Melbourne’s population grows and diversifies, and interests expand, versatility and compromise are increasingly the name of the game. Grassroots sports teams from a range of codes are sharing green space, putting pressure on the facilities and turf, with sometimes dangerous consequences.

Meanwhile, there is significant blank space on golf and racecourses – something our readers are well aware of, with 9000 people voting in favour of allowing community sports clubs and the public to use Melbourne’s racecourses, versus 2100 against.

Victoria Racing Club chief executive Kylie Rogers, who is shaping the future of Flemington Racecourse, would count herself among the 9000. Rogers has recently returned from a tour of overseas racecourses with innovative ideas about how to better use the precinct. She says public use will be a big part of it.

If you want to hear more of Rogers’ vision, she will appear on our Melbourne Assembly sport and arts panel alongside Harnden. They’ll be joined by Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung artist and filmmaker Dr Tiriki Onus, pro vice chancellor of the University of Melbourne, as well as Australian Sports Commission chief executive and Olympic gold medallist Kieren Perkins, and Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation director and chief executive Katrina Sedgwick.

The people who work in sport and the arts believe those sectors are core to Melbourne’s identity and economy.

As part of our in-depth look at sport and the arts ahead of the summit, we’ll investigate whether Melbourne risks losing the title of Australia’s sports and arts capital, check in with other states that claim they’ve overtaken Victoria, and explore the tensions and synergies between the two sectors, which frequently battle for funding and space.

Among key players shaping the city’s sport and arts landscape, we’ll hear from Paul Sloan, the man who used to book Nick Cave’s gigs and now works with Amyl and the Sniffers, about how Melbourne’s music scene has evolved, and what is needed so it can thrive long into the future.

As a subscriber, you have early access to tickets for Melbourne Assembly at a substantial discount. You can click on this link to see the offers available for various parts of the forum and enter the code EditorNote to apply the subscriber discount.

In a city full of arts and sports lovers, the most important voice is yours.

Whether it’s a pipedream about the MCG, ideas on sports infrastructure your suburb desperately needs, or a novel concept for a music festival, send us your thoughts. The voice of our subscribers is essential to setting the conference agenda.

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