Artarmon Village Established to Boost Local Retail by Nick Logan

Artarmon Village was created in 2014 as a means to facilitate collaboration between businesspeople, to engage residents and landlords to promote community spirit and position Hampden Road and Wilkes Avenue as a vibrant, friendly shopping precinct.

Over the course of the first year six sub committees evolved to target six priorities including;

• Events & Activities
• Development and Tenancy Reporting
• Streetscape Rejuvenation
• Social Media & Marketing
• Lease Benchmarking
• Meeting Facilitation

Artarmon Village recently recruited a committee of local business people who have agreed to attend monthly meetings to decide the future goals of the organisation and facilitate its projects. The current committee includes:

• Sunny Cheung – Artarmon Newsagent

• Ross Dickson – HOW Hair

• Felicity Simpson – Art On Skin

• Mat Smallwood – Bakers Delight Artarmon

• Jeremy Ong – Laing and Simmons Artarmon

• Richard Thompson – Artarmon Vision Specialists

• Nick Logan – Nick Logan Pharmacist Advice.

The committee’s first decision was to become incorporated to give the group some autonomy and allow us to have a bank account and action projects in a reasonable time frame. It means a framework will be established for ongoing evolution of the organization.

The incorporation of Artarmon Village is being handled pro bono by the magnificent staff of Associations Forum led by John Peacock, and their involvement in the establishment of Artarmon Village has been essential to its success. Please remember that all efforts made by Artarmon Village on behalf of the Artarmon community are entirely voluntary. Please support the businesses which put their hand up and participate in the reinforcement and celebration of our shopping village. ‘Like’ us on Facebook for future events, deals and offers.

Update on Art on Skin by Helena Ho

Over the past two issues of the Gazette we reported on the opening of Felicity ‘Flick’ Simpson’s Art on Skin tattoo parlour amid much community concern. So how has the business – which has been open since August – actually fared?

‘I’ve been doing lots of tattoos and consultations, cover up jobs, large rib pieces and ongoing work,’ Flick says. ‘Business is going well.’ The development application took a year to gain approval, with strict conditions from Willoughby Council and apprehension among parts of the Artarmon Community. The concerns voiced included potential health and safety risks, as well as the attraction of socially undesirable clientele.

For months, building owners and surrounding neighbours questioned the nature of Flick’s tattoo business. Greg Woodhams, the Environmental Services Director of Willoughby City Council, believes that any new business may enliven Artarmon by providing a new range of services. ‘They are providing a service that is not well provided, and in this particular case, this is a service that I understand is being frequented by many clients,’ he says. Mr Woodhams confirmed that earlier in the year, Willoughby City Council received many responses opposing Flick’s development application, but that there were no more complaints from residents or businesses since the parlour opened last August.

‘This says that the business is being well run by the owner and the conditions of consent are working effectively to manage any of the issues that we foresaw or were raised in objection,’ he says. Flick is also happy to be accepted as part of the Artarmon Village. ‘There’s been no backlash since I’ve opened – even some of the people who wrote letters of protest have congratulated me and wished me luck,’ she beams.

Artarmon Village holds successful Night Market by Nick Logan

The inaugural Artarmon Village Night Market held during the Willoughby Spring Festival in September 2014 has been hailed as a massive success by attendees and stall holders alike. Artarmon Progress Association (APA) was instrumental in securing a seeding grant from Willoughby City Council for the markets and generously handled all the financial logistics. Artarmon Village wanted to test if the community wanted outdoor, night-time market events and Artarmon clearly voted with their feet as a crowd of 2000+ descended on Wilkes Avenue and the Village Green on a Friday night.

The event was made possible by months of tireless work by Christine Kelley (APA) and Ross Dickson (HOW Hair) and their efforts were rewarded in kind by the brilliant and tangible community spirit on the night. The markets showcased the extensive talents of the kids from our world-class school, Artarmon Public School, as well as young local musicians, dancers and hula-hoopers.

VIP guests Mayor Gail Giles-Gidney and MP Gladys Berejiklian were astounded by the enthusiasm of our residents to get together and celebrate our community. Stallholders, who took a risk securing a stall for this inaugural event, were delighted by the opportunity to interact with thousands of locals in such a festival atmosphere. A special thanks must be made to the local business heroes who sponsored the event from the outset and without hesitation. It is their trust in and respect for the Artarmon community that makes them so valuable to our suburb. The pressure and time required to stage an event like this means that the fledgling Artarmon Village cannot do it weekly or even monthly, but the success of this events means that it will probably be run at least twice a year. Artarmon Village would like to thank every single person who attended, including the performers, volunteers and stall holders. It’s why we love Artarmon!

“This is the Artarmon Village section of the Artarmon Gazette. To read the full copy of the Gazette please click here“