Sydney Opera House launches Own Our House campaign
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Version 0 of 1. When Josh Pyke was a small boy he huddled in front of his attic window in Balmain to watch the fireworks crackle over the famous roofline of the Sydney Opera House in the distance. Now the award-winning musician is jumping at the chance to buy a piece of the architectural icon when it goes on sale on Monday morning. Actually, it’s more like over 125,000 virtual pieces on sale, with each and every roof tile of the structure’s tallest sail on a virtual 3D map of the Opera House up for grabs under an innovative and hi-tech campaign called Own Our House. It could see Pyke’s tile nestling on a famous arch next to other campaign supporters such as Hugh Jackman, Jack Thompson, and Delta Goodrem. If all the tiles are sold, the venture will raise $15m. Tile owners, known as "housemates", will be able to choose their tile online, check out the view, personalise their tile with a photograph and short message, form or join virtual tile communities, visit their tile and share it through social media – as well as search for other housemates and see their tiles. Josh Pyke says he will opt for the $100 shiny "ice" tile over the $400 choice of a rarer "snow" tile with a matt finish, and probably put a photo of the Opera House on it. “Literally every day I would see it as a teenager when the attic became my bedroom – I was always looking out the window and seeing those sails - so it’s been very much part of my psyche forever and obviously it’s an amazing cultural space,” he says. “I’ve played there a bunch of times and recently I did something there for the Indigenous literacy foundation, I’ve seen Crowded House on the stairs and my very first classical concert was there … there’s so many ‘firsts’ for me there. It’s a really special place and it’s an absolute icon.” That sense of awe and admiration for the building is exactly the kind of sentiment that Sydney Opera House CEO Louise Herron is banking on the general public to hold, both within Australia and internationally, in order to see the unique grassroots funding campaign become a success. Herron says the Opera House’s 40th birthday in October raised community awareness of how central the World Heritage masterpiece was to Australian identity and its vital role in the country’s economy and culture, citing a Deloitte Access Economics report issued as part of the 40th celebrations valuing the Opera House at $4.6bn. “It’s about sharing ownership, giving a way for people to demonstrate their affection and to fit their family or perhaps go up there by themselves and nestle in under Hugh Jackman … whatever they feel like – though we think that tile might go pretty quickly,” says Herron. “Particularly after our recent 40th birthday we do know there is this massive sense of goodwill towards the Opera House and allowing people to own a piece of it and to really feel part of the community, is what we are really on about.” One of the first "housemates", Hugh Jackman, says the Opera House "belongs to all of us". “Own Our House is a great way for people to show their pride and affection for one of the world’s greatest icons and Deb and I are happy to be involved with our family,” he says. Herron says the funds raised through the campaign could be seen as the "seed funding" for the Opera House’s decade of renewal to increase public access through more free events, digital innovation and new education initiatives. “The Opera House is this massive, ambitious building that embodies our aspirations as a nation and what we are doing is a masterplan. “We’re very lucky to have got $13.7m from the New South Wales government and that is going to allow us to scope and sequence the projects over the next decade.” The Own Our House campaign began when the Opera House was invited to be part of the Scottish Ten project, which does 3D mapping of five World Heritage sites in Scotland and five more around the world. The Opera House was given all the mapping intellectual property for free, then commissioned the development of the Own Our House campaign. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |