By Willie Wahlin
SYDNEY — Anyone who has been to a session of Brackets and Jam will already be familiar with the lively, sweaty, loud and happy atmosphere that is created every Monday night. For those who have not, you are in for a feast of the senses.
Brackets and Jam (B&J) was originally started to put on theatrical performances seven years ago. It has known many homes over the years: warehouse, theatre, community centre, art gallery, brasserie and finally now at Mr Goodbar's on Oxford Street, Paddington.
For the performer, it provides a space to perform or rehearse in front of a lively and supportive crowd. For the audience it is a cheap, alternative and entertaining night out.
There are two levels to Mr Goodbar's, and this provides atmospheric changes, from wild percussion, dancing and drumming upstairs, to a variety of different, very talented performers downstairs. The downstairs space is smoke free, and it's also a great place to go if you don't feel like drinking. (It's ok to drink but it's also ok not to.)
B&J is a non-profit organisation that is encouraging new talent. Mark Elliot, B&J coordinator,s puts it this way: "Brackets and Jam is about performance as a focus for community. This overall agenda embraces many purposes — individual expression, communication, nurturing and showcasing of talented people, reducing divisions between audience, performers and different age groups, the ongoing development of local multicultural performance styles, and having a good time."
As a performer at B&J, I found the audience to be one of the best I've ever had. It's great to be political without having a gang of beer-swilling rednecks calling out for some real rock!
B&J has a long-term vision of finding a stable home — a complete arts centre. This centre will not only create employment but will also support a large framework of amateur and professional people. It will encompass an office, workshop space and organic food outlet, a full-time cafe, a place for exhibitions and, it's hoped, a recording studio as well. And of course it will host the usual Monday night B&J performance.
B&J is still raising funds for this community space. You can give support by going along and enjoying yourself on a Monday night, dropping your change in the donations basket. And you can become a friend of B&J.
Community is strength, and B&J is supporting all aspects of local art. It proves that "if you want the best 'jam', you've got to make your own."
To join Friends of B&J, contact: Brackets and Jam, PO Box 366, Bondi Beach 2026.