Dom Ferry has been busking
for 10 years around the world. Having settled in Sydney he has convinced "the city fathers" to open up Darling Harbour and The Rocks to street performers, but says buskers are still undervalued.

Busking is new in Australia. Until Expo 88 the word "busker" seemed to mean someone who was playing three strings on a guitar to pay for their drug habit. We've managed to break that stereotype down. Ninety-five per cent of Australians have never been to the theatre, so busking is the only theatre most of us are ever going to see. It's a way for everyday Sydeysiders to experience and see something that expresses and plays with issues that are taboo, thereby enriching society by channelling thought about those issues.

Some believe that street performers are like a subconscious tension valve, and the more tension due to stress in a city, the more subconsciously performers are drawn to it. As close as we can get to defining laughter is that it releases tension and so much of street performing is about comedy. So we act like a release valve in the sense when people watch us they can let their tension go and walk away from it, perhaps feeling a little more relaxed.

There is also the argument that in any urban sterile environment - like our CBD -performance and visual arts break the monotony.

Street performing has survived in Sydney, but until now the status quo was that the city fathers turned a blind eye to it. If there was a problem they simply made it illegal and hoped the problem would go away (in areas like the Quay). Fortunately for us there was a public backlash and the public made it clear to the council that busking was something they enjoyed and wanted back. So three weeks ago the City of Sydney Council passed a new busking policy, thereby relaxing the Quay policy and opening up the CBD with 10 other sites.

The policy will also mean that performers will have to have permits, which upsets some. A lot of street performers are anarchistic: they have the attitude that, `I believe I have the right to go and busk wherever I like and if you don't like me doing it here I'll do it somewhere else'. But most of us are in favour of permits, and realise that in the long-term it's easier and means that you don't have to argue with the guy banging his tin drum for hours in the spot where you normally work.

At the moment it's all theoretical and it's been a bit scary watching bureaucrats decide your livelihood, but on the other hand some have approached it with a positive attitude, so I'm optimistic that this will work.

July 23rd, 1998

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