What turns an industrial precinct into a place where people want to spend their time? Creativity. Brookvale has always had the ingredients: makers, musicians, fabricators, artists, brewers, surfboard shapers, designers, skaters and small business operators side by side in an industrial zone, minutes from parklands and Curl Curl Beach. What it lacked was visibility, connection and a shared identity.

That is where Brookvale Arts District stepped in. Established in 2020 as a not-for-profit, BAD was created to amplify Brookvale's existing creative undercurrent, not replace it. Through public art, placemaking and collaboration, it has spent the past six years helping evolve Brookvale into a recognised cultural destination. At the heart of the approach is a simple belief: creativity can activate overlooked spaces and strengthen community connection.

THE RESIDENCY

One of BAD's most successful projects is The Residency, a collaboration with Westfield Warringah Mall that transforms vacant retail space into working creative hubs. Through the BAD Pop-Up Gallery, visitors can watch local artists create work in real time, buy original pieces and engage directly with the process. Empty shopfronts become something alive, social and community-driven.

BAD WALLS AND BAD POSTER

Brookvale's laneways and warehouse walls have increasingly become an open-air gallery. BAD Walls documents and celebrates a growing collection of murals throughout the precinct, from large-scale native wildlife works to surf-inspired and character-driven street art. BAD Poster pushes the idea further, combining street art with technology: large-scale paste-ups across Brookvale feature works from local and international artists, layered with QR-enabled augmented reality that unlocks digital animation, sound and interactive content.

FESTIVALS AND COLLABORATIONS

Before 2023, Brookvale had no major festivals. BAD organised GroundSwell as a pilot precinct-wide event to prove what was possible. It worked. Brookvale now hosts at least six major festivals a year. Rather than running events itself, BAD focuses on collaboration. As co-founder John Meredith explains, "BAD doesn't see itself as a festival organiser. We consider our strategic roles being silo-busters, narrative generators and a megaphone for what's already happening."

Recent highlights include the Black Winter Block Party, a three-day celebration of First Nations music, art, food and culture in partnership with 7th Day Brewery and Awesome Black, and a three-day Surf Culture festival held at Brooky Surf Club with Bennett Surf, McTavish and Tracks magazine. Earlier this year, BAD partnered with Bennett Surf and the MOSS Foundation to bring the internationally renowned MOSS Deck Art Exhibition to Brookvale, drawing established names alongside bold new talent including Jimbo Phillips, David McKay, Kathrin Longhurst and Ben Brown.

More than a collection of projects, BAD has become the precinct's connective tissue. Brookvale may still be rough-edged, noisy and proudly industrial. That is exactly the point. BAD has not polished the soul out of the place. It has helped reveal it.