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Get to Know Us
The Red Rattler History
The Red Rattler is a queer-run creative playground that is ethical, sustainable and community owned.
We are not-for-profit and volunteer-driven, ensuring continued inclusive and affordable access for a diverse range of communities and creators.
We hope to contribute to a world where communities have space to build solidarity, flourish and create arts, activism and queer culture that is inspiring and influential.
Established in 2009, the Rat is the realisation of a collective dream of five local queer artists who wanted to create a legal warehouse venue to showcase alternative Sydney arts, performance and grassroots activism. After hosting events for years at many of Sydney’s warehouse spaces (Lan Franchis, Space 3, love hotel and others), they dreamed of creating an accessible venue that held all the necessary licences to stay open and that would not be at the mercy of high rents and developers.
The Rat is on the land of the Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We offer respect to all the Wangal people past and present and other First Nations people visiting this space.
Located in an industrial area (called Tramvale Estate in the early 1900s) and near Sydenham station, the name of the theatre is inspired by the old Red Rattler trains. The rattle refers to us trying to shake things up regarding accessible venues and creative spaces in Sydney, and the colour red has long associations with left politics, revolution and anarchism.
The Rat has become a creative playground for performers, musicians, artists, designers, multi-media makers, experimentalists, film-makers, theorists, activists, collective organisers, and local punters.
Since 2013, The Red Rattler Theatre Inc has acquired 60% ownership of the building it currently occupies and aims to purchase the remaining 40% in the coming years, making this space a genuinely independent and community-owned venue.
Meet the Rats
The Board
Our Rules
Community Policy
The Red Rattler Theatre Inc is a licensed venue with the community at heart; we ask that all our guests abide by basic rules to ensure everyone has a good time, and no one gets hurt, including the Rattler and its facilities.
- NO RACIST, SEXIST, HOMOPHOBIC or TRANSPHOBIC BEHAVIOUR
- NO VIOLENCE
- No BYO (alcohol sold on site)
- No smoking permitted on site
- No drinks are permitted outside the venue
- No illegal drugs or paraphernalia
- No unauthorised photography
- No unauthorised video recording
- No unauthorised audio recording
- No graffiti
- No judgment
- No fighting
- No weapons
- No standing on the furniture
- Please place your empty bottles in recycling bins provided, and return glasses to the bar
- Please place all waste in bins provided (don’t stuff rubbish in the holes of the water tanks or under cushions in the lounges)
- If you break something, please inform the bar volunteers immediately
- Lost property is kept for a week or two then donated to charity, if you lose something contact enquiries@redrattler.org
- Children are permitted in the venue but must be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times
- Help make everyone feel welcome: A message from the Rats
“The Red Rattler was set up as a space where racism, homophobia, transphobia and sexism are not welcome on stage, in the audience, at the door, and at the bar. We ask you to join us in efforts to make this space welcoming, stimulating, and happiness producing to people of all races, ethnicities, sexualities and genders.
Sadly, it has become apparent that we need to be more explicit about what it means not to be racist. Blackface performance is not permitted at The Red Rattler. Taking a self reflexive approach to our own practices is part of anti-racist strategy. One way of testing our performances can be to ask ourselves – if the room is all persons of that ethnicity, am I confident that my show is not racist?
A message to all non-Indigenous people who come to the Red Rattler: Heckling while an Indigenous speaker is telling their truths is a way of centring your whiteness and a form of racism. The rampant institutionalisation of racism, and the implication of all non-Indigenous people in settler colonialism in Australia means that this is a constant battle. Fighting it takes all us doing something and all of us taking responsibility.
Co-responsibility – be a participant not a consumer. The Red Rattler was also set up as a space that seeks to resist a consumerist approach to spaces and culture. Our aim is to make space for unheard voices and carve a space for art, politics and creative cultures, but to hear and create means more than turning up, it means building a community that challenges each other and that grows. We ask all participants to take co-responsibility in making the Rattler a haven in this world! Let it be a creative space that can nurture us all. This is not something that can be achieved through one gesture or in one moment, it cannot be delivered like a service, it is a work in progress that requires solidarity, listening, learning and love. Please join us in this journey. We’re grateful to be part of a community who believes in building this kind of space!”
Sustainable
The Rat's Sustainability Measures
The Red Rattler's operations are based on an eco-sustainability plan which includes:
- 7.2kw of solar panels power.
- The installation of water wall tanks for rainwater catchment and reuse for toilet flushing together with the installation of low-flush toilets throughout the venue. We’ve installed the low flush loos and have the water tanks
in readiness for final cross over, but we need to raise funds for plumbing. - The toilet cubicles are constructed using recycled 2nd hand wardrobe, they are stocked with recycled toilet paper, and our urinals are water-free.
- The venue is fitted with low-energy lighting and power systems including LED stage lighting rig and low-wattage light fittings throughout the bar, toilets, theatre space and rooftop garden.
- Whirly birds in the roof are part of a fire safety and double as air vents in the ceiling, used instead of air-conditioning.
- All furniture at the Rattler is second hand..
- Our bar stock includes local, organic, and preservative-free products..
- We recycle all glass, cans, paper and plastic where possible.
The Rat takes a 50c eco-tax off door tickets, or for free gigs, we ask punters to donate 50c as they come in to contribute to this sustainability plan.