Michael Aiken Texilake is a published writer, producer, performer and President of the Newtown-Enmore Business Community. However, for some he is known as the owner of Garden Lounge Creative Space. Originally a therapeutic concept to help Michael recover from burnout, Garden Lounge is now known as one of the few places you can see and buy the work of some of Australia’s most highly respected poets and writers.

Tell us about yourself?

I am a single parent of four school-aged children. Previously, I worked in various communications, relations and strategy roles. I studied Writing & Literary Theory for my undergraduate degree and I am a working writer. I write in all forms, but in terms of publications, I have had two collections of poetry published and one verse novel. I have also written or contributed to the writing of two albums of songs by artcore band Feick’s Device and recorded collaborations with Dreamgirl and The Motorist, Kirp and others. Tell us your background and connection to the Inner West of Sydney. I was born in Auburn and grew up on the Central Coast. I first came to Newtown when I turned 18, to see the poetry slam at The Sandringham, run by Tug Dumbly. Since 1999, I’ve played in artcore bands, two of which (The Useful Box and The Serviettes) played semi-regularly in Newtown and Erskineville. I moved to Newtown from Wollongong in 2001 and I have lived in or near Newtown almost continually since. In 2019, I had a mental health crisis brought on by burnout and I couldn’t return to the workforce. I started Garden Lounge Creative Space as a short-term pop-up that same year. It started as a therapeutic way to get me out of the house. At the same time Garden Lounge Creative Space opened, my third book had just come out. My good friend Gareth Jenkins’ first poetry collection was also being published. It struck me that there are a lot of excellent bookshops. There was no poetry specialist in Sydney stocking the latest poetry.

This led me to stock work by poets and publishers I knew personally and by word of mouth, producing new Australian poetry.

I also started hosting book launches and live readings, in particular a weekly ‘poetry and song’ event featuring a writer and a musician. Later that year, I relocated the shop into a larger premises and added food and drinks to support the events. Things were looking great for the business. Sadly our event was cancelled in March that year due to Covid. We managed to survive thanks to a great deal of enthusiastic support from the poetry community nationally, the local community (especially musicians, visual artists and writers) and a lot of help from family, friends and JobKeeper! Fast forward to today and our events are starting to ramp up again! You were recently involved in the Enmore Road Special Entertainment Precinct Pilot. How did you get involved? My involvement was mostly as an enthusiastic and opinionated onlooker, particularly in my current role as President of the Newtown-Enmore Business Community. My own business is outside the City of Sydney Entertainment Precinct area, but I’ve been aware of our local government’s efforts to work towards a regulatory framework that provides long-term stability for centres of culture and entertainment. I was very excited to hear the laws had successfully passed.

I am one of many people who care about creativity and live performance, urging Inner West Council to keep going with the vision.

From a business perspective, I was also able to provide useful feedback on the challenges places like Garden Lounge face because we don’t have a framework. When you were starting out, what sort of collaboration did you seek, or where did you go to get info? My business has been very organic from the start. There were four organisations I sought information or help from when I started: Newtown Business Association (which folded soon after); the NSW Security Industry Regulator; Business in NSW; and 1989 Arcade Bar. The Business Association helped with some general advice and support in applying for a lease etc. Business in NSW is a handy central source of information for entities too.

For me, I needed someone to talk through e-licencing, footpath use etc.

When it comes to personal connections, Ben from 1989 Arcade Bar was fantastic! In the early days of 1989 Arcade Bar opening, I was really excited to see something different pop up on King Street, and to see a genuine hybrid business.

Right from the start, Ben was someone who I could talk with, bounce ideas off and many other things.

I didn’t have any intention of setting up my own physical space at that time. Ben was a fellow business creative who seemed like a potential collaborator for a future event. When I did unexpectedly start my Garden Lounge Creative Space, Ben was someone who gave me a lot of moral support and business advice. He helped keep me sane!

In terms of collaborators, my family were all really supportive and contributed in lots of different ways, including my siblings, my parents and my own children. Also including several of my friends.

The writer Gareth Jenkins and the visual artist Andrew Tucker put a huge amount of effort and thought into helping me set up both spaces, finding ideas and people for events etc.

The first major event I hosted was an exhibition of Gareth’s text-based visual art, and Andrew sculpted dozens and dozens of bizarre ceramic works that became a major defining feature of the shop’s visual character from the get-go. Beyond that, my industry – literature, particularly poetry – has been massively supportive. Publishers and agents have donated books at times, and lots of highly respected writers have not only come and performed, but have donated rare books from their own collections. I’ve been given all sorts of support. The poet, Rozanna Lilley even donated a beautiful sideboard that belonged to her mother. It celebrated Australian writer Dorothy Hewett. And of crucial importance, the local community are my ongoing collaborators. The first series of public conversations I ran at 481 King Street featured 6 weeks of weekly talks by local people. Would having a collection of like-minded people available to 'run ideas by' have been a game changer?

Absolutely. People who are proactive, creative thinkers and who are community-minded really need to band together around here.

Our culture/economy is from and for our community, but in between it gets distorted by bureaucracies, ignorance, and a lack of vision. Culture is a conversation, and the economy is part of our culture. Through continuous idea sharing and open discussion, we can of course develop better opportunities for creatives, business and otherwise. But we can also do a better job as creative businesses of giving the broader community – our audiences, customers, peers and critics – opportunities to engage with us. I don’t think anyone wants to see the Inner West homogenised, but there’s definitely a degree of missed opportunity when it comes to coordinating things like business hours, footpath usage, etc, as well as the more fun stuff like mentoring and supporting visionaries to make new ideas happen. Do you have any gigs or projects coming up? Heaps! We host: An open poetry and original music mic every Thursday night;

• An open poetry and original music mic every Thursday night;
• Low-key live music on Friday evenings;
• A Big poetry readings per month on Saturday nights featuring poets from across the spectrum of career progression and ‘reputation’;
• Talks Series: a 6 week series of public talks and a project that may be one off or a series of events which is tentatively entitled “I’m better for my disability”. I worked as a health communicator around disability research and literacy for a few years. I also have lived experience of mental health issues being myself neuro-diverse. I want to change the tone of the day-to-day conversation around what gets called ‘disability’. This project is going to be built around people with lived ‘disability’ experience and sharing the ways that their own atypical abilities contribute to, or even make them better at, doing the things they want to do in life.

We’ve also put out a call out for proposals. We’re interested in hosting anything people can do with the space. Get in touch with us!

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the artists.

You can learn more about Michael Aiken Texilake

Learn More:

• Garden Lounge Creative Space Website
• Social Media: Instagram