If you haven't heard of Renew Newcastle check them out right now. They've been doing meanwhile massively in the hollowed-out heart of ex-industrial Newcastle, New South Wales for two years. They've changed it so much that Novocastrians (as they call themselves) seeing the pics have said they must be photoshopped because they can't believe so much life could be going on in the town centre!

Led by Marcus Westbury - a Novo himself, Marcus founded the successful TINA (This is Not Art) festival writes for The Age, and is a renowned critic, thinker and doer. The Meanwhile Project in the UK has learnt/borrowed a lot from them - including our see-through transparent logo for project windows.

They've been working with the main town centre property owner GPT. See the links for the latest challenges.

But Renew Newcastle will weather it and no doubt get stronger. As the indomitable Marni Jackson says: the project will continue to inject life and interest into Newcastle’s boarded-up CBD. “While a plan to dramatically change Newcastle is good for the city we have always been a ‘meantime’ project,” she said. “We are just going to keep doing our thing – we complement what’s going on right now in the city.” http://renewnewcastle.org/media/post/renew-group-still-brightens-up...