Town Teams: Where Community Takes Centre Stage
- Simmone Sache
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Twenty years ago, Jimmy Murphy picked up a trumpet and joined local band The Sunshine Brothers. “We just wanted to have fun, first and foremost,” he says. “That’s probably why we’re still going. We never took ourselves too seriously.”
That same spirit of connection and creativity was also behind the Funk Club, which Jimmy founded in his early twenties. It was a not-for-profit music collective based upstairs at the Leederville Hotel. It was his first real taste of grassroots organising. “We had more than 2,000 members,” he says.
“It was my first venture into anything community-led. We were supporting local musicians and creating a real vibe and community around the music.”
As momentum grew, Jimmy found himself heading in a new direction. As a music promoter booking international acts and big-ticket shows, something shifted. “I’d kind of lost touch with the spirit that started it all,” he reflects. “It became about transactions instead of connections.”
That reconnection came with a phone call from some local businesses in Leederville. “They got in touch because I was known as ‘the festival guy’,” Jimmy laughs.
“The timing was perfect. I’d just realised I wanted to get back to something more meaningful.”
He then worked with the local community of residents and traders to bring Leederville’s street festival to life, a local take on London’s Notting Hill Carnival that turned the suburb into a vibrant street party. “We had so much feedback,” he says. “People loved that it felt like theirs.”
From there, a small group began to form, including Dean Cracknell, now his long-time collaborator. They’d meet up, brainstorm ideas, and one day Dean said: What if we did this full time? They found funding. And Town Team Movement was born.
Today, Town Teams are active in more than 150 locations across Australia, including Mount Hawthorn, Bayswater and Vic Park, where locals are planting trees, running markets, and reimagining public spaces. “We support people to do what makes sense for their street, their suburb, their community,” says Jimmy.
The impact is growing. Town Teams now work with government, deliver education programs, and are tackling big challenges, from main street revitalisation to community resilience.
What started as a love for music and community has grown into a national movement, but the goal hasn’t changed. “It’s about creating places people love,” Jimmy says. “And reminding everyone they can be part of that.”
