What is it that makes a new space for the arts?

What makes any space like CarriageWorks different from a regular performing arts centre?

It might be the style of work
It might be the resident organizations
It might be where the space is located – often in an area thought of as “bad”, given over to artists because people thought they would accept it and survive. Then they flourish and draw community and activity to them – the space and the artists flourish and then development follows and the area changes
It might be that contemporary artists are more willing to engage with the space that the traditional – in our case those organisations drove the form that was created

The phenomenon is that of space and place. They are in areas of dereliction, subject to potential urban renewal.
Why would it be that artistic practice would drive urban renewal without government support when it does not happen by pure market intervention?

The phenomenon is not about time in Australia particularly, if it is in Europe
It is not just of our time – these sorts of spaces have existed in Australia before. La Mama, The Pram Factory, Anthill
These spaces and artists were part of a counter-culture and while giving over the space to them is low risk, continuing to fund them is in some way more risky than to more traditional art forms and organizations.

The contradiction of supported art forms having to be self-supporting.
Why is that many of these spaces are then meant to be self-supporting, when the art forms and the artists do not have large audiences; do not have support structures around them
Is it just that the traditional organizations are more capable of advocating?