Theatre’s long-term future to be explored

Moves to look at the future of the Civic Theatre are included in the Council's planning for the coming years.

The theatre is now more than forty years old and while it's still a fantastic regional venue, it needs some work to ensure it's able to meet the contemporary performance needs of leading touring companies who want to perform here.

Major ballet companies, for example, need much wider backstage wings than the Civic Theatre can offer. The height of the roof over the stage is no longer able to meet the demands for contemporary-sized backdrops that touring companies use.

In the long-term budgeting process, an amount of $6 million has been allocated in four years' time, to flag the scale of the work that could happen. It's important to note that this project is proposed to be 100% dependent on the council receiving grants for the work.

The first steps towards discovering what might actually be built are proposed to happen next year in the 2020/21 financial year. In the draft budget, it's proposed to allocate an amount of $25,000 for some expert research and preliminary design options that could look at the available space and match that with contemporary performance needs.

Some contemporary theatres also have a second smaller performance and rehearsal space. That's another option that could be researched.

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The period for community consultation on the 2019 Draft Budget has concluded. A report on the community response will be considered by staff and presented to the 25 June council meeting.