Budget 2021

Please ensure you budget adequately for the new Orange Regional Conservatorium of Music. The current premises is not fit for purpose & if the council want to attract world class musicians & the tourists that follow, this needs to be prioritised. The conditions for students & staff at the current premises are sub standard and a new Conservatorium at the arts precinct is needed ASAP.
We have talented musicians learning & developing in a leaky demountable! The current staff do an AMAZING job with what they have to work with but conditions are outdated & cramped. If we want to develop talent in Orange & attract talent to Orange we need a new facility.
The land is available, there are existing plans - it just needs to be funded!

The Orange Regional Conservatorium is a fabulous community resource, limited only by its current cramped and dated facilities. As a parent of a former student, I have seen directly the positive impact learning and playing music has on children, and the importance of this within a broad community environment rather than a school one. As an adult student myself I continue to benefit from the wonderful teaching and connecting with others in my community through ensembles and choirs. I am excited and encouraged by Orange Council's willingness to support this major project. A new Con at the arts precinct will help grow Orange's cultural reputation across the region and critically provide more opportunities for students and performers of all ages across our community to benefit from music.

I commend the council on their initiative in proposing funding of $20M over two years to the construction of the new Orange Regional Conservatorium (ORC).
The existing building is dated, falling into significant disrepair and limits the number of students able to receive tuition. There is significant excess demand for lessons and the new facility will see significant utilisation across the community. The ORC has completed strategic planning to ensure that the boost in capability and profile that the new building affords will be fully realised to see ORC become the leading regional conservatorium, offering access to world class musical experiences while being visible, inclusive, accessible, relevant and valued.
The addition of the ORC to the museum, gallery and library consolidates the area as a cultural precinct that will be the envy of any regional city. It also balances the other initiatives being proposed in the budget, particularly the sporting complex to ensure that is able to effectively respond to any suggestion of bias in the allocation of its budget.
Council is often criticised, but by stepping in to bridge the funding gap left by the State government, they have shown courage, commitment and the community will benefit from the decision.
Bring it on!

On behalf of the Board of the Members of Orange Regional Conservatorium I am writing to support and congratulate the Orange City Council on its inclusion in its proposed budget of funding for the construction of a purpose-built facility for the education and the performance of music of residents of Orange and surrounding localities.

We recognise the fantastic support for music education shown by the Council since the commencement of the Orange Music Academy in the 1990s. Since its beginnings the Conservatorium (the Con) has seen an ever-increasing interest in learning to play musical instruments and to learn to sing. For some years now, the Con has been unable to accommodate every request for enrollment due to the lack of space for individual lessons. We have also been unable to always accommodate requests to use the limited space available for group learning and rehearsals.

Despite these limitations, the Con has been building its preparedness for a strong and exciting future.
We have a strong membership (more members are welcome) a Board committed to strong governance, a team of very capable managers, and a team of highly talented and inspiring teachers. The new building will enable the Con to respond to the increased demand we are already seeing, as well as to more actively promote music education throughout the community.

The Conservatorium is very mindful of the responsibility it has to ensure that the whole community will benefit from having a state-of-the art building for teaching and a performance space that will be unequalled outside of our capital cities. We look forward to partnering with the Council in aligning the Conservatorium with its vision for the future development and growth of our city.

Together with the Council's other investments in the Arts, the Conservatorium is very keen to bey a key part of the creation of a vibrant cultural space for the enjoyment and inspiration of the community. Our local artists will be have the support they need to flourish and will be inspired by the wonderful talent we will bring to Orange to facilitate new teaching opportunities and to delight us with their performances.

The Con is open to and invites the interest of all sectors of the community in discussing with us how the opening of the facility could lead to new partnerships to ensure everyone benefits from the performance and enjoyment of music.

The Orange Regional Conservatorium is far more than just a school for teaching music. Among other things it;
Provides young people with a maturity and self-confidence as they learn,
Provides adults the opportunity to extend social networks through group activities with like-minded people,
Provides the opportunity for highly-skilled tuition by visiting experts through Master Classes to their students,
Provides access to first-rate musical experiences to the people of Orange through their Concert program.
All of these are to the benefit of the Community of Orange in general.
The Conservatorium has achieved its goals so successfully that it has long out-grown its present premises and many staff members are forced to work in less than satisfactory conditions.

Orange City Council's support of the new Conservatorium building is an investment in the future of the Orange Community in so many more ways than just bricks and mortar. Congratulations on your foresight.

What a city we would be with the wonderful plans for the New Orange Regional Conservatorium coming to life. We have an opportunity to be a premier Regional Cultural hub. It call attract visiting musicians from around Australia and attract teaching talent and together with the library, the theatre and the gallery create a brilliant arts space and a truly winning education space for our kids. I strongly encourage support the council in deciding to support this. I can’t wait to hear the music of our community from “The new Con”.

The new Conservatorium will be a wonderful addition to our city's cultural precinct, and will draw talented artists to Orange which will benefit Orange residents and attract visitors. I strongly support Council's decision to proceed with the project.

I support the allocation of funds to the new Orange Regional Conservatorium building as part of the Council budget. It will be such a major asset to the City for years to come. Well done for supporting the Arts in our community, they are a big part of what makes Orange such a great place to live.

More needs to be done about our water supply. It would be good to live where you can use a hose for cleaning occasionally.
The bulky waste collection needs to be continued. It helps those who don't own utes or trailers.
I am interested in music and am looking forward to a new Conservatorium as the facilities at the present one are not up to standard ( particularly the toilets).
I live in South Orange. The completion of the southern distributer will ease the traffic congestion in South Anson Street.

I strongly support the development of the Regional Conservatorium’s project. This organisation is such an important part of our cultural community, it has so many talented teachers and performers. It has been so successful that it has been heroically operating under strained conditions for years. Let these talented leaders take us into an exciting cultural future with facilities to be proud of. Orange has a real strength of talent in our musical community and with some infrastructure support it is only going to keep growing as an incredible asset. Our family moved to this town attracted by the opportunities the ORC provided and our town has produced many passionate musicians. The recent chamber music festival was an outstanding success, performing to sold out audiences, a huge proportion coming as visitors for this experience. Orange has the opportunity to shine even brighter with this project. Please support this vision and recognise the demand for our cultural growth. Let’s make this happen!

Looking forward to seeing the new Conservatorium of Music project up and running. What a wonderful edition to the Cultural precinct, and well overdue. A wonderful job done by all the teaching staff, and wonderful musical opportunities for our kids, and community.

I am very much in support of the funding of the new conservatorium, which will be in a better location and with better facilities to provide teaching and performance space.

I have recently moved to the Central West and work in Orange. One of the reasons I came to this area was for the quality of, and the respect of, the arts in the community. I would love to see allocation of funds to building the new Conservatorium: we will then have a comprehensive arts precinct in the city in the one block and it will, I have no doubt, help cement Orange as one of the country’s leading arts communities in education, performance and community transformation.

Orange Regional Conservatorium is bursting at the seams in its current location. Demand from all ages demonstrates the need across the wider population for music and its proven benefits. And the economic benefits help the whole Central West. Please give the ORC the tools to continue building our cultural heart.

A new conservatorium should be a high priority. So many in our community love the concerts & making music with the help of professional staff. Current facilities are outdated & desperately inadequate to serve the needs of a fast growing population. Please less new sporting stadiums & an investment in the cultural pursuits of so many.
Margaret Patton

I love living in Orange! It is such a vibrant, prosperous centre with something for everyone thanks to a progressive Council which has the vision to support many projects which continue to enhance our life here. I am particularly excited that the draft budget supports the construction of the Regional Conservatorium. This is the missing link in the Cultural precinct and will have an enormous impact on the musical opportunities provided for both children & adults in our city. It will further enhance cultural tourism and stimulate the local economy. Bravo! Bring it on....

Orange should be the cultural hub of the central west. As such it is vital that there is a modern conservatorium which all the facilities necessary for teaching and performing. Concerts organised at the conservatorium already draw audiences from as far afield as Sydney- and this can be extended with a suberb new facility.
Local children also benefit from a quality educational facility that can draw young families into the region

The new Orange Conservatorium should be front and centre of budget plannig. This regional conservatorium not only elevates Orange from surrounding towns in terms of educational options- a big reason why Orange has enjoyed such burgeoning interest for young families wanting a tree change- but it also can create concerts of a status which draw tourists from as far afield as Sydney- and these tourists then need accommodation, food etc. Orange should be the cutural hub of the central west, and a 21st century conservatorium facility is vital to complete the picture

Very exciting to have a new Conservatorium joining the cultural precinct. This will inspire current students to continue with their musical endeavors and attract new ones.

We greatly appreciate the support Council has offered to Orange Regional Conservatorium in this budget and believe this will support the incredible contribution it makes to the life and culture of this city and region. We believe it’s a ground for fostering skill, interest and community as well as attracting many professionals and musical groups to the region. We offer Council our support in their proposal.