Precinct to ‘open doors’
Western Victoria is primed to establish a reputation as a prominent national performing arts and cultural hub when work finishes on a multi-million-dollar Ararat Arts Precinct project.
Ararat Mayor Paul Hooper said the Ararat project, due to get underway this month, would help join the dots in a growing number of high-standard arts centres across the region and help pave the way for broad regional social and economic development.
Cr Hooper said with Ararat joining centres such as Ballarat, Horsham and Hamilton in having modern and high-quality performing-arts centres, the heart of western Victoria had an enormous opportunity to tap into tourism and cultural benefits.
“I think it will open the door for us to start looking at ways of developing opportunities for our part of western Victoria to prosper and grow. We will be able to attract higher-profile acts for regional tours, put on significant cultural events and offer enormous opportunities for our home-grown artistic talent. That, in turn, will provide us with socio-economic leverage,” he said.
“Having a thriving arts community is an attractive lure for many people to either stay or even shift to the regions and that is something on which we need to capitalise. It adds something special to the dynamics of regional living.”
Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford will be among guests at a project launch tomorrow when Ararat Rural City Council will announce tenders for the $6.235-million project.
The heritage-listed Ararat Town Hall, now Ararat Performing Arts Centre, was built in 1898. It is a prominent regional Victorian landmark and sits in the heart of the historic gold centre.
Its art gallery already boasts a major national reputation, especially for its textile collections and presentations.
The redevelopment project will include major refurbishments, gallery extensions, the creation of a cafe and green room and storage areas and exterior civil works and landscaping.
“It is simply going to be fantastic, not just for Ararat district but the greater region,” Cr Hooper said.
Work on the project is scheduled to be finished in November, 2018.
“As soon as it’s up and operating we want people up and about and using the performing arts centre more often,” Cr Hooper said.
“We have to use the new profile to create benefits for our community. We can’t just sit back and be the beneficiary. As country people we’re renowned for getting off our backsides and hunting for opportunity this creates.
“We already have a wealth of attractions here, such as the Grampians, and this adds to the reasons why people will want to visit and stay in Ararat.”