Community responds
Ararat Town Hall – one of the rural city’s most prominent and iconic buildings – re-opened its doors to the community this month, resplendent in a precinct that now includes an upgraded theatre, foyers, extended gallery and new café and bar area.
More than 1000 people took advantage of a community preview weekend to see the $7.7-million town hall redevelopment firsthand.
The original Ararat Town Hall auditorium has undergone a major renovation with new lighting and a world-class sound system, mounted on a state-of-the-art automated gantry.
Venue co-ordinator Jacqueline Grenfell said a great deal of thought and consideration had gone into the redevelopment of the main auditorium.
“Visitors will see a marked difference, not only in terms of the styling and aesthetics, but especially when it comes to the sound and lighting – the performing arts experience will be incredible,” she said.
The community preview weekend included a range of performances from Ararat primary school children, Ararat City Band, Ararat Musical Comedy Society, comedian Urzila Carlson, musician Isaiah and others.
The reopening also marked the return of the venue’s 1952 Steinway baby grand piano, originally bought through community donations and now restored to its original condition.
Also coinciding with the reopening is the 50th year of the former Ararat Regional Art Gallery – now rebranded as Ararat Gallery TAMA, Textile Art Museum Australia.
The redevelopment has doubled the gallery’s exhibition and collection spaces, adding a prominent entrance from Vincent Street.
Gallery director Anthony Camm said the gallery had been collecting textile and fibre art since the early 1970s. “We hold one of Australia’s most comprehensive collections of post-1960s textile and fibre arts and we can now properly showcase it for the first time,” he said.
Ararat Gallery TAMA launched with Kylie on Stage, a major exhibition from Arts Centre Melbourne and Australian Music Vault that celebrates memorable moments from Kylie Minogue’s colourful concert tours.
The building includes a new purpose-built gallery, to be devoted to contemporary textile practice, with an exhibition from Sarah crowest called ‘Material Constructs: The Home Stretch’.
The Slow Art Collective also presented Archi Loom at a handson community weaving event.
Federal Member for Wannon Dan Tehan, Victorian Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford and Ararat mayor Gwenda Allgood officially opened Ararat Arts Precinct redevelopment on August 2.
The Ararat Arts Precinct redevelopment has been funded via a partnership between the Victorian Government, $5.2-million, Ararat Rural City Council, $1.49-million, the Federal Government’s National Stronger Regions Fund, $945,000, and the regional community, $234,000.