FOCUS ON RECREATION AND ARTS
Goulburn performing arts The new Goulburn Performing Arts Centre officially opens on March 25 with it’s first season launch on April 1. Located on land known as Mulwaree by local First Nations the new centre creatively reactivates the McDermott Centre – Goulburn’s historic town hall. It will house a funky cafe and Box Office, with the Council Chambers converted into ‘the Meeting Place’ – a wine bar and boutique performance space. A glass atrium connects to the 400 seat state of the art proscenium arch auditorium, which includes wheelchair seating and hearing loop. There is a fly tower, counterweight fly system, lighting bridges, opera pit and a 15k lumen projector, with four dressing rooms, band room, green room, workshops and loading dock. GPAC will present an annual Season of live performance – including drama, opera, classical and contemporary music, dance, circus, children’s and seniors programming, with featured First Nations and culturally diverse works. Both the auditorium and the Meeting Place are available for hire by commercial and community organisations. The building was designed by Brewster Hjorth Architects and includes a suite of commissioned plaques tracing the site’s history from Traditional Owners to the present day. The GPAC team has booked an amazing program of performances for the much-anticipated venue’s first ever season – and they have invited the whole community to get in on the action on Saturday 2 nd April when the doors are thrown open for the free family fun day, and the official launch of the GPAC Season for 2022. There will be free workshops, live music, sausage sizzle and morning tea, ahead of a gala launch from 6pm with sizzling outdoor
Alphabet of Awesome Science. performances, complimentary champagne on arrival and sneak previews of the host of wonderful shows programmed for the year. To give the public a taste of what is on offer GPAC manager Raina Savage said the GPAC has already put a selection of the earliest SEASON SHOWS on sale. “To whet our audiences appetite we are releasing tickets for another six top quality the-
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22 LOCAL GOVERNMENT FOCUS February 2022
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“May brings the lauded Black Cockatoo, directed by Wesley Enoch, a deeply moving play about the first Aboriginal cricket team to triumphantly tour England in the 1860s. “There is fantastic classical and jazz music concert from the Black Tulip Jazz Trio – featuring the hand crafted new concert grand piano with cello and double bass – in Bach to Bolling – with a glass of bubbles – on Sunday May 8.”
New arts facility open in Gippsland
Australia’s biggest local news survey show readers’ passion for print
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atre shows with something to delight every member of the family,” she said. “During April theatre goers can join Keith Potger of The Seekers and friends for a fabulous Sunday afternoon concert celebrating the music of Gordon Lightfoot, or take the kids to experience the WOW of science – with the Alphabet of Awesome Science – 26 crazy experiments in 60 minutes on April 8.
The stage is almost set for world-class shows and entertainment as construction of the $42.1 million Gippsland Performing Arts Centre (GPAC) nears completion, ready for the March 2022 opening. Gippsland Performing Arts Centre is launching with OPEN: a four-day festival celebrating the completion of Gippsland’s new home of the arts featuring the best in music, comedy, live performance and plenty of fun for everyone. The festival will put a spotlight on all the venue offers, including The Big Family Weekender, a large free outdoor public program running from Saturday 5 – Sunday 6 March 2022 designed for families and children. The opening event TOGETHER on Thursday 3 March will highlight Latrobe City-grown performers in a community celebration winding through the new precinct. This will be followed by a world-class program across the weekend with performances from Client Liaison and the OPEN Comedy Gala headlined by Dave Thornton and Peter Helliar. “The opening festival is a chance for our whole community to explore and feel welcome in the Gippsland Performing Arts Centre, as we lift the curtain on this amazing new facility and celebrate what it has to offer,” said Mayor of Latrobe City, Councillor Kellie O’Callaghan. “The Gippsland Performing Arts Centre will also make a significant contribution towards the ongoing recovery of our creative industries and visitor economy from the challenges of COVID-19. “Councillors were lucky to have a site tour in late 2021, and were blown away by the scale and quality of the building and the range of spaces available that our community will enjoy for decades to come,” said Cr O’Callaghan.
The new Gippsland Performing Arts Centre. The $42.1 million project has been made possible by collaborative investment from the Victorian Government ($12 million), the Australian Government’s Community Development Grants Program ($10 million), and Latrobe City Council. LGFOCUS.COM.AU
