The Friends of the Bluestone Theatre are disturbed that of the $4 million allocated for new capital works expenditure for Recreation and Culture in the draft Macedon Ranges Shire Council 2013-14 Budget, the entire $4 million has been allocated to Recreation and absolutely nothing has been allocated to Culture.
The Friends are particularly concerned that nothing has been allocated for the restoration of Kyneton’s Bluestone Theatre which is an urgently needed community cultural resource that was allowed to deteriorate in recent years. This is a back-flip by the Council who at their meeting on 28 November, 2012, voted to allocate $90,000 to the Theatre in the 2013 budget.
The Friends of the Bluestone Theatre have set up an online petition that will be presented to the Council as part of their community campaign to have the funding decision reconsidered.
The nature of Macedon Ranges Shire is changing. Sport and recreation are important but they are no longer the sole pursuit of its citizens. This year Kyneton Football Club was unable to find enough players to field a senior team. On the other hand the Council boasts on its tourism website: “Per capita, the Macedon Ranges has more professional artists working in the arts than anywhere else in Victoria.“
The Bluestone Theatre is the only publicly available medium-size drama theatre in the shire. In the past it has been home to the Kyneton Theatre Company, who mount two musicals a year and other productions; to the Kyneton One-Act Play Festival, Victoria’s longest running drama festival, which brings entries from all over the state; and to the youth theatre group, Q’riosity, which performed an extremely valuable function in providing an outlet for the young people of the region and helping them to gain confidence and a sense of achievement. The Bluestone also hosted visiting productions from Melbourne and a local Drama School.
Action on the Bluestone is urgent. If action is not taken now, the Shire may loose an essential resource. The building is deteriorating each day and unless the Council acts immediately to stop the rot, the Shire may lose not only a valuable heritage-listed asset, but a theatre company, a festival and an important resource for the youth of the area.
The Friends of the Bluestone have been doing their bit with fundraising already by raising $8,000 and many more fund-raising activities are planned. They are also developing a business plan which will show how the Theatre will be utilised by the community for virtually all the year and generate income. It is up to the council to move with the times and start supporting culture as well as recreation in their capital works program.
Assuming that recreation and culture are equally valuable, one would expect roughly equal commitments to each. Some have questioned the appropriateness of the massive $1.615 million being committed to Hanging Rock in the Recreation and Culture capital works budget, but if we set that aside, and split the remaining $2.396 million in capital works fairly between culture and recreation then about $1.2 million should be spent on culture. The Bluestone Theatre needs only about 10% of this, or 0.6% of the total Shire Capital Works Budget, to become viable as a theatre again.
Multi award-winning actor and Kyneton resident Maggie Millar is horrified at the neglect of this heritage listed building. “I have played in theatres in the UK, Europe, New Zealand and Australia,” she said, “and the Bluestone is a real jewel. For the council to neglect such an asset to patrons and performers, in favour of sporting and recreational activities, shows a disturbing lack of understanding of the importance of such creative endeavours in our lives. I only hope they will see the light, reconsider their position, and follow through with the support they initially voted for.”
It’s not too much to ask.
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