Cheers for funds

By Tania Martin
THE curtain is set to be raised on another hills performing arts project with the Rudd government delivering a $2.5 million election promise.
Emerald College was awarded the cash as part of the 2008-09 federal budget which will be used to fund a new $2.75 million performing arts centre.
The school has also committed $250,000 from its building fund towards the long-awaited project.
Plans for the theatre began in late 2005 but the project was put on hold to make sure that the school’s lobbying didn’t jeopardise the Gemco Players’s bid for state government funding for its own performance space.
School principal Wayne Burgess last week said it was fantastic that the Rudd government had lived up to its election promise.
“We were always pretty confident that we were going to get it but it was a matter of when,” he said.
La Trobe MP Jason Wood last week congratulated Emerald College for fighting so hard to gain funding for this project.
He said the funding was a great win for arts in the hills.
Mr Wood said the hills was now well on its way to becoming an arts mecca following the funding of Gemco Players theatre last year and now Emerald College.
Mr Burgess said the theatre would feature 300 permanent seats and a flat 20-metre by 12-metre stage.
He said the flat stage could be converted into seating depending on the event at the theatre.
“This way we can have the potential to seat up to 625 people,” he said.
Mr Burgess said that the stage was a regulation size for those performing in the Rock Eisteddfod.
The school is renowned for its success at the Rock Eisteddfod and Mr Burgess said the new theatre would make rehearsing and performing much easier for the students.
At the moment the students rehearse in the school’s gymnasium because there is not enough space in the drama room.
Mr Burgess said the theatre would also be used by local schools and community groups.
He said the school would be meeting with community groups over the next couple of weeks to discuss what they would like to see included in the theatre.
Mr Wood said it was now important that the theatre was delivered as soon as possible and not left until the end of the Rudd government’s term.