Over 10 years, AlburyCity will invest more than $30 million to realise its dream of a Cultural Precinct, bringing life, colour, movement and energy into the heart of the City. The precinct will comprise visual arts, performing arts, theatres, convention facilities, museum and library facilities, public open space, outdoor entertainment venues and a Conservatorium of Music.
This exciting project will transform the City Square bounded by Dean, Olive, Swift and Kiewa Streets into a vibrant destination and through its over riding theme of a ‘meeting place’, will encourage wide and diverse community use.
AlburyCity Manager of Community and Cultural Development, Lesley Atkinson, believes that the Precinct will develop as a hub of cultural activity, with programs moving out from the precinct into the region promoting the development of a range of cultural services, activities and businesses.
“It’s the right time to celebrate the region’s creativity, its heritage and future, and make an invaluable contribution to the economy through cultural tourism, employment and community pride,” she said. “Siting numerous facilities within the Precinct ensures efficient use of available resources. This will assist in building a strong, flourishing and sustainable future for arts and culture in the region. The more we put in, the more people get out. It’s a synergy and it means more people and more organisations will have the opportunity to become involved in creative and cultural endeavours which will ultimately strengthen the Albury community.”
Stage 1 of the Precinct is an unusual concept – a museum and library.
Lesley Atkinson describes this as unique even without the rest of the Precinct’s planned areas for performance art, visual and installation arts in the gallery – space and inspiration for the myriad creatives and artists in Albury. When complete, the complex will be one of Australia’s first regional integrated Museum Library facility.
The philosophy behind the internal design is to provide visitors and users with a more complete cultural experience by integrating the museum and library functions through common areas. This shared space will enable the community to access the latest technology to research a range of subjects and history relating to the Albury region’s social history.
Personal stories and memorabilia, which can be used to illustrate Albury’s development, are being sought by museum and library staff who are keen to ensure the City’s social history is as complete as possible.
“Obviously we need to develop a strong trust with the community, especially where we are entrusted with memorabilia – there are some fabulous items in our community and we would dearly love to see them appreciated and shared by the whole community,” Lesley Atkinson said.
The new complex will be built to national museum and library standards, ensuring that the security and environmental conditions in the building are of a quality which allows AlburyCity to show the ‘blockbuster’ type exhibitions seen in Sydney and Melbourne.
