Victorian Government Commits Funding to Arts Centre Melbourne

Arts Centre Melbourne welcomes the Victorian Government's commitment to substantially increased recurrent funding of $5 million a year for two years plus an additional significant amount for major capital works which will be announced in Tuesday's budget.

"This increase is warmly welcomed by the Trust and the whole Arts Centre Melbourne community" said Tom Harley, president of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust.

"This increased support will enable Arts Centre Melbourne to continue to work with our resident companies, hirers and artists of many genres to deliver a high quality, year-round program for the Victorian community," he said.

"It is a clear sign that the Government regards the arts and arts infrastructure as central to our quality of life. These decisions of Government go a long way towards maintaining this architectural treasure, enabling high quality services to be provided to our States performing arts industry and allowing essential planning for the future."

"We are a major resource for the performing arts in Victoria. We serve hundreds of performing companies and groups, thousands of artists and millions of community members who participate in what is created on this site."

"Over the past 12 months ACM has restructured its internal operations and revitalised its relationships with the artists and companies it works with. We have also expanded our community engagement to reach new audiences with outstanding programs like Play Me I'm Yours and well attended family school holiday programs. Our new programming approach of cross subsidising high quality events with improved box office returns has resulted in sell out performances such as Ludovico Einaudi and innovative new works by independent artists like KAGE's Forklift. Looking to the future, our renewed relationships with artists and companies is resulting in a pipeline of new events for Melbourne, including some major international attractions."

"We are confident that we will post a very significant financial turnaround by year end. We thank the Government for recognising our efforts and we are committed to maintaining constant improvement in all areas of operation for the benefit our artistic partners and our shared audiences."

Arts Centre Melbourne is a not-for-profit organisation which receives operational funding from the Victorian Government and relies on its own commercial activities and the support of generous individuals to reach deeply into the community. Last financial year Arts Centre Melbourne staged more than 3,600 performances and public events, engaging with more than 3.2 million people. It delivers Australia's largest performing arts participation program, with over 150,000 children, young people and their families taking part each year, with a further 55,000 students and teachers participating in its annual education program.

For more infomration on Arts Centre Melbourne, visit www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/.

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