From left, Casey mayor Kevin Bradford, Bud Tingwell and River Gum Ward councillor Wayne Smith at the official opening last Saturday of The Factory in Cranbourne.COMMUNITY input was a critical element in design and development of Casey’s new performing arts rehearsal centre, The Factory.
Casey mayor Kevin Bradford said consultation was done through survey forms and a project steering committee chaired by River Gum Ward councillor Wayne Smith.
Noted actor Charles (Bud) Tingwell joined Cr Bradford to officially open the facility last Saturday.
Mr Tingwell said it was a terrific honour for him to be at the opening and said that once commercial producers became aware of the centre they would be after it.
He spoke of the difficulty that even commercial performing artists had in finding rehearsal space.
“We’ve even used private homes. This is a fantastic complex. People forget about the rehearsal aspect of performing, yet it is the most important part of our trade,” Mr Tingwell said.
“Many of us also agree that it is the best time for us. When we produced The Castle we had to keep the filming time short because of budget constraints. The only way we could do that was to spend more time rehearsing.
“The problem we had was finding somewhere to rehearse. Even the ABC at times has trouble finding a place for rehearsals; we’ve even used the board room. This centre is so good that you could find the commercial companies asking to use it. But hang on to it.
“Congratulations to the people who put this together. It is wonderful to see this large area set aside just for rehearsals. Hang on to your new performing arts rehearsal centre at Cranbourne.”
Preforming arts representative on The Factory rehearsal centre at Cranbourne, Susan Bergman, warmly thanked Casey Council for building the centre.
Performing arts representative on the steering committee Susan Bergman said she was a member of the BATS theatre group that could not find a place to build its sets.
“We once had a member building sets at home and her mother became quite unhappy about having theatre sets in her lounge room.
“Then a redundant school became available and we asked for that only to see our request go on the backburner.
“Finally councillors Smith, Morland, and Mantel found us somewhere, but we then raised the issue of other groups and finally came up with the idea of building a rehearsal centre.
“This is a fabulously designed building and I thank the councillors and council officers for what they have provided,” she said.
Cr Bradford said the building confirmed the council’s support for the arts and said $2.3 million had been allocated for the centre to accommodate the area’s vibrant performing arts community.
He said The Factory was an Australian first because it provided dedicated space for groups to prepare productions.
“Yvonne van der Horst suggested the official name from as her entry in a competition held last year.
“The name reflects a place in which people manufacture or create a product and also that this was the former site of the Serry-New Holland factory.
“The factory offers three large rehearsal rooms and four practice rooms, all with sprung timber flooring, suitable for dance, music and theatre rehearsals.
“It also has a workshop for set construction,” he said.
