Creative Australia has announced the next wave of Creative Futures Fund investments, including a grant for The Second Cities Producing Consortium to deliver the first two years of a proposed four-year pilot, with a $280,000 investment in year one.
Four Australian ‘second city’ performing arts organisations have formed a landmark partnership to co-invest in seeding, developing and staging new large-scale Australian theatre productions.
Together, the Consortium will create a new national pathway for ambitious Australian theatre works to be developed with audiences in mind from the outset, connecting artists, producing partners and major regional venues across multiple states and territories.
The Second Cities Producing Consortium members, each the cultural heart of their region, have a collective audience of 1.2 million annually:
Canberra Theatre Centre (ACT) – the performing arts centre of the national capital.
Geelong Arts Centre (VIC) – Australia’s largest dedicated regional performing arts complex.
Merrigong Theatre Company (Wollongong NSW) – Australia’s largest and most prolific regional theatre company.
HOTA, Home of the Arts (QLD) – the Gold Coast’s landmark cultural precinct.
Working with a range of producing partners and other key venues across the country, the Consortium will shape the major works made for Australia from development through to presentation. Audiences will sit at the centre of the model, building a sustainable pathway for ambitious work to reach communities right across the nation.
The Consortium will deliver a new model of formalised collaboration across state borders, bringing regional arts organisations together to respond to shared challenges, pool insights and resources, and build the resilience of the sector.
By working collectively, the partners will create greater opportunities for artists and touring production companies, expand audience access to ambitious Australian work, and build stronger national advocacy and influence for Australia’s second cities.
The Second Cities Producing Consortium Pilot Project is funded through strategic investment from Creative Australia. Individually, its members are backed by funding from the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, the NSW Government through Create NSW, City of Wollongong, City of Gold Coast, the QLD Government through Arts Queensland; and the ACT Government.
“The Second Cities Producing Consortium creates an ambitious new pathway for Australian stories to be developed, produced and shared beyond the traditional capital-city circuit, recognising the importance of Australia’s vibrant regional cities and the audiences they serve,” said Canberra Theatre Centre Executive Director, Georgia Hendy.
“Canberra Theatre Centre is proud to be part of this landmark collaboration, reinforcing our role as a leading arts hub for the nation’s capital and surrounding region. Together, we can strengthen cultural and economic connections between our cities and help ensure more people can experience world-class Australian theatre closer to home,” said Hendy.
“This Consortium brings together the strength, ambition and creative energy of Australia’s second cities. Too often the conversation is dominated by our capital cities, but some of the country’s most exciting artistic work, fastest-growing communities and boldest ideas are coming from regional centres like Geelong and our partner cities across the nation,” said Geelong Arts Centre CEO and Creative Director, Rhys Holden.
“The Second Cities Producing Consortium pilot comes after years of discussion in the sector about developing new and better models for creating Australian theatre works that connect with and build audiences across the nation, and most especially in the burgeoning regional population centres we now refer to as Australia’s ‘second cities’,” said Merrigong Theatre Company Artistic Director / CEO, Simon Hinton.
“We look forward to bringing these newly commissioned productions to our growing audiences on the Gold Coast, while helping showcase the extraordinary creativity and talent that defines our state. As one of Australia’s fastest-growing cities, we have an exciting opportunity to connect our community with bold new stories and play an important role in shaping the future of Australian theatre,” said Head of Arts and Culture, Experience Gold Coast – HOTA Home of the Arts, John Kotzas AM.
About the Pilot (2027-2030) After many years of informally collaborating around programming and touring of works of scale, the four key second cities are now forming this Consortium in order to better guarantee the supply of such works, and ensure the continued growth of audiences in our respective markets.
This pilot has the potential to significantly impact wider sector sustainability, grow regional and remote audiences (beyond immediate audience catchments), and generally improve industry practices around the making and touring of larger scale work around Australia.
The Second Cities Producing Consortium addresses this opportunity by establishing a coordinated, audience-led producing and presentation model. With a combined catchment of 2.6 million people and more than 1.2 million annual attendances, these venues already demonstrate strong demand, particularly from regional and remote audiences, for high-quality work typically only available in capital cities.
Due to rising costs and fragmented touring models Creative Australia’s investment is critical to support this audience-focused sector sustainability strategy. Second Cities Producing Consortium pilot initiatives will be announced in the coming year.
Images: Geelong Arts Centre – photo by Peter Foster | Render of Canberra’s new lyric theatre (east entrance from Knowles Place) – courtesy of Infrastructure Canberra | Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong | HOTA – Home of the Arts, Gold Coast (supplied)