Darwin Entertainment Centre manager Alan James goes in to bat for NT’s performing arts scene
THE Territory may be facing a tough time at the moment but as long as we’ve got someone like Alan James advocating for our performing arts sector, it won’t be lacking in entertainment
Northern Territory
Don't miss out on the headlines from Northern Territory. Followed categories will be added to My News.
JUST days before opening night, the office of Darwin Entertainment Centre general manager Alan James is filled with the sounds of construction.
As contractors wrap up the final stages of a massive refurbishment project, which has seen the venue shut its doors for five months, inside the theatre the last touches are being done on one of the biggest productions the NT has seen in years.
“Welcome to my life now,” Mr James jokes as a circular saw tears through plasterboard just outside of the glass office wall.
Mr James seems oddly at ease for someone currently managing both the bump-in of a full scale musical production, the first of its kind in the NT in recent memory, and the wrap up of a $7.4 million revamp of a 32-year-old performing arts complex.
But the seasoned entertainment manager is not new to taking risks.
The hit Broadway musical American Idiot announced a national tour in 2017.
However, as is often the case in self-professed ‘Australian-wide’ tours, there was one capital city left off the list.
This often doesn’t catch the eye of those down south, as they line-up to buy their tickets to all the big-name shows that frequent the major cities.
But there was one person who picked it up — someone who was willing to fight for Darwin’s spot on the national circuit and who was prepared to take the risk to make sure that Territorians didn’t miss out yet again.
Mr James put his trust in the Territory’s thirst for premium entertainment and made a concerted campaign to get the rock musical up to the Top End.
“I’ve done that with American Idiot, but I’ve done that with a range of shows,” he says.
“The Australian Chamber Orchestra is coming in June and that will be their first time in 32 years.”
Mr James had been ringing the company consistently since he started as the general manager five years ago, to remind them of their ongoing omission of the Territory in their touring circuit.
“Eventually I shamed them into it,” he jokes.
Quipps aside, the exclusion of the NT in large touring productions is evidently an issue close to the heart of this born-and-bred Territorian.
“It is really important. We are a regional capital city but a capital city nonetheless and it is important that we are on the radar and getting these shows,” he says.
“If you have to fly to Sydney or Melbourne to see these things, that’s just not right and I think we can play our part in making Darwin a liveable city.”
His perseverance and industry know-how is getting results. The proof lies in this year’s program.
“Sydney Dance Company is coming back every year now, Bell Shakespeare is coming back every year now and we have developed our school program to a point where we’re getting a great uptake,” he says.
“Coming up in the next few weeks we’ve got the likes of Jimmy Barnes, Dan Sultan and Tex Perkins doing his Man in Black show.
“The theatre is perfectly suited to all of those shows. The only complaint anyone can level at us is that we don’t have a mosh pit.
“We are now respected on the national circuit by the artists and by the performing art centres around the country.”
Mr James says there is a lot of groundwork done in getting the arts industry to look north.
“When I first started in the job I did some trips interstate and went door knocking basically to encourage shows to come here,” he says. “The common reaction I got was ‘we used to go to Darwin and we haven’t been there for ten years’. “I spent the first two years turning that around so that people actually considered Darwin as a part of the touring circuit. Now we absolutely are and you can see that from the sort of shows that are coming through.”
Born in Katherine in 1957, Mr James’ family later moved to Darwin and he attended primary school in Nightcliff.
In his twenties, he walked away from an export business and started managing local rock band The Swamp Jockeys. From there, Mr James secured a job at the NT division of the Australian Council for the Arts, which is where he really found his feet in tour management.
“I actually did the first (show) up here in the (DEC) as the tour manager for the arts council,” Mr James says.
This experience was to come in handy when a chance meeting in Yirrkala with Dr M Yunupingu put Mr James’ career in overdrive.
He became the manager of the iconic Yothu Yindi band for 25 years.
“The whole Yothu Yindi experience was a unique and one-off type of life experience that lasted for many years,” he says.
“You don’t plan that. It’s not something that comes out of a manual book or a course that you do at university.
“I met an amazing man who had a mission. I was at the right time and at the right place for him and he was for me, so we partnered up.”
Following Dr M Yunupingu’s death, Mr James’ attention later turned to the Darwin Entertainment Centre, which at that time had been facing budget losses for five years running.
“I’d come back from tours with Yothu Yindi, often the tours were in performing art centres just like this one, all through the US and Canada and Europe,” Mr James says. “I’d look at this place and think ‘somebody’s got to sort that place out one day’. Never for a minute realising it was going to have to be me.
“Various things happened. As you’d be aware, the lead singer of the band passed away almost five years ago and the position here became vacant. So I put my hand up and I got the job.
“I’ve actually really enjoyed it. It’s been really positive to increase the programming and increase the diversity of the programming.”
Under the leadership of Mr James, the Darwin Entertainment Centre has entered a new period of growth.
Although the centre may look much the same from the outside, the recent refurbishments dealt with one of the most important things for any establishment here in the Top End.
“We’ve got the best aircon in Darwin now,” says Mr James.
“The airconditioning was pretty much on its last legs. So getting council, with some assistance from the Northern Territory Government, to commit to putting in a completely new system was probably the most important thing in terms of keeping the theatre alive moving forward.
“If we haven’t got airconditioning in Darwin, particularly from December through till the end of April, it’s just not functional.”
Now that the building has been made Territory-friendly, Mr James says there will be much more to come from the entertainment hub.
“It’s such a great theatre. A lot of people don’t realise it but in terms of our back stage facilities, we’ve got better facilities, in some respects, than the Sydney Opera House,” he says.
“Moving forward, I’m trying to challenge our audiences to take risks. If you have a look at the program for this year, it is really quite challenging, a lot of people will never have heard of these artists.
“So it is a matter of getting people out of their comfort zone and getting them to come and see something that is absolutely world class.”
And Mr James does not seem to be slowing down any time soon.
“We’ve got a seat at the biggest table in the country in terms of programming,” he says.
“And we’re watching the possibility of some truly major international companies actually ideally arriving into Australia via Darwin or leaving Australia via Darwin. I think that is going to lead to some pretty exciting things in the long term.”
The centre is also finalising a five-year agreement with Darwin Council, to manage the amphitheatre at the George Brown Botanic Gardens.
“So we’ll hopefully be able to play more of a role in getting really cool bands to Darwin,” says Mr James.
“If we can actually work with council and government moving forward to find some resources we can turn that venue into the same standard that you’d find in the riverside stage in Brisbane.
“In addition to that we can provide good ticketing services, good marketing services and local advice, people might be more willing to take the risk and do concerts up here.”
The Territory may be facing a tough time at the moment, with plenty of talk around debt and budget crunches.
But as long as we’ve got someone like Mr James advocating for our performing arts sector, at least we won’t be lacking in entertainment.
A watchful eye: How Border Force is combating drug cartels in Northern Australia
As drug cartels become craftier, the challenge to protect the nation becomes more difficult. See how Border Force officers operate in the Top End at sea and on land.
East Arnhem CEO holds grave fears new Groote council will be a puppet
The CEO of East Arnhem Regional Council, which will hand over the Groote Archipelago to a newly created council later this year, fears government underfunding will lead the new body into the arms of a controversial land council.