By Adam Carey
The arts workers’ union and two candidates in the upcoming City of Melbourne elections have blasted Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s plan to sell off the Regent Theatre, arguing the historic building should stay in public hands.
Lord mayoral candidate Arron Wood said Reece’s sale proposal was shocking and risked jeopardising the theatre’s status as one of Melbourne’s most renowned live performance venues.
Up for sale? The Regent Theatre. Credit: Simon Schluter
On Sunday, The Age revealed Reece’s election pledge to sell the 95-year-old theatre, which has an estimated value of $40 million to $50 million, and use the proceeds to fund a new White Night-style arts festival and supporting the arts, including creating new artists’ residencies.
The City of Melbourne owns 51 per cent of the Regent and the state government owns the rest.
Reece said he was confident the heritage-listed theatre would remain a performing arts venue after it was sold.
But Wood said: “The only way you guarantee that it remains a theatre is to continue to own it with the state government and ensure that is what it remains.”
Wood said that if he were elected lord mayor, arts funding would come from the council’s operating budget, which would be strengthened by his promise to abandon completion of the $316 million Greenline project, a four-kilometre linear park along the north bank of the Yarra River.
Lord mayoral candidate Arron Wood, and his running mate for the deputy’s position, Erin Deering, outside the Regent Theatre on Sunday.Credit: Chris Hopkins
“Tying funding of important arts programs to selling one of the most important live performing arts venues in Australia would be a bitter pill to swallow,” he said. “We should absolutely be funding those arts programs, but that shouldn’t be beholden to selling off this amazing theatre.”
Lord mayoral candidate Jamal Hakim and his deputy, Esther Anatolitis, also expressed opposition to a sale, warning it would send the wrong message.
“Selling a council stake in a prime cultural venue like the Regent is a retrograde step. Across the world, councils are investing in the arts, not selling them off. We need to stop artists leaving the city, not drive them away by dismantling our creative infrastructure,” Anatolitis said.
Any sale of the theatre would be conditional on the state agreeing to also sell its stake. The Victorian government said it currently had no plans to sell its share.
The union representing arts workers, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, also criticised Reece’s proposal.
“While the lord mayor has assured MEAA that the Regent would remain as a theatre under any new owner and that 100 per cent of sale proceeds would be delivered to local creative workers and businesses, we believe that when governments look to support the creative sector, it should not be by selling off valued community assets like the Regent Theatre,” the union said.
Reece said on Sunday: “The Regent is one of Australia’s most beloved theatres and it’ll stay that way. Of course we’ll make it a condition of sale that anyone who wants to buy the city’s share has to agree to continue operating it as a theatre, forever.”
Council elections will be held in October.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.