Momentum has been building for a petition to save and renew the South Melbourne Town Hall, which has been disused and locked up for over five years.
On 12 March, an open letter signed by over 170 businesses and traders in South Melbourne, on top of an open letter signed by 700 performing artists in February, has called on the Commonwealth and State Governments to provide 25% of the funds needed to revitalise the venue and put it to good use, including a home for the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM).
ANAM was the main occupant of the Town Hall from 1996 to 2020, before the organisation had to vacate its offices following a series of serious structural failures in the building.
Now, over 50 arts and cultural organisations have added their voices to the call for funding in a further open letter addressed to both State and Federal MPs, hoping to turn the South Melbourne Town Hall into a destination cultural and community hub. Affinity Quartet, Chunky Move, Arts Access Victoria, Australian Tapestry Workshop, JOY Media, Malthouse Theatre, Linden New Art, Midsumma Festival, The Australian Ballet School and Victorian College of the Arts are just a handful of those among the signatories.
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The cost of reviving the South Melbourne Town Hall to be fit for purpose is projected to be around $100 million, with ANAM contributing $30 million, City of Port Phillip pitching in $34 million and $12.5 million from the 2019 Coalition Government. The campaign now calls on the Albanese Federal and Allan State Governments to each contribute $12.5 million over the next three years to bring the project to fruition.
ANAM Artistic Director Paavali Jumppanen says the organisation hopes to not only return to its rightful home, but also make the South Melbourne Town Hall a thriving cultural hub for generations to come.
Sophie Travers, co-Director and CEO of Australian Tapestry Workshop, says they are “hugely supportive of this scheme and hopeful that investment in the South Melbourne Town Hall will bring new energy to our precinct and attract the kind of diverse audiences that stimulate the local economy and add to the vibrancy of our neighbourhood”.
South Melbourne Town Hall opened in 1880 and is on the Victorian Heritage Register. It was last restored in 2004.
The petition now has over 5500 signatures at the time of writing.
