Stephanie Lake’s Colossus (2018) was created with support from the Arts Centre Melbourne and Melbourne Fringe initiative, Take Over! Photo credit: Mark Gambino.
While cultural precincts are far from new (London’s West End theatre district was established in the early 1800s) the contemporary concept of the performing arts centre – a cluster of performance venues such as a concert hall, proscenium arch theatre and studio space, built in close proximity to one another or under the one roof, and home to a range of resident companies – are a more recent phenomenon.