The Real Melbourne Arts Precinct

The Victorian Arts Centre, Hamer Hall, the National Gallery of Victoria live alongside one another on St Kilda Rd in what we call the Melbourne Arts Precinct. Apart from the elegant spire, the buildings are big, unfriendly, windowless and not at all inviting, which kind of goes against what the arts should be about. The precinct should inspire people to wander in, explore, feel welcome and enthused and energized about the performances within. I read about a Melbourne director who slammed the precinct for its ugliness, its massive underground car park whereby wealthy arts patrons could roll in, glide into the red carpeted foyers and not get their hair ruffled or their winter coats dampened by Melbourne's rudely changing weather. I tend to agree but I have never counted myself amongst the Melbourne elite and that never stopped me wandering into the precinct any day or night. It's slightly stuffy, glossy, red-carpeted glamour, hushed atmosphere, twinkling lights and sparkling mirrors fired my imagination when I was a child visiting from the very unglamorous outer suburb I grew up in. Perhaps the precinct was not designed and pitched to attract patrons like me. I didn't care. I'd walk into the arts centre even when I didn't have a ticket to allow me into one of its theaters and I'd make promises to myself to return when I had the means to see this or that show. But I seemed to be alone in doing that. Inside, I found empty plush velvet seats, lonely expanses of red carpet, and a few ushers/waiting staff wandering the air-conditioned halls. It is true that the arts centre/precinct is geared towards those who can afford it's reasonably expensive shows, and pricey car park and cafe, and that it doesn't invite the wider community in.