Landmark partnership announced – The Second Cities Producing Consortium pilots new pathway for new large-scale Australian theatre works.

Creative Australia has announced the next wave of Creative Futures Fund investments, including a grant for The Second Cities Producing Consortium to deliver the first two years of a proposed four-year pilot, with a $280,000 investment in year one.

Four Australian ‘second city’ performing arts organisations have formed a landmark partnership to co-invest in seeding, developing and staging new large-scale Australian theatre productions. Together, the Consortium will create a new national pathway for ambitious Australian theatre works to be developed with audiences in mind from the outset, connecting artists, producing partners and major regional venues across multiple states and territories.

The Second Cities Producing Consortium members, each the cultural heart of their region, have a collective audience of 1.2 million annually:

· Geelong Arts Centre (VIC); Australia’s largest dedicated regional performing arts complex;

· Wollongong’s Merrigong Theatre Company (NSW), Australia’s largest and most prolific regional theatre company;

· HOTA, Home of the Arts (QLD), the Gold Coast’s landmark cultural precinct;

· Canberra Theatre Centre (ACT), the performing arts centre of the national capital.

Working with a range of producing partners and other key venues across the country, the Consortium will shape the major works made for Australia from development through to presentation. Audiences will sit at the centre of the model, building a sustainable pathway for ambitious work to reach communities right across the nation.

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