Following the cancellation of all scheduled performances and events and closure of its buildings to the public back in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, Geelong Arts Centre is finally able to announce their partial re-opening, commencing July 13 2020.
The refurbished Ryrie Street building will fully open to the public, offering a range of services and opportunities for the Geelong community. Come July, the region will see the reopening of three rehearsal and performance studio spaces, perfectly suited to all forms of the arts along with the capacity for fully catered corporate events, conferences and meeting spaces; the purpose-built multi-purpose studio, ideal for performance, fully catered corporate events, conferences, meeting spaces and rehearsals; and the Creative Engine co-working space which provides an incredible opportunity to connect with like-minded creative practitioners from diverse disciplines and foster new ideas, collaborations, networking and skills-sharing opportunities.
Alongside the partial reopening, the Geelong Arts Centre will continue to bring a regular dose of performances, behind the scenes moments and creative activities direct from their theatres to our homes with their #WhereCreativityMeetsAtHome initiative – a rich online experience that has spawned from the Centre adapting to life during shutdowns.
The centre will also be introducing a new live stream service for hirers and community groups who wish to create their own livestream events – providing the space, technology and expertise to do so.
“Our re-opening plan follows the Victorian Government’s directions on the gradual easing of coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions, which are subject to ongoing review,” says Geelong Arts Centre CEO Joel McGuinness. “We are putting a range of health, hygiene and physical distancing measure in place, in line with government guidelines, to ensure the safety of our visitors and staff. We also encourage all visitors to use the Australian Government’s COVID Safe app.
“We can’t wait to welcome you back to Geelong Arts Centre and see our beautiful new spaces brought back to life.”
Looking ahead, we have the Geelong Arts Centre’s Summer Season to look forward to which will see a curated collection of exciting performances, cabaret, talks and collaborations with our local artistic community. This will truly be the time to celebrate Geelong’s love of theatre and performance all together again.
The next phase of the Geelong Arts Centre’s redevelopment is also set to commence in 2020. The redevelopment will completely transform the existing Little Malop Street building, providing a 500-seat, 250-seat, and black box theatre, an outdoor atrium, more dining options, an upgraded box office and refurbished back-of-house and administration facilities.
Keep up to date with the latest via the Geelong Arts Centre website.
