For decades, the Albury Entertainment Centre’s theatre wing has been at the cultural heart of the city.
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Countless professional and amateur productions, along with school musicals and year-after-year of university graduations, have highlighted the importance of the asset to the Albury and wider community.
And its prime location standing tall at the northern end of QEII Square adds to the story.
But, as the council knows only too well, with that comes the need to constantly keep the building in great shape.
Everything bricks and mortar will gradually deteriorate over time. Maintenance of any physical asset is an ongoing, never-ending process.
And interspersed with that is the need to undertake more substantial works.
In recent times that has resulted in a $200,000 upgrade of the stage area, while the installation of new air conditioning and heating systems is still on the way.
While that sounds like a lot of money, all you need to do is take a quick look at the scale of the building – and especially the space inside the auditorium – to appreciate that anything far less couldn’t do the job.
The consequence of not doing so, which of course would never be on the cards, is that people would choose to stay away.
Given the region’s strong commitment to the arts in so many of its forms, the building has to be kept to a high standard that will allow it to continue to attract the best touring shows going around.
It is the same thinking that applies to the ongoing considerations into what needs to be done in the convention sphere of the entertainment centre.
Not so long ago it was revealed that the council had decided to spend $18.5 million on an upgrade that would create a convention wing capable of hosting almost 2000 patrons on two levels.
What’s being done at the entertainment centre is progress that has to be made, so the council should be recognised for doing just that.
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