The much-loved St George’s Church has been reborn as the new Performing Arts Centre, St George’s. In mid April, St Michael’s was officially handed the keys to the wonderful new facility after more than 12 months of building works. With the interior complete, work began immediately on landscaping the surrounds. Every care is being taken to ensure that the surrounding gardens are attune to the heritage of the building and reflect the excellence of this outstanding performing arts space, which will benefit our students and the community.
From the outside, it appears that the Church has simply been cleaned but inside a surprise awaits. Throughout the redevelopment careful attention has been given to the many heritage features which make the Performing Arts Centre unique. The magnificent, vaulted timber ceiling, the heritage organ by renowned organ makers Lewis and Sons of London, and, of course, the beautiful stained- glass windows, crafted by leading artisans at the end of the 19th century, have been fully restored. So too, the impressive honour board acknowledging the service of members of the St George’s congregation who fought and died in the First World War. This has been relocated to the Northern entrance, along with other important military plaques, so that they are more readily accessible by family and members of the community.
And within this inspiring space, state-of-the-art facilities have been installed to ensure that our students have access to a theatre that is arguably among the best in Australia. Both the sound and lighting are of the highest quality. The next-generation sound system L-ISA is similar to that installed in the refurbished Opera House, and the Performing Arts Centre is only the second venue in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere where the system is installed. The sound and lighting will not only enhance performances but will enable our students to gain valuable production experience using the most sophisticated contemporary equipment available.
A special sprung floor has been installed to make the space suitable and safe for dance, aerobics and movement across a range of genres. Electronically controlled blackout curtains will mean the space can be configured for a variety of performances. The seating is also flexible with a main bank of raised seating for more than 200 with the additional capability to add almost 200 chairs at floor level, along with a special stand for a choir.
While our students are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to use the Performing Art Centre there is still some fine tuning to come. We expect the facility to be fully operational for the official opening which will take place on Thursday 4 May.
The opening of the St Michael’s Performing Arts Centre, St George’s, is an exciting step in a long-term plan to redevelop our campus to ensure that our students have the very best facilities to learn and flourish.
