By AIDAN KNIGHT
LATROBE City Council has endorsed a range of changes to it’s creative fees and charges.
The changes aim to make hiring spaces (such as town halls and arts centres) more flexible and fairer for those seeking to use them.
Changes were formally outlined at the Monday, June 30 meeting of Latrobe City Council, held at Kernot Hall.
Items outlined included the Rehearsal Rate of $75 per hour and an education rate set at 10 per cent less than the community rate.
Yallourn Ward Councillor, Steph Morgan, a prolific supporter of the arts, moved the motion before having it seconded by Newborough Ward Councillor, Sharon Gibson.
Cr Morgan told the meeting she was a fan of the changes being put in place to reflect “the purpose of an event rather than the organisation behind it”.
Cr Gibson was pleased the “automatic dark day” charges had been removed in the policy.
This refers to when a venue is booked but not in use between events, whether that be for setup, pack-up, or performer rest days, which means council will no longer automatically bill hirers for non-use days between bookings.
Instead, charges for those days will now be based on actual demand or use, making the booking process more flexible and cost-effective, particularly for community groups and smaller organisations.
Cr Gibson also noted that adjusting the ticket fee to be a flat five per cent of the total ticket income was a good idea.
Cr Morgan spoke to the Express outside the meeting to give her thoughts on the policy.
“It’s a win-win for everyone,” she said.
“It’s ensuring that venues are affordable and accessible, and that we’re (council) delivering on the vision of infrastructure like Traralgon’s Gippsland Performing Arts Centre (GPAC), from which it was originally built to fulfil”.
Cr Morgan also emphasised the importance of the dark day changes, stating “it means that our community theatre groups, especially, who are doing say a two-week run of volunteer-led shows, people who are giving up their time to put on high calibre shows for free for the community, aren’t disenfranchised or discouraged from using council facilities”.
For Cr Morgan, it’s not about championing the local arts sector above bigger shows visiting Latrobe City from elsewhere, but about providing a “level playing field”, and one that will be welcome by all areas of the arts at a community level.
“I’m particularly proud of our eisteddfods that take place in Latrobe Valley, which is such a highly regarded event that it attracts performers and audiences from quite far away, which is always something that is amazing for a regional area,” she said.
“This updated policy is something that will have a minimal impact on council in the short-term, but in the long-term, will bring more and more acts and organisations to perform at Latrobe City venues, which will be an economic benefit for everyone.
“Reducing and reclassifying of the charges appears to be of net benefit for the Latrobe City Council and community equally, indicative of the succinct discussion and unanimous passing of the motion within the June meeting.”
Cr Morgan believes changes to the education rate in the policy will encourage dance schools and school productions to return to hiring venues like GPAC, as they “should be able to”, after noticing a trend that these institutions had started declining to do so after finding it unaffordable under previously enforced commercial rates.
“It’s incredibly important that local performers have access to venues like this,” she said.
The policy extends further than GPAC, to all council-run venues within Latrobe City, such as Moe Town Hall, Morwell Town Hall Theatre, Kernot Hall and the Loy Yang Power Community Sound Shell.
