The Frankston Arts Centre is a landmark

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

in the outer

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

suburb of Frankston in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The centre plays host to a number of major performances, including regular shows by the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on f ...

and

Victorian Opera Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 by the Victorian Government as a replacement for the Victoria State Opera. It commenced operations in January 2006 with Richard Gill as ...

, and is a tour venue for the Australian Opera,

Bell Shakespeare Company Bell Shakespeare is an Australian theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare, his contemporaries and other classics. It is based in Sydney. The Bell Shakespeare vision is to create theatre that allows audiences of all wal ...

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...

Sydney Dance Company Sydney Dance Company is a contemporary dance company in Australia. The company has performed on stages around the world, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Joyce Theater in New York, the Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, and the ...

as well as a number of other national production companies.Frankston Arts Centre - What's On
/ref> It was opened by then

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...

, The Hon.

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...

, on 20 May 1995.

Facilities

Centre

The Centre houses 800 seat

, boasting the second largest

proscenium A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...

arch stage in Victoria, a 60-line

fly tower A fly system, or theatrical rigging system, is a system of rope lines, blocks (pulleys), counterweights and related devices within a theater (structure), theater that enables a stage crew to fly (hoist) quickly, quietly and safely components suc ...

and state of the art technical and staging equipment. It also houses a function centre which can seat up to 500, and which plays host to a range of events - including corporate and community expos, seminars, gala dinners, and awards ceremonies. The function centre comprises two rooms (which can be opened up to form one large room) which have expansive views across

Port Phillip Port Phillip (Kulin languages, Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped bay#Types, enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, ...

Cube37

Cube37 is the centre's "creative space", and has a large adaptable performance studio with flexible seating for up to 200 people. It also houses a wet studio, meeting rooms, media suites and two exhibition galleries. It is located next to the centre and was opened by then

, The Hon.

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

, on 30 March 2001, as part of the celebrations for the centenary of the

federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...

. Cube37 also hosts a

new media art New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of new media, electronic media technology, technologies, comprising virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video g ...

program which is displayed throughout the year in its Glass Studio (a large glass-fronted exhibition space with street frontage). Cube37 also provides much of the centre's community access programs with workshops, exhibitions and youth arts projects running throughout the year.

References

External links

Frankston Arts Centre homepage
{{Authority control Arts centres in Australia Performing arts centres in Australia Concert halls in Australia Event venues established in 1995 Music venues in Melbourne Theatres completed in 1995 Entertainment venues in Victoria (Australia) Frankston, Victoria Arts in Melbourne Buildings and structures in the City of Frankston