We are delighted to announce that the DA for the Victoria Theatre has been approved by the City of Newcastle.
This is a momentous milestone and provides a blueprint for the Victoria Theatre's revival and ongoing operation as a working heritage theatre for generations to come.
With the DA approved, the Victoria Theatre is now best positioned out of all the remaining NSW heritage theatres, including the Minerva (Metro) Theatre in Potts Point, the Roxy in Parramatta, the Regents in Mudgee and in Wollongong, to be returned to its original use as a place of public entertainment. With Century as theatre-beneficent owners committed to returning the Vic to full live performance use, and well placed to bring quality acts to the Victoria's stage as soon as the works are finalised, the campaign for financial support to fund the revitalisation is now all the more potent.
Ahead of all other potential NSW theatre revivals, the Victoria is a 'shovel ready' fully realisable project; the one-off, once only capital injection required is modest (in comparison to a new theatre build) and no further funding will be required. Theatres bring enormous economic flow on to surrounding businesses and the Victoria Theatre will bring people back to the city centre, it will grow new jobs and boost the Hunter’s collective live performance and tourism infrastructure.
Today we'll celebrate this win; and tomorrow, we'll escalate the campaign to seek support and investment to help bring the Victoria Theatre back to life.