Theatre company thrown a regional lifeline

The loss of Australia Council funding forced a major re-think for Arena Theatre Company, resulting in their newly announced relocation to a regional centre.

A scene from Arena’s recent production Trapper. Image credit: John Fish.

Established in 1966, Arena Theatre Company is one of Australia’s longest-running producers of theatre for young people. That history almost ground to a halt last year when Arena lost its Australia Council organisational funding on the arts sector’s ‘Black Friday’.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts