Rural residents from Bendigo’s north will be the first beneficiaries of the Ulumbarra Foundation, as the charity seeks to make the arts more accessible for those living outside the city.
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Chairman Gordon McKern said the foundation would pay for 120 people from the Echuca area to watch homegrown pop star Isaiah Firebrace play at Ulumbarra Theatre on August 6.
The Eurovision contestant and The X Factor victor was raised in the riverside town.
Tickets for the event were priced between $55 and $90, a cost Mr McKern said many were unable to afford.
Indigenous people, elderly residents and those living with a disability were among those for whom the price of admission made arts attendance difficult, he said.
The Ulumbarra Foundation announcement comes after an Australian Council for the Arts survey found cost and an air of elitism were still factors deterring regional Victorians from accessing the arts.
Two in every five regional Victorians said cost was deterrent from going to a live performance, while more than half felt there was special knowledge needed to unlock art’s meaning.
Mr McKern, who is also chair of the Bendigo Art Gallery board, said it was important opportunities to engage with art were extended into the public realm.
He pointed to the Forever Marilyn and House of Mirrors sculptures in Rosalind Park as initiatives that successfully broadened the appeal and availability of artwork in Bendigo.
“Then they don’t have to spend any money and don’t have to feel it is elitist,” Mr McKern said.
As well as reaching out to new audiences, a second tenant of the foundation – to support arts students and practitioners – could soon see young people or budding performers offered professional workshops.
Students’ tuition could also be subsidised, Mr McKern said.
The Ulumbarra Foundation was established last year to attract philanthropic support for the performing arts in central Victoria.
Among its first fundraising initiatives was the Founding 50 program, which sought a $2,000 donation from 50 people or businesses in Bendigo.
“There is certainly a number of people in our community that do have money and who support the arts because they can see the importance of it,” Mr McKern said.
Mark Kearney
Journalist. Traveller. Pop culture connoisseur. Mark is passionate about education, the arts and social justice, especially stories affecting the LGBTI community.
Journalist. Traveller. Pop culture connoisseur. Mark is passionate about education, the arts and social justice, especially stories affecting the LGBTI community.
