Thanks to Charles Martin for his photo of the Fitters' Workshop in its unreconstructed glory[Open email to] Chief, Minister, ACT - Mr Stanhope (Katy Gallagher)
Your time as Chief Minister has been significant, long and successful, and you are renowned and respected as a supporter of the arts. Especially here in intelligent Canberra, this is an enviable reputation and one that will survive. Our future will have to be energy-aware and tread lightly in economics, sustainability and the like. Things will change and experiences will be important and I expect the arts will be central for that time. The Fitters’ Workshop would be a siren call as a unique experience. For this reason, I wish to make a final plea for retaining the Printer’s Workshop as a musical facility. It’s a rare facility of superior acoustic qualities. It’s just the sort of thing that Canberra arts can be proud of, but also the sort of thing that attracts visitors – performers and listeners. And for a modern country, it has that old-world charm that adds to the mystique. To convert this into a workhouse, however valuable the purpose (and that I don’t doubt) is a sad outcome, but it’s also removing a potential place on a visitors’ map, a place people will come to experience. Excellence is fleeting and hard to replace. Acoustics are engineerable but the perfect space is elusive. Don’t remove the Fitters’ Workshop from the national musical map in its infancy. It’s too valuable as a symbol and a place of pilgrimage in the musical scene. It’s essentially another blockbuster exhibition spread over time. And it’s not replaceable. I don’t wish to devalue Megalo, and I can accept they are not well catered for. I don’t know. But I imagine they will be well suited to a newer space, even if it costs a little more.
The loss of a gem, even at the most difficult time, is still a cost we can’t afford.
I hope you can find the way to save the Fitters’ Workshop as a concert venue. It’s a gem but also it’s an investment.
Eric
2 comments:
Hi Eric,
I think your plea to turn the Fitters Workshop into a concert venue is flawed in many ways. The acoustics aren't perfect (although they are 'interesting' for a very small range of musical performance). Even the revered Sculthorpe on ABC666 said as much, denying that he ever said the acoustics were perfect but rather they had a certain resonance that some people find appealing. The acoustic argument, I think, has turned into a bit of emporers new clothes situation
The romance of the building will equally, if not better, suit the needs of printmakers as their work directly relates to the heritage of the building, designed by JS Murdoch as a workshop.
The integrity of the building will remain intact and people will be able to enter and enjoy the building 5 days a week, every week.
The Glassworks and Megalo, working together as neighbours, will create a truly international venue of world-class standard.
Plus if you tried to play jazz in there you would be complaining about the acoustics with the first drum roll or trumpet solo! Believe me - the acoustics are shocking!
Thanks for the comment. I went to a concert there last night (admittedly I was going by reputation before) and I loved the sound. Big and full and very appealing. I'll be writing about that gig here soon. I know what you mean, though. I expect it wouldn't suit jazz or any amplified music (as Llewellyn doesn't). But it was a special classical/strings experience last night. Huge, reverberant sound; basses strong and full like I've never heard before; very involving and intimate. As for limited use as a music venue, yes that's an issue, and it would have to be heavily used to justify the investment. And although I don't know Megalo particularly well (only one exhibition and a visit when at Kingston), I love printing as a technique. I even dabbled in linocuts at one time. I guess what will be will be.
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