• Footscray, Yarraville, Braybrook Star

By Luke D’Anello

13th July 2010 11:06:15 AM

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Cash boost … The Dog Theatre’s artistic director Peta Hanrahan. 49828 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI

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ART in the West is poised to grow after Footscray’s Dog Theatre last week received funding under the State Government’s Arts Development program.

In a step Dog Theatre’s artistic director Peta Hanrahan labelled “significant”, Minister for the Arts Peter Batchelor and local member for Footscray Marsha Thomson were on hand for Tuesday’s announcement.

The funding of $25,000 will support artists working at the Dog Theatre for the next 12 months, including those in the fields of music and visual arts.

“It’s quite a significant amount of money from Arts Victoria,” Ms Hanrahan said.

“It is an acknowledgement from the state and the arts funding body that the west has become a very significant contributor and player inside the arts world in Victoria.

“What we have here is the first independent theatre in the western suburbs.

“The whole building is dedicated to the arts, which is actually a main player in the theatre scene in Australia – not just Melbourne.”

The announcement also had an unexpected local connection. Instead of taking place at the Arts Centre in Southbank, as is usually the case, it was staged at the Dog Theatre.

“The significance of Arts Victoria turning up was that not only have we received funding to help the structure of the organisation, but we are actually now financially supported to do our jobs,” Ms Hanrahan said.

“It also sends out a call to everyone, all the artists in Melbourne, that the West is actually incredibly artistically vibrant – both geographically and demographically.

“We’re not just bringing art into the West. We’re actually picking up what is in the West and giving it a forum and a stage.”

Ms Hanrahan said the Dog Theatre welcomed artists from across the state.

“It’s not about art coming into the West, isolated. It’s about the West actually having a lot of art here with a stage to play on. It’s the first time we’ve had that.”

The grant follows the success of the Dog Theatre last year, when it won the Best Venue at the Melbourne Fringe Festival Awards and the Best New Venue at the Green Room Awards.

“The fact we have won two major awards in the theatre industry is incredibly significant in that no other venue has won those awards so quickly.

“The City of Maribyrnong is becoming an arts precinct. The whole building is, in fact, an arts hub.”

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