Hall on road to fame- Healesville resident and advocate for local arts Nan Francis with (from

By Kath Gannaway
IT WAS lights, camera, action when Arts Minister Peter Batchelor opened his cheque book at Healesville on Friday.
The minister announced a $650,000 grant towards the Healesville Memorial Hall redevelopment project.
The funding from the State Government’s Arts in the Suburbs program will be used towards the cost of fitting out the new theatre space and comes on top of $2.5million announced last year as part of the Federal Government’s Community Infrastructure program and $3.75million from Yarra Ranges Council.
The latest draft design plans for the redevelopment will be presented at a meeting in Healesville tomorrow night (Wednesday) and the injection of a further $650,000 will boost the project’s ability to deliver a well-resourced cultural precinct.
Greg Box, Yarra Ranges manager Arts, Culture and Heritage, said the additional money would go towards the technical fit out including such things as lighting and catwalks.
“It will provide the sort of things that will turn this space into a proper presentation space,” he said.
Mr Batchelor said local arts facilities played an integral role in the life of a community in both a cultural and community sense.
“They provide a space for people of all walks of life to come together and they often give people their first taste of the arts,” he said.
He said the Memorial Hall was used regularly for community and other meetings and had been an integral part of the recovery process after the 2009 bushfires highlighting the importance of a development, which is flexible to meet the varying uses.
Seymour MP Ben Hardman said the redevelopment would significantly increase the quality and range of programming the hall could offer in the future.