Arts Centre Melbourne expands public tours of its Australian Performing Arts Collection Store

Arts Centre Melbourne is expanding tours of the Australian Performing Arts Collection Store, continuing public access and insights into the largest performing arts collection in Australia.

The Australian Performing Arts Collection (APAC), established in 1975, consists of more than 850,000 items with items collected across the five key areas of circus, dance, music, opera, and theatre.

A curated range of items from the collection will be on display for visitors with guided tours running on weekends from 7th to 21st January at the Collections store at Hamer Hall.

Further tours will be made available on Sundays from 28th January, with more to be released based on demand, with Arts Centre Melbourne Director - Collections and Exhibitions, Sandra Bruce advising “being able to offer these behind-the-scenes experiences means a lot to us, as we take pride in the Collection and our role in its care and interpretation.

“The launch of public tours has provided a wonderful forum for us to engage with people who are just as passionate about performing arts culture as we are. It’s a unique experience hidden in the heart of Melbourne, and we are excited to open the doors again in 2024.”

The Collections Store is an operational space dedicated to the development, management, preservation and sharing of Arts Centre Melbourne’s extraordinary cultural heritage.

On the tours, the management of cultural collections will be explored, from quarantining through to exhibiting, along with conservation and preservation techniques.

Bruce added “we’ve found that visitors are drawn to varying elements of the experience. There’s always excitement in seeing original items from the Collection and learning the incredible stories behind them. For others, there is a connection to the science of conservation, with a look into the methods and use of the conservation lab,

“The tours are set at small numbers by necessity, but this does result in an intimate setting perfect for visitors to fully immerse themselves in the history of performing arts in Australia.”

As part of the weekend tours, members of the public are given the unique opportunity to see an extraordinary range of items from the Collection such as Kylie Minogue’s gold lamé hot pants and Museum dress, pointe shoes worn by Australia’s best ballet dancers and set models designed for the Australian stage musical Priscilla, Queen of The Desert.

Tour participants hear fascinating stories about the objects and learn about the specialists, processes and techniques to be discovered behind the scenes.

The tours showcase the recent upgrade and expansion of the Collections Store, designed by Williams Ross Architects, and featuring new workspaces, including a conservation lab to preserve objects onsite and a dedicated photographic studio to continue digitisation of the collection.

The renovation was funded by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and philanthropists Virginia and Harry Boon, The Estate of Maxwell and Merle Carroll and The Estate of Suzette Marie Chapple.

Image credit Arts Centre Melbourne.