Tasmania’s Burnie City Council cuts arts and tourism jobs

A decision to close its visitor centre at the once-popular Makers’ Workshop has seen the Burnie City Council shed up to 15 jobs.

In May, the Burnie City Council announced it would be changing how it delivered a number of services to the community due to its stretched finances and a need to “meet its core service delivery obligation.”

As reported by The Burnie News, the Council said it would be cutting funding to a range of services including an indefinite closure of the Burnie Regional Art Gallery and the closure of the Visitor Information Centre and Creative Paper at the Makers’ Workshop.

The workshop, which opened in 2009, was popular with visiting cruise ship passengers and home to a consortium of over 20 local artisans who demonstrated their skills to visitors.

Makers' Workshop has also announced its cafe and retail area were no longer viable and would also close.

The building itself, which is now leased to UTAS, will remain open.

The Council’s financial review also flagged the pause on construction of a planned indoor sports stadium and the withdrawal from the joint authority, Cradle Coast Authority.

Burnie City Council said the museum, art gallery and makers’ workshop cost $1.6 million per annum to operate and cutting them would help with its deficit.

The Council has also halted plans to build a $18 million new North West Museum and Art Gallery, originally planned to be “the premier destination in Tasmania’s extraordinary North-West to be inspired and delighted, to think, study and research, to connect and create through an enriching program of culture and creativity."

Instead, it will spend $5 million in Federal Government funds updating its 30-year-old arts and function centre.