Charity helping creative arts reach potential

Enriching: The Ulumbarra Foundation has helped fund schools, such as California Gully Primary School, to attend the theatre. Photo: SUPPLIED

THE Ulumbarra Foundation, Central Victoria’s only performing arts charity, is working hard to make Bendigo’s creative facilities and programs the best they can be.

The charity was launched in 2016 by the late Gordon McKern OAM as a way of attracting philanthropic donations to “benefit audiences, artists and performing arts organisations” in Bendigo.

There are five main goals, which range from contributing to capital works projects, broadening access to performing arts, supporting education, providing developmental programs and supporting growth for local organisations.

Foundation chair Carolyn Stanford said it’s important to attract external funding to help improve spaces such as the “world-class” Ulumbarra Theatre.

“We are so lucky to have that space,” she said. “It’s a wonderful venue, it’s got a fantastic stage and every performer that’s been there has loved performing there.

“But there’s still little things that are needed for the theatres. One of our goals in the capital works area is a new concert grand piano.

“It’s a quarter of a million-dollar project but the reason we set that as a wish list, an imagine target, is we’re not necessarily going to start saving for that now, but if we express our ambition that that’s needed… a philanthropist might see that and be interested.”

The foundation runs two main projects, a grants program and mentoring program.

Ms Stanford said the grants program has seen some real benefits, such as funding $2000 worth of power tools to help Bendigo Theatre Company build sets.

“It was fantastic because we gave them this money and it didn’t just go into the aether… it was that seed money where you provide something small and it grows from there, which is pretty exciting,” she said.

The mentoring program matched budding artists with industry leaders from across the state, such Bendigo-born award-winning ballerina Alice Topp.

Other “imagine” goals of the foundation include establishing a Bendigo Performing Arts Academy and Ulumbarra Youth Orchestra.

Donations can be made at ulumbarrafoundation.org.au.