{"id":102547,"date":"2025-07-13T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?p=102547"},"modified":"2025-07-09T17:37:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T07:37:29","slug":"from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-42\/","title":{"rendered":"From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE pursuit of financial patronage for the purchase of the Ballarat Neil Street performing arts complex (BPAC) is a challenge which has hampered all creative disciplines in more recent years. While all levels of government enthusiastically fund sporting facilities, they are more diffident when it comes to the arts. The support is deemed less significant. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The BPAC Neil Street project requires $2-million in funding. It is a unique, significant venture. There is no comparable performance space in Australia. The Ballarat City Council\u2019s reticence to a supporting financial commitment is profoundly disappointing and implies an absence of project appreciation. Funding distribution remains problematic. Governments are more disposed to financing a new sports stadium than a new theatre.<\/p>\n

In the same way a panel allocating money for a sporting facility should be well represented by those who have performed at an \u00e9lite level, art funding allocation should include qualified, professional practitioners whose expertise, lived-experience, and advice, should be revered, and heeded. Too often, public servants empowered to make funding decision are not necessarily professional experts across the diverse disciplines. An abiding passion and regular attendances at opening nights does not phantasmagorically implant an infallible knowledge; nor does it, necessarily, qualify someone to make a rigorous judgement. At best, they would be designated professional amateurs. Owning a smart-television and being capable of successfully changing channels does not mean you are in show business; nor does it make you a creative specialist.<\/p>\n

The ancient Olympic Games date to 776 BC. Thespis, arguably the world\u2019s first actor, dates to Greece around 580-520 BC. Sport and art are equally important. One builds the body, the other feeds the soul. It is a fallacy for anyone to say they are not interested in the arts. If ever you have watched a film, read a book, taken a photograph, recited a poem, performed karaoke, told a joke (it takes comedy timing to get the laugh), or enjoyed the Rocky or James Bond film franchises, you have been touched by the arts! It is all encompassing; an innate part of our psyche. Writers provide a journey: they record the present; recreate the past; and imagine the future. Good actors are as good as the words they are given to say. Stallone\u2019s film scripts are exceptional; consequently, the films will survive for all time.<\/p>\n

The performing and visual arts are a serious business. Psychologists are able to tell more about the state of a child\u2019s mind from fingerpainting than from the way they handle a cricket bat or kick a football! Classical music has been known to pacify anxious, long-term, prisoners.<\/p>\n

The various art forms are a multi-billion-dollar industry. Funding parity is imperative. Local community theatre companies deserve support; regrettably, too often taxpayers\u2019 funding is expended on indulgent projects which do not warrant support. Available grants should be distributed on artistic merit. Regional and country Victoria has fostered some fine talent. In sporting parlance \u2014 Ballarat and Bendigo have punched above their weight \u2014 and continue so to do. It is incumbent on governments to encourage equally the aspirations of those intent on pursuing a career in sport, or the performing and visual arts.<\/p>\n

BPAC is a rare opportunity to create a legacy. It would be lamentable if the Ballarat project failed from want of funding \u2014 or a lack of interest.<\/p>\n

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald radio 3BA \u2014 Monday 10.40am. Contact: roland@rolandroc.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE pursuit of financial patronage for the purchase of the Ballarat Neil Street performing arts complex (BPAC) is a challenge which has hampered all creative disciplines in more recent years. While all levels of government enthusiastically fund sporting facilities, they are more diffident when it comes to the arts. The support is deemed less significant. […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":102548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-102547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ballarat performing arts advocate Roland Rocchiccioli urges funding for BPAC, highlighting its unique value and urgent need for support.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-42\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli - 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