Thursday, 12 May 2022

Go West Festivals Fund

Mr PEARSON (Essendon—Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Regulatory Reform, Minister for Government Services, Minister for Creative Industries) (09:59:229:): I rise to celebrate the Victorian state budget news that the best is coming to the west with the announcement of a $2.4 million Go West Festivals Fund, coming soon to a western suburb near you. Along with my western suburbs colleagues in Niddrie, Footscray, St Albans, Koroit, Sydenham, Werribee, Altona, Tarneit and Williamstown, I am delighted that with the support of this fund Melbourne’s west will host signature events, including the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Rising and the Melbourne Fringe. We are encouraging and supporting these major events to stage shows and commission exciting new works in the heart of Melbourne’s west.

We know the west is a powerhouse of diversity and creativity, full of people, places and communities buzzing with life and ideas. The Go West Festivals Fund, combined with an $8.7 million investment in the Footscray Community Arts Centre precinct, which I know the member for Footscray is thrilled about, as well as funding for planning for a new performing arts centre in Tarneit, which the member for Tarneit is also thrilled about, sees our beloved west on the road to an exciting creative future.

We on this side of the house are committed to harnessing and showcasing the incredible local talent and culture of the west. Our creative state has a multibillion-dollar creative economy. The creative economy seeks arts and cultural destinations big and small to create jobs, share talent and ideas and deliver the experiences that Victorians truly love. I am thrilled that the Go West Festivals Fund and the Andrews Labor government will support the mighty west to play its part in the creative state.