Laycock Street Theatre now a business, not a community asset

And it would seem that cultural groups are to be expected to pay. After all, they may be easier targets to sporting groups.

Gosford Council has hit the Central Coast Eisteddfod Committee with a bill for over $28,000 for the use of Laycock Street Theatre to run the annual Eisteddfod – a community cultural event – for the past thirty-four years. Having never negotiated a rental and knowing that the Committee was having trouble covering basic costs Council offered to “sort it out somehow” and then two years ago said that the amount of over $28,000 had to be paid.

With no suitable venues on the Central Coast in which to hold an eisteddfod – apart from Laycock Street Theatre – this year’s event was not able to be held over its usual months of May to September. Central Coast Eisteddfod Secretary, Sonia Lawson said that after thirty-three years the five thousand performers who previously entered the Eisteddfod were let down badly. They include solo artists, groups of instrumentalists, singers, dancers, school choirs, bands and others.

A number of well-known performers have had their start in this Eisteddfod over the years, such artists as singer Natalie Imbruglia; dancer Joshua Horner, who plays the lead in Billy Elliot The Musical; dancer and singer, the late Belinda Emmett; Amy Campbell, who placed second in the 2009 season of Network Ten’s So You Think You Can Dance; Ben McKenzie, contestant on season 5 of Network Ten’s Australian Idol; up-and-coming international opera singer, Lucy Baille; and the list goes on. Others are now teachers of their art or work in the entertainment/music industry.

For this year not be completely cancelled, the Eisteddfod Committee is planning to hold a smaller form of the Eisteddfod in October/November if a suitable venue can be found for piano, singing, school choirs, orchestras and a few other sections.“Gosford Council has made Laycock Street Theatre available at a community rate since 2000,” said Mrs Lawson. With no suitable venues to hold an Eisteddfod on the Central Coast the event is now at risk after thirty-four years.

 “Gosford Council has been a sponsor for as long as I can remember,” said Mrs Lawson. “The Eisteddfod is not a money making concern, it is a community cultural event that all Central Coast residents can be proud of. For the last few years Council has been well aware that the Committee did not have the funds to continue paying the increased costs that are being demanded for Laycock Street Theatre but we were told it would be “sorted out somehow”. Then we are asked for over $28,000,” said Mrs Lawson.

Meanwhile, plans for next year – being the 35th Anniversary of the Central Coast Eisteddfod – to be a major event on the Central Coast are underway. “Knowing that we cannot rely on Council, we are now going out to the business community and seeking sponsorship that will include naming rights,” said Mrs Lawson. “With the publicity and over five-thousand performers plus all their families and friends, as well as the school community, we believe a sponsor would do quite well out of it.”

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