White Night’s regional test has been called an “extraordinary success”, but if a future event was to be held Ballarat could expect some changes.
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White Night artistic director and executive producer David Atkins is one of Australia’s most awarded artistic directors and producers.
He said having been in the industry for a long time, he understood there was always room for improvement.
“We learn from every single event,” he said. “There are things we would do differently next year if Ballarat was to win the event again, there are things we would do to improve on and change, of course.”
Some of these changes would be to expand the precinct by closing down more streets and adding more program content.
“I think a lot of people would be keen to see the footprint expanded, and for it to be a little larger next year,” Mr Atkins said. “We could do more with the city because it is such a fantastic canvas for an event like White Night – Ballarat is perfect for it.”
Mayor Samantha McIntosh welcomed suggestions from the public for more projection works including the Town Hall.
“It would be wonderful to see more buildings in Ballarat lit up, I guess the pocket is not always as deep as we would like it to be and the financial requirements to light the whole city would be exceptional, but it would be wonderful to see our Town Hall in lights,” she said.
Cr McIntosh also suggested strategies to prevent a repeat of the early closure of the event, which drew criticism on social media.
She said there was the possibility of engaging with local community groups such as early morning cyclists and runners to draw a bigger crowd in the final hours of the event.
Social media was abuzz throughout the weekend with suggestions on how to improve the event.
These included for live music to be spread more widely across the precinct, changing the location of the portable toilets situated next to the Town Hall, and better control over the alcohol-free nature of the event.
Bianca Hudson said on Facebook: “My only suggestion would be to split the road to enable people to move in the one direction and have viewing sections for photo opportunities. Also be awesome to have more street vendors or a market to complement it.”
The comments about the event on social media were overwhelmingly positive with many people calling for the event to be brought back next year.
