Her Majesty's Theatre is close to reopening, but won't be ready before the start of Ballarat's largest musical and artistic competition as promised.
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City of Ballarat has now confirmed the theatre will open in September, signalling the end of an almost two-year closure due to restoration works.
But The Courier has confirmed two sections of the Royal South Street Society's annual eisteddfod will now be unexpectedly pushed out of the venue.
While construction was completed by the deadline, the time needed to return new and old technical equipment to the theatre will push back the opening date. The theatre renovations were expected to be completed this month, in order to allow all South Street events to go ahead in the beloved venue.
Royal South Street Society's CEO Brett Macdonald said the two-day Victorian Band Championships and two-day choral sections would now take place at Founders Theatre at FedUni's Mount Helen Campus.
"It is disruptive, but Founders Theatre worked well for those sections last year," he said, noting that issues such as a lack of food options and transport of major musical equipment to Mount Helen would cause some additional costs for the society.
"Our big sell about the eisteddfod in 2019 was 'the theatre is opening again' ... so it's not quite where we wanted to be, but we're not far off. We'll be able to hold the major parts back in our spiritual home."
Mr Macdonald has been candid about the financial strain caused by the closure of the venue, with entries down around 18 per cent in 2018 and fewer ticket sales, causing a $200,000 loss last year. The venue was last open in December 2017.
The $7.3 million revamp of the theatre includes structural reinforcement of the stage and replacing cracked support beams in the roof. The current round of works was funded by City of Ballarat and a $2 million Heritage Victoria grant.
He said the competition's Festival of Bands was still scheduled to take place on August 30 at Her Majesty's Theatre, but there was some "ifs, buts and maybes" to be worked out with theatre staff and council before that is set in stone.
"Overall, we think it's very doable. The best part is for the bulk of the eisteddfod, we will be back in Her Maj."
- Royal South Street Society's CEO Brett Macdonald
The council's acting director of development and planning, James Guy, said they were working closely with the Royal South Street Society to get the "best outcome".
"We will soon begin the major task of cleaning the theatre and re-establishing the technical and operational equipment, including reinstating all of the stage equipment. This work will take more than a month to complete," he said.
"We look forward to having the doors of Her Majesty's Ballarat once again open to performers and patrons."
South Street hosts 11,000 performers and 34,000 spectators across dance, band, choir and public speaking competitions annually.
