Walton’s ideal for ‘flagship music venue’

News

The dilapidated Walton’s building needs to be transformed into a flagship entertainment venue to give the Fortitude Valley Entertainment Precinct what it lacks – a premier touring destination for musicians, musicals, dancers, comedians, circus acts, film premieres and variety entertainers.

That’s the view of Daniel Endicott, artistic director with Odyssey Productions. In a forceful email to The Independent after last issue’s front-page call for something to be done about the central Valley eyesore, Mr Endicott wrote: “Brisbane lost the fight to save the Regent theatre, but the Walton’s building could be our final opportunity to give this rapidly growing city what it is most sorely lacking: an inner city medium-large sized multi-purpose entertainment venue, seating 2000 plus persons, with full theatre production specifications.
“Such a major and economically sustainable facility could then be further complimented by music, arts, film, design and creative industry offices forming an industry hub, as well as music studios, rehearsal rooms, music retail outlet and cafes. It would create hundreds of jobs, countless cultural opportunities and bring literally millions of dollars into Fortitude Valley’s economy every year.
“Brisbane City no longer has Festival Hall, The Regent theatre, Her Majesty’s theatre or even Cloudland Ballroom and currently we are sorely missing City Hall’s ballroom. The Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and Queensland Performing Arts Complex can’t properly accommodate touring music artists and are booked out predominantly with block seasonal shows. Many touring artists simply don't come to Brisbane based on lack of medium to large venues, which in turn adversely affects our own talent's exposure and export opportunity. With The Regent now being gutted, we no longer have a gala red carpet picture palace for film premieres and film festivals. The Valley can offer the Walton's building to fill this massive void in our city's cultural landscape.”
Mr Endicott argues that as a step away from typical nightclub entertainment, Brisbane needs a venue that can showcase its home-grown performers as well as host touring level shows.
The Valley needs a classy, respectable and international level platform to be able to truly claim its Entertainment Precinct title, by investing into the entertainment industry and supporting Brisbane creative culture. Such a development project will also totally complete the transformation of the Valley into a vibrant, exciting and future focussed business district, by finally addressing the eyesore that the Walton’s building has become through lack of vision.
“For this to become a reality, this heritage building's development would most likely need major support from all levels of government. Until then, this gigantic hulk sits and waits in semi-darkness, too big for most businesses to renovate, occupy and maintain, and too historically significant and structurally sound to be removed. The Walton’s building is the perfect complimentary building to the Brisbane Powerhouse and Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in terms of completing Brisbane’s contemporary cultural circuit.
“And in Brisbane where we have lost almost all of our historic theatres and memorable places, the old department store is the perfect cultural icon to turn the tide. We need to think and act for future generations. We need to protect and preserve our endangered cultural heritage. We need to provide adequate entertainment industry infrastructure.
“Let’s launch the Walton's building as the flagship of the Fortitude Valley Entertainment Precinct”

• This issue sparked probably the biggest response from readers in this newspaper’s history. Due to space restraints, we will publish other letters on this issue in our next edition.