Our Room to Create Program aims to keep the arts in Yarra by supporting eligible artists and arts organisations and fostering more affordable and sustainable creative spaces.

Q44 Theatre Company was awarded a Room to Create grant from the City of Yarra in 2018.  This support enabled Q44 to transform a concrete shell into a flexible and exciting theatre space at Abbotsford Convent.  The funding was used to erect a movable truss system, allowing an important heritage site to be creatively adapted for specific works.

This investment has had a profound effect on the realisation of new works.  The theatre has been reconfigured to meet the differing needs of performances such as Ironbound (May 2018), Unsolicited Male  (September 2018) and Four Dogs and a Bone (May 2019). The theatre also allows for flexible configurations for audiences.

The theatre space increases the capacity of the surrounding creative community and has encouraged creative partnerships. Impro Melbourne, Victoria’s premier improvisation company have begun using the Q44 Theatre studio to rehearse and teach. Students from Sophia Mundi have used the sound and lighting equipment to expand the production elements in their senior productions. Still more of the community has taken advantage of this space with meetings, workshops, castings and music/band rehearsals.

Find more information on the Q44 theatre and upcoming productions here  and studio hire here

All these activities have been aided and made possible by the City of Yarra Room to Create grant.

Find out further information about Room to Create and the 2019 artists who have been involved with the Room to Create Artist-in-Residency program here. 

To help build The Room to Create Fund which is a charitable fund account in partnership with the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation donate here.