Market Analysis – Venues The Palais continues to play an important role in providing a large seating capacity venue but due to its current building and technical infrastructure it is limited in what events can be staged. Although the Melbourne CBD theatres offer smaller seating capacities they are far better equipped with appropriate staging and permanent technical infrastructure to offer a broader range of programming. For the purpose of this analysis, the Palais is seen in the context of a major Melbourne venue. As detailed in Section 7 of this report, Melbourne is well serviced by large performance spaces. The main activity is musical theatre, drama, classical music and opera, non-classical music and children’s and family performances. Theatres such as the Regent, Princess and Her Majesty’s predominately have programs consisting of musical shows which run over an extended performance period. This is supplemented by short seasons of light entertainment of high profile Australian and international artists. Although all venues are available to be hired by promoters, the Regent and Princess as well as the Comedy Theatre are programmed by the Marriner Group through investment in entrepreneurial activity. As state owned major performance venues, The Arts Centre Melbourne venues and the Recital Hall offer broad programming of commercial and non-commercial theatre and music and receive considerable funding to meet their charter. The Forum Theatre presents a similar programming mix to that offered at the Palais. Although the Forum has a smaller seating capacity (800 theatre, 1,500 concert) it does have flexible seating arrangement and is favoured by promoters wanting a more intimate venue. During the consultation process, the industry stakeholders were of the view that the Palais has found its niche in the market as a large capacity venue, retaining an informal heritage theatre ambience with broad audience appeal. Stakeholders advised that the Palais has limited and restricted food and beverage capabilities and that food and beverage services traditionally provide venue operators with an important revenue stream and a value-add for patrons. Festival Hall and the Plenary at the Melbourne Convention Centre are two venues that at times operate in a similar market as the Palais but provide larger seating capacities than the Palais. However, both venues lack a theatre ambience. The Plenary is foremost a convention centre and a performance program is not its core business and Festival Hall brings with it a history as a boxing venue. The Plenary is relatively new and has yet to establish a clear position as a performance venue, and so it is difficult to assess how significant its impact on the existing market will be.
Market Assessment –Key Findings Competitors • The primary competitors for the Palais are The Forum and Festival Hall. Both venues operate in a similar market, offer flexible seating arrangements and flat floor dance areas. • The Forum, in addition to operating as a hiring venue, also stages entrepreneurial activities presented by the Marriner Group, and therefore is not just reliant on external promoters. • The Plenary, offering a larger seating capacity and superior technical infrastructure than the Palais, has the potential to attract promoters hiring the Palais. • Hamer Hall will reopen following refurbishment and will attract promoters wanting a CBD location and full staging capabilities. Palais Theatre Requirements Study
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