NEWS DESK Shire offers $500,000 to performing arts MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has launched a $500,000 program to support people working in the performing arts. The performing arts fund is aimed at supporting arts and culture as “drivers for community development, economic stimulus, health and wellbeing, accessibility and inclusion”. The shire says the peninsula’s “vibrant performing arts community” helps attract more than seven million domestic and international visitors to the region each year. The money being offered by the shire will go to peninsula-based creative organisations and individuals wanting to develop performancebased artistic works and increase job opportunities in the sector. The mayor Cr Anthony Marsh said that understanding that the industry was especially hard hit by lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions with loss of employment and income, the fund aimed to support artists and arts companies to continue to develop works “that reflect our unique Mornington Peninsula environment and identity”. He said the peninsula is home to “many talented creatives” and urged them to attend a workshop “to learn more if you work in one of the eligible fields”. Cr Paul Mercurio, the council’s representative on the arts and culture advisory panel, said the fund would support performing artists on the peninsula to “explore, create and perform work, allowing them to develop their unique voice and at the same time nourish the local peninsula audiences”. During the upcoming Drift Arts Festival, the shire will hold workshops where participants can learn more about the fund and ask questions to help with their applications. Details: driftartsfestival.com.au and mornpen.vic.gov.au/grants to apply for funding.
Cost shortfall RISING building costs have forced Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to add $400,000 to the cost of redeveloping pavilion at Red Hill Recreation Reserve. The state government allocated $2 million in its 2021/2022 budget for the detailed design and construction of the project, based on the cost estimates of shire officers. Due to rising costs within the construction industry that estimate has increased to $2.370m, leading shire officers to ask council to make up the shortfall to finish the project in the 2023/2024 budget. Red Hill Recreation Reserve is home to Red Hill Football Netball Club, Red Hill Junior Football Club, Red Hill Cricket Club and Red Hill Netball Club, as well as being used for the Red Hill market and Red Hill Show. The reserve has one set of permanent home and away change rooms to service two ovals and two netball courts.
Faster internet
COVID song award MORNINGTON Peninsula-based Taj Carver, above, wrote and recorded his debut album during several of Melbourne’s pandemic lockdowns. Becoming a teenager and starting high school coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown restrictions and online learning. His original songs cover comedic and tragic topics. Carver, 15, says he was interested in music from an early age and lists his influences as the Beatles, ELO, Jack Johnson, Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, and Sammy J. Using a small recording microphone, he began recording his songs, starting with Good
Morning COVID, which won the Australian Children’s Music Foundation national songwriting competition.
Winter classics CLASSICAL guitarist Clancy McLeod will perform a winter solo concert as part of the Peninsula Summer Music Festival at St Johns Anglican Church, Flinders at 2pm on 19 June. McLeod won prizes in 2021 at the Adelaide International Guitar Competition and the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Great Romantics Competition. His concert will include works by Bach, Rodrigo, Barrios and Domeniconi. Bookings: peninsulafestival.com.au/
THE state government and NBN Co are boosting internet speeds for some households and businesses on the Mornington Peninsula, with upgrades to fixed wireless networks underway. Over the next two years more than 34,000 residences and around 7700 businesses across 54 suburbs – including Balnarring, Dromana, Somerville and Mornington - will benefit from speeds of up to one gigabit a second, which is typically 10 times faster than now available. The state government will finance the running of fibre along streets past homes and businesses in selected locations. In return, NBN Co will install a fibre connection at no charge to eligible premises, but only where an order for a 100 megabit a second service is placed with a participating retail service provider. All FTTP fibre provided by the government is due to be rolled out by mid-2024, with some locations being able to connect from mid-2023. To find out if your area is a business fibre zone or eligible for fibre to the premises visit vic.gov. au/connectingvictoria
Hearing Technology Specialist Why choose us: Award-winning service 30-day hearing aid trials, no cost & obligation free Helping Pensioners, Veterans, Worksafe, and Privates Complimentary hearing aids for Pensioners*
Robin Tu
9708 8626
*subject to eligibility criteria through the Australian Pension Scheme. Please cut this out as a reminder to call me
Suite 1, 7 Davies Ave, Mt Eliza support@staytunedhearing.com.au Southern Peninsula News
4 May 2022
PAGE 11