City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Keith Hunt Community Entertainment and Arts Centre (Gold Coast Arts Centre), Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, 1986

Residents and some members of the Gold Coast City Council first pressed for a Gold Coast Cultural Centre as far back as 1968. Subsequent councils discussed and agonised over decisions relating to the proposal for many years. In 1970 the proposal was strengthened by the decision to incorporate the cultural centre into the overall design of a Gold Coast Civic Centre (the current Gold Coast City Council Administration Centre). In 1974 the administrative building was commenced with the promise that the cultural component would be added at a later date. It would be many years before this would happen. For almost 20 years the Centre was a project plagued with controversy and politics, but after years of heated debate, the Cultural Centre finally won out and offers for tender were sent out in 1985. The Centre was built on a 20-hectare site adjoining the Council's administration offices in Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise, and included a theatre, art gallery, multi-purpose hall, café and bar areas. Originally known as the Keith Hunt Community Entertainment and Arts Centre, proposed because the late Mayor Keith Hunt has been credited with marking the turning point in the campaign to build a cultural centre on the Coast. The Gold Coast Arts Centre as it is now known was officially opened in December 1986

Photographic print, black and white, 21 x 16 cm.

(Sirsi) 8463