Mandy Nolan
A change.org petition has kicked off in response to the recent closure of the Brunswick Picture House, which was served with an ‘Order to Cease Operations’ by council staff last week.
The Echo understands it is owing to complaints from a neighbour.
Owners Brett Haylock and Chris Chen are devastated that this historic Brunswick Heads landmark, originally designed and operated for public use back in the 1950s may have to close. They opened in Easter with what they thought was full approval from council under existing rights for a place of entertainment.
This should have meant they did not require a DA, yet council staff insist the owners were advised in October 2015 that there were no continuing approvals (for use as a theatre/cafe etc), ‘as the previous approvals had been abandoned for more than twelve months when the building was occupied as a second-hand store in about 1986.’
Council’s legal services co-ordinaor Ralph James told The Echo an outstanding issue is that ‘currently [the theatre] has a fully operable cafe which has never been approved and the cafe is open outside of the hours when movies are being shown’.
He said, ‘Our aim has always been to encourage the lodgement of a DA. It was not to close the Brunswick Picture House down.’
Yet the Brunswick Picture House purchase was a huge win for Brunwick Heads residents – they have passionately embraced this iconic new venue as a vibrant creative hub.
Haylock told The Echo, ‘The community had resigned themselves to the fact that this was going to be turned into apartments or some commercial development. But I was the schmuck who came along with a romantic dream to restore the building to what it once was.’
Chen and Haylock are not big developers. They are artists with international accolades in the cabaret scene that includes two Laurence Olivier awards for a show that has been seen by over five million people worldwide. It’s not every day that world internationally lauded cabaret acts decide to base themselves in a sleepy coastal village and provide entertainment for the locals.
They operate a few nights a week and lights are out by 10pm.
So why did they chose to renovate the Brunswick Heads Picture House?
Haylock says, ‘We have been working from West End to Broadway (with cabaret show La Soiree) with no base, we had no intention of settling anywhere and I stumbled across this place and instantly had this life changing.’
‘I am still as in love with it now as I was the first day! I pursued it like some crazed man. Over a nine-month period with hundreds of people working around the clock, all unpaid, and mostly artists.
‘They contributed to this epic transformation. It made no financial sense; we are not big business, we are a collective of artists working towards restoring a theatre.
‘These days we are not conditioned to theatres being re-opened, we are conditioned to theatres being closed.’
Haylock is passionate about maintaining the integrity of the site and believes the building should be heritage listed.
‘We see using the building for its existing purpose is part of safeguarding its heritage.’
While the cinema stopped operating 30 years ago, the Picture House dates back to 1952 and sits in a commercial zoning.
It seems ironic that resuming the building’s original public purpose should cause conflict when towns like Byron Bay have so many illegal holiday lets in operation.
The Brunswick Picture House is a 200-seat venue that mainly shows films.
Family films
On Sundays they screen family films. For free. In fact 50 per cent of their programming is aimed at families.
Twice a month they present a cabaret that rivals anything you’d see on London’s West End.
Brunswick Heads has now has an arts precinct that employs local performers and theatre practitioners, works with community drama groups and circus schools, without one cent of funding.
In a tourist economy where competing towns jostle for ‘uniqueness’, it seems ludicrous to shut down what can only be described as Brunswick Head’s artistic gift horse.
To stay operational The Brunswick Picture House are currently seeking legal advice and the support of the community.
The petition to reopen the picture house can be found at http://chn.ge/2cxkrEz.
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