The Town of Mosman Park will give the community the chance to shape the future use of Memorial Hall through an engagement process that aims to explore options on activating the building for maximum community benefit.

Council gave the green light at October’s Ordinary Council Meeting to engage with current and potential stakeholders on the future of the century-old building.

In the meantime, MosArts will continue to lease Memorial Hall until the end of April 2023 and deliver the much-loved cinema, theatre, and arts program.

Mayor Paul Shaw says the stakeholder engagement is a key first step in ensuring the heritage-listed building can be maintained to an acceptable standard while delivering a sustainable vibrant and dynamic arts and culture program in Mosman Park.

“We’re keen to have an open dialogue with potential and current stakeholders including MosArts to explore options at Memorial Hall based on what our community wants and needs in line in the Strategic Community Plan,” says Mayor Shaw.

“At the end of the day, we need it to be sustainable and we want to deliver the best outcome for our community,” said Mayor Shaw.

The stakeholder engagement process will be a preliminary scoping exercise that will explore different tenure and management models to ensure the sustainable delivery of programs and ongoing maintenance of the Art Deco building.

A review of comparable local government and community arts facilities will also take place. Council will decide how to proceed at the end of this process.

The Town will make a formal request to the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage to lift restrictions and make way for greater flexibility on how Memorial Hall can be used in future.

More information will be available on the Town’s website including how to get involved in January 2023.