Sydney Theatre to be Renamed Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay

Sydney Theatre Company today (October 22, 2014) announced that Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay is to be renamed Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay, effective from March 2015.

The STC media release explains the name change as follows.

The renaming is in recognition of Roslyn Packer’s decades-long, generous support and commitment to the arts in Australia. For over 40 years, Roslyn Packer AO has played a leading role in campaigns for giving to a wide range of charities and is regarded as one of Australia’s most significant benefactors of the arts.

Roslyn’s enduring relationship with STC since its formation more than 30 years ago has become even stronger in recent years. Her well-informed, broad theatrical tastes and enormous enthusiasm make her one of STC’s most engaged and valued patrons. She is one of the Company’s core group of philanthropists who give, often anonymously, in order that Australian culture can flourish.

Her generosity has extended to public and private advocacy across many organisations throughout her life. She is currently on the Board of Trustees of St. Vincent’s Clinic Foundation as well as being Patron of the Friends of St. Vincent’s Private Hospital. She is also a Director of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation.

Her many previous board memberships include with the Sydney Festival, the Council of the National Gallery of Australia, the Advisory Committee of Christies Australia, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and St. Vincent’s Private Hospital. The long list of the many organisations to which she has given generously in addition to STC includes the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Centenary Patron and Foundation Governor); the Hunter Valley Community Foundation (inaugural Patron); National Trust of Australia (NSW Life Member from 1964); Opera Australia (Patron  Program and Benefactor Patron from 1992); Sydney Opera House (Chairman’s Leadership Circle 2008); Sculpture by the Sea;  The Australian Ballet (member of the Les Etoiles Group from 2006); the Venice Biennale (Champion Donor 2005 – 2009); and Governor Sir Roden and Lady Cutler Foundation.

Last year the Packer family, in conjunction with the Crown Resorts Foundation, made the largest-ever single philanthropic gift to an Australian performing arts company, pledging $15M to STC towards the Company’s essential redevelopment of its home base, The Wharf.  Additionally, $15M was given to other arts organisations including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Bangarra Dance Theatre, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Sydney Dance Company and an extraordinary further $30M was bestowed to arts activities in Western Sydney.

It is hoped that the renaming of Sydney Theatre, as well as honouring a great supporter of the arts, will act as an inspiration to other philanthropists generally.

Roslyn Packer said she is "profoundly honoured and touched” at the news, adding: "Philanthropic giving is vital to the future of the arts in Australia.  It is my hope that others who are in a position to do so will join me in helping to build on the phenomenal strength of the Australian cultural sector that we are so fortunate to enjoy and to benefit from."

STC Chairman David Gonski said: “Ros has been one of the biggest (non-artist) contributors both in time and money to the arts generally in Australia and to STC over many, many years. Given that, the board of the STC thought this a very appropriate way to acknowledge one of Australia’s most generous arts supporters.  We are pleased to rename a space in her honour that is central to STC’s future as well as one that regularly hosts the best of local and international work.”

Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant said: “With this renaming, we salute a great patron of the arts for her long term investment in the creative future of our city.

“NSW is internationally recognised for its creative talent and Ros Packer has been a passionate advocate and supporter.  I can’t think of a more fitting tribute for a woman who has given so much to theatre and the arts more broadly,” Mr Grant said.

STC Artistic Director Andrew Upton said: “Ros has been a great friend to STC and the arts community for a very long time and I think this is a great way to acknowledge her tireless commitment, much of which flies beneath the radar. When we sit down to enjoy a show at The Ros (as we have already begun to call it) I hope we can occasionally remember that, increasingly in this country, the generosity of individuals makes possible the work of Australian artists – and in particular works of scale and ambition.”

The former Chairman of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and former President of the Art Gallery of NSW, Steven Lowy AM, said the Packer family’s contribution to their home town of Sydney was remarkable. “Ros has been a constant and driving force behind so much that is great about Sydney in the arts and in medical research,” he said. “She has gone about this quietly and with great humility and the scale of her work and generosity has not received due recognition. The naming of this theatre will be an enduring tribute to one of our most admired and committed philanthropists.”

Sydney Theatre, to be known as Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay from March 2015, is an 850-seat theatre owned by NSW State Government and operated and managed by STC. It was opened in 2004 as a centrepiece of the rejuvenated Walsh Bay as a major arts precinct.  Situated on a site used for cargo storage from the 1830’s which had, since the 1970’s fallen into disrepair, the theatre was designed by architects Peddle Thorp and Walker. Andrew Andersons’ design incorporated elements of an existing bond store with elegant new facilities. The grand entrance remains an echo of heritage archways along Hickson Road and those inside the building, which were restored and maintained. The auditorium, foyers and fly tower occupy the space created by the demolition of a 1950s warehouse.

During its first ten years the theatre has been the originating site of iconic productions such as STC’s The Secret River, Uncle Vanya, Gross und Klein (Big and Small), The Lost Echo and The War of the Roses, Sydney Dance Company’s Mercury and Shared Frequencies and international presentations including the Schaubühne Hamlet, Steppenwolf’s August: Osage County and the National Theatre’s The History Boys.

STC has been based in Walsh Bay for 30 years. Its home base, The Wharf, houses two theatres (Wharf 1 and Wharf 2), the Company's set, prop and costume workshops, rehearsal rooms, archive, education and administration facilities. In 2014, new 45-year leases were signed for both The Wharf and Sydney Theatre, allowing the Company to plan confidently for the future.

Image: Andrew Upton (Artistic Director, Sydney Theatre Company, Lucinda Dunn (former ballerina, The Australian Ballet), Roslyn Packer, Rafael Bonachela (Artistic Director, Sydney Dance Company) backstage at Sydney Theatre  © James Green