‘Yellow door’ officially opened in Wee Waa

The yellow door was officially opened at the Wee Waa Community Arts and Culture Centre on Saturday night.

The centre’s committee hosted a fabulous evening, and the crowd was treated to a selection of magnificent artworks from the Narrabri Civic Art Collection.

On arrival, attendees were provided with a pair of 3D glasses, so they could see the modern Australian art collection ‘come to life’.

Wee Waa readers might have noticed the centre’s bright yellow door while driving down George Street.

The creative splash of colour has offered a taste of the exciting opportunities the arts hub will offer artists and the town.

The centre’s dedicated committee and energetic coordinator Lisa Almagro were thrilled to finally share the newly renovated space with the community.

Kamilaroi man Clifford Toomey delivered an Acknowledgement to Country, WWCACC secretary Stacey Vogel thanked special guests and introduced the committee’s vice-president Gerda Vogel who welcomed the crowd.

“You cannot imagine how happy I am to be standing here tonight,” said Gerda.

“Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, special guests, fellow artists and especially young people, who I hope will be the greatest beneficiaries in years to come.

“All good things take time to ripen, and this project was no exception.

“Our aims were to establish a community arts and cultural centre, with exhibitions and workshops, and to offer cultural trail tours to significant cultural sites around Wee Waa, and we have some very good ones.

“All this began in 2017 when Wee Waa, caught in a serious drought, was one of the three towns across Australian chosen by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal for a pilot project that centred on the Disaster Resilient: Future Ready Project.

“This project was picked up by our chamber of commerce and with community consultation and visits from FRRR facilitators, we decided to apply for funding, in which we were successful,” said Gerda,

“And here I would like to pay tribute to Ann-Maree Galagher, who as president of the chamber of commerce, threw herself behind the project.

“We owe her a lot and miss not having her here today.

“We also received a generous donation from the NSW government and were able to rent premises in November 2019 at the Rose Street garden for 12 months.

“We had great plans for 2022 but we all know how that ended, though we did manage two cultural trail events and we look forward to many more.

“In fact, we did have two tours – one in 2019 with the Country Music Muster and one in March 2020, with the Rotary Germany Exchange program.

“Despite setbacks and several lockdowns, we were fortunate to secure a substantial grant, in consortium with Wee Waa Local Aboriginal Land Council, Wee Waa Chamber of Commerce and Narrabri Shire Council, from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

“Applying for this grant was a mammoth job, undertaken mainly by Stacey Vogel, Andrew Greste and Robyn Keeffe.

“That grant made it possible to renovate this building, which some of you will know as the old Neighbourhood Centre, but which I remember as Dr Penney’s surgery, built in the early 1960s.

“And it’s lovely to see Andrew Penney here today.”

Andrew Penney is the son of Dr Doug and Dr Shirley Penney.

Gerda gave her “heartfelt thanks” to the volunteers and organisations that helped to make the arts hub dream a reality.

“Before we could even dream about an occasion such as tonight, we had to overcome some serious obstacles,” she said.

“The Wee Waa Chamber of Commerce set the ball rolling and was a serious driving force behind the project.

“Our partners, Wee Waa Local Aboriginal Land Council and Rotary who allowed us to operate under their auspices.”

Gerda expressed the committee’s appreciation of grants received from the FRRR and funding through the Australian government’s Murray–Darling Basin Economic Development Program, which supports communities impacted by water recovery under the Basin Plan.

“Thank you, Stacey Vogel, who did the most magnificent job holding all the different threads in her hands and making sense of it all.

“It was truly neck-snapping hard work, believe me,” said Gerda.

“Horst Merten, for his generous pro bono work; Robyn Keeffe, who shared her office with Lisa (Almagro) for many months; Scott Pollock, who gave us his time and expertise in choosing artworks; the Toy Library, who transported everything to Wee Waa, and Lyn and Alberto Almagro, without whom we would all go hungry because they donated the catering.

“We owe a huge thank you to Narrabri Shire Council for letting us display such wonderful works of art from their collection.

“Lisa Almagro, our coordinator – how lucky we were to find her.

“I enjoyed meeting with Scott Pollock who showed us many
unexpected treasures and I know you too will be amazed by their variety and standard of excellence.

“We hope that this centre will bring together artists of different disciplines and cultures and foster creativity in our local community and that we will pick up ideas and events that we had to abandon two years ago and continue to grow our fledging art and cultural centre with renewed enthusiasm.

“I hope you have a wonderful evening.”

Member for Parkes Mark Coulton and Cr John Clements also attended the event.

The Civic Art Collection will be on display at the centre until Sunday, April 1, the gallery will then feature local artists works for sale.