PETITION TO THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, THE HONORABLE SUSAN CLOSE

(cc – Premier Jay Weatherill, Hon Jack Snelling, Hon John Gardner, Mr Peter Louca)

We, the undersigned, call for an immediate cessation to current processes for the alteration or ‘renovation’ of the Adelaide College of the Arts building on Light Square.

This renovation would involve alteration to spaces specifically designed for their current uses, a drastic impediment to study across vast swathes of the student body at AC Arts.

This project has been pursued without any meaningful consultation with the arts industry, AC Arts staff, or students. Staff concerns continue to be paid little or no respect, and students remain shut out from consultation or counsel. Management have not personally reported one word about this project to students, and written information is scarce.

Not only that, the project is being pursued without any substantial needs-analysis of either the courses ear-marked for transition into the building, or those that are currently delivered on-site. Consequently, many aspects of the proposed changes constitute massive compromises in the quality of training delivery, or render spaces entirely unworkable.

Significant OHS&W concerns raised by staff have been shown little respect, and have led to no corresponding alterations to plans. These concerns include the integration of roughly 400 extra students in the one building, but no plans to add a second lift into the already existing shaft. Likewise, there are no plans for additional toilet facilities or food services. That’s not to mention the dangers inherent in studying and rehearsing in an active construction site.

It is an undeniable reality that TAFESA’s profile in arts training is in a state of flux. It seems a dubious strategy to radically and permanently alter the physical space within an iconic and perfectly-functioning building when it is impossible to predict the precise nature of that profile into the 2020s and beyond.

This building is a major piece of arts infrastructure in our city. It was specifically designed and built for its multiple training functions. It is a remarkable achievement. It is the best-functioning building of its kind in Australia. Its design and construction represented the largest infrastructure expenditure in the arts since the construction of the Festival Centre. It is an iconic building and it works. The people of South Australia deserve this asset to be treated with far greater respect than is being shown by its current stewards, TAFESA, with these shoddy plans.

This constitutes a kind of vandalism, and must stop.

We implore the Minister to call an immediate halt to this project, and instruct TAFESA to seek other solutions to its management problems.