Daniel Ballantyne may have taken the scenic route when it comes to his latest job, but in many ways his new role was written in the stars.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Although he comes from a family of film and theatre types and has worked in arts-related roles for many years in Adelaide and Newcastle, he has also had jobs as varied as the venue hiring manager for the Sydney Super Dome and cotton farming.
But when he saw the job of chief executive of the Belconnen Arts Centre advertised last year, he knew it was for him.
''I saw the job come up, then I saw the website and the fact that it was a brand new building in an area in Canberra that was starting to go through some change, and I identified with all of those things very quickly,'' he said.
Before taking the reins in Canberra, the Adelaide native had spent 10 years overseeing the renewal of Newcastle's cultural precinct.
Prior to that, he worked for the Sydney Olympics - ''the most intense period of my life'' - and, earlier, for the Adelaide Festival, at a time when musical theatre was seeing a revival in Australia. He was also on the management team of the 12,000-seat Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
He said what interested him most about the Belconnen gig was the fact the newly built centre was shortly to enter stage two of its development.
''The reason that really fascinated me is because I've been really fortunate in my career that I've been involved in about four or five as-new greenfield-site buildings when it comes to major venues, and that's varied from small theatres of 100 seats right up to Australia's largest arena,'' he said.
The Belconnen arts facility now has everything except a live performance space, which is where Mr Ballantyne, a long-time theatre enthusiast, hopes to leave his mark.
''My preference is theatres and intimate venues, and we won an award for our redevelopment of the Playhouse theatre in Newcastle, and that was part of that general revitalisation of the cultural precinct (there),'' he said. ''But being a person, I suppose, who has been working professionally in the arts, I've got a feeling for the visual arts as well. I soon got a pretty quick picture that this is a very well-run place.''
He said a major part of his role was to build relationships with sponsors and government, because the centre needed to build a strong case for funding when it came to building its performance space.
''I think it's really important that this is a community and cultural facility of scope and scale that can carry on for 20 or 30 years without having to be revisited too often, and that's an important investment question at the moment,'' he said. Mr Ballantyne said the theatre space would be designed to be as multifunctional as possible, incorporating the centre's lakeside location.
''The challenge, especially as it's not a city-centric, premier venue but a regional venue, is how can you be as flexible as possible? I'd like to call it a 21st-century town hall,'' he said.
''We see ourselves as part of the urban renewal of Belconnen. Indeed, that's how we're building our relationships privately and publicly … I think this is probably one of the challenges for us, to put together programs and activities that fulfil our brief but are able to identify all the different types of Belconnen - whether it be the 'Belco pride' Belconnen, the empty-nesters who are certainly a big part of our program already because they've got the time and the resources to put into things, through to these aspirational-type families who are right into sending their kids to our dance studio.''