Wesley Music Centre
The Centre hosts around 120 concerts or other public musical events a year as well as a diversity of other activities including music courses, recording sessions, private music teaching, regular U3A courses, music examinations, master classes and public lectures. Organ concerts and larger scale choral and orchestral events take place in Wesley Church which also has excellent acoustics.
A popular activity at the Centre is the Wednesday Lunchtime Live concert series which runs for about 45 weeks a year from February to December. These short concerts are from 12.40pm to 1.20pm and feature a great variety of performers, including talented students from the ANU School of Music, Wesley Scholars, students from secondary schools and private music studios, professional musicians, artists in musical shows and visiting internationals. The audience includes workers from nearby offices, people bused from retirement villages, colleagues and friends of artists and a diversity of people from the community at large.
A number of joint ventures have been organised with community associations, including the Canberra Classical Guitar Society, the Carillon Society of Australia (awards for young composers), Harp Centre Australia and The Canberra String Festival. The Music Centre also supports fund raisings for charities and students in need of financial support for various purposes, including attending seminars and overseas studies.
The web site www.wesleycanberra.org.au/music has a calendar of forthcoming events and the Centre also regularly emails updates on activities to a large distribution list (recipients are undisclosed). Additionally you can find us on Facebook here.
Opening Hours and Location and Facilities
The Wesley Music Centre office is normally staffed from 10am to 3pm from Tuesday to Friday. It closes for a few weeks over Christmas/New Year/January. Map link.
The Wesley Music Centre is part of the Wesley Uniting Church complex in National Circuit, Forrest. It was opened in 2002 and includes a purpose-built Music Room with excellent acoustics seating up to 140 people with a stage which is 3.6m x 8.3m. The sought-after space was designed specifically for small-scale chamber concerts for instruments, keyboard and voice, for master classes, for recordings and other musical events and is also ideally suited for lectures, symposia, seminars and workshops. The acoustics can be varied for different events. Associated spaces include a seminar room, a tutorial room, a recording bio box, a foyer with kitchenette facilities and the Centre's office. In 2012 KDVL Acoustic Consultants carried out extensive testing of the acoustics. Their report is here. The Centre has a number of its own instruments including an excellent Yamaha grand piano and a harpsichord.
Funding
The Centre was financed entirely by the Wesley Music Foundation (ACT), a charity, which was set up by Wesley Uniting Church in 1999 to promote music and music education with the aim of ensuring a strong music program and community outreach in perpetuity. The Foundation is on the Register of Cultural Organisations and has a Public Fund for tax-deductible donations by individuals and corporate bodies. There is a Friends of Wesley Music group supporting events and fund raising. To date the Foundation has raised well over $2 million for the construction of the Music Centre, for musical instruments and for the Wesley Music Scholarship Program funded jointly with Wesley Church (92 scholars to date). All funds have been raised by gifts, pledges and operations, including Music Centre concerts, other public events, joint ventures with musicians and hirings by individuals and organisations. There have been no church or government grants. The Foundation's ABN is 71 567 791 250 .
The First 10 Years
The first ten years of the Centre's operation is documented in an excellent full-colour booklet. Read more here.