Page 24 - CR31R.pdf

With the Paramount no longer
profitable, the building was sold to the
local council who demolished the old
theatre to construct a brand new multi-
purpose “Paramount Arts Activity
Centre”. This was known as
Paramount II.
The new building was the first
regional arts activity centre to be
opened under the Hamer Governments
“Ministry for the Arts”. It was declared
open by Premier Hamer himself on
Friday 30th March, 1979, the opening
program festivities also celebrated on
March 31 and 1st of April. ‘River-Vu Drive In’ in 1980 Photo: Kevin Adams
The ground floor consisted of
office and ticket sales space;
refreshment bar; a meeting (or art)
room, and two dressing rooms. The
upper floor contained a steeply raked
272-seat auditorium with a large stage
that could be reduced in size and
closed off to form a second, smaller,
90-seat performance space via the
clever use of soundproof doors.

The Second Paramount
‘Plans of Arts Centre (Paramount # 2)

The theatre was equipped for
16mm projection and a roll-down
cinema screen was placed
immediately in front of the closed
acoustic doors in the large auditorium.
At this time the Echuca Film
Society used these facilities on a
monthly basis, however the venue was
later equipped for regular 35mm
presentations, and was leased as a
cinema by a number of operators over
the years.
The Paramount (II) closed at the
end of 2000 to be auctioned on 7 April
2001, and subsequently, the new
owner indicated that they planned to
convert the building into a tavern.

Paramount Arts Activity Centre

24 2002 CINEMARECORD