The arts centre has been closed since December because of occupational health and safety issues.

Wimmera Eisteddfod committee member Jenny Grover said there was no reopening date set for the centre, so the eisteddfod committee decided to postpone the 2018 event.

The eisteddfod normally runs in September.

Mrs Grover said the committee was given the option to use the Horsham Town Hall, but considered the venue too big for eisteddfod performances. 

“The committee felt the size of the town hall was a bit daunting for the young performers,” she said. 

“There isn’t too much fuss around it being postponed this year. Numbers have been dropping every year because it clashes with the Horsham District Football Netball League grand final.” 

Mrs Grover said the Wesley Performing Arts Centre was a perfect venue for shows like the Wimmera Eisteddfod, because it had perfect acoustics and equipment.

“Wesley is the ideal venue for us – we need a good grand piano and the facilities are perfect,” she said.

“The Wimmera Eisteddfod adjudicator Len Vorster said it is the most beautiful and most suitable venue in Victoria.”

Horsham Rural City Council closed the arts centre while building surveyors examined its safety standards and produced a report. It came after the centre's committee found possible irregularities with permits issued for the venue in the early 2000s.

Council’s community services director Kevin O’Brien said the surveyor report identified a reassessment of the building’s fire engineering requirements was needed.

“The building is owned by the Wesley committee, and council is managing the building,” he said.

“What council has done is provide money to Wesley to get a fire engineer to carry out an assessment.

“The engineer will identify what additional work is required to meet the emergency requirements for the facility.” 

Mr O’Brien said council was assessing quotes for the fire engineer, and expected this process to be finalised within the next month. 

He said council would then be able to advise the centre’s committee about what needed to happen next.

“Until that occurs, it’s unclear how long the facility will be closed for,” he said. 

Mr O’Brien said several groups including schools would miss out on using the centre for events, and the centre would also lose commercial bookings. 

“We’ve notified all of the usual users of the facility in Horsham. They are aware until we complete this report, we will not be taking bookings,” he said. 

“Council is working closely with the Wesley committee to get the report completed and keep the process moving.”

Committee member Simon Dandy said the centre was an integral part of performances in the community. 

“The venue itself is a unique venue. It can hold events that aren’t suitable for bigger venues like the town hall,” he said. 

“Obviously there are a few issues to deal with. 

“The plan is to firstly identify the issues, then look at how we fix them.

“The goal is to keep the centre going as best we can.” 

Mr Dandy said the committee hoped to reopen the centre as soon as possible, but said it was hard to identify when that might be.

“It will open as soon as practical – we can’t cut corners,” he said.

Horsham Primary School choir teacher Venetia Elbourne-Hobbs said it would be a big loss to Horsham if the centre did not reopen. 

Mrs Elbourne-Hobbs said the centre was great for primary schools because was easy to set up and pack up. 

“The town hall is a wonderful facility, but it’s on a huge scale cost-wise,” she said. 

“There still needs to be a venue in Horsham that is a reasonable cost to the community that we can use as a smaller venue.”