Appeal made to help restore iconic theatre

One of PNG’s iconic tourism products known as the Raun-Raun Theatre in Goroka, Eastern Highlands, badly needs repairs.
The National Performing Arts Troupe is on the verge of collapsing because of little or lack of funding support by successive governments over the years, according to Steven Kilanda, acting executive director of the National Cultural Commission (NCC).
Kilanda yesterday appealed to donor agencies, corporate houses and the Eastern Highlands government, particularly MPs from the province, to take ownership of the institution and help NCC revive the theatre.
Kilanda’s appeal follows a recent audit visit to the institution in Goroka. He was accompanied by the first secretary of the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture Andrew Yamai and a member of commission board Keryn Hargreaves.
Kilanda said his door was open to discuss ways on how best NCC could work with willing donor agencies and stakeholders to revive the institution.
“This is an iconic tourism product that must be restored,” he said.
He said the primary function of NCC was to help establish festivals and create or develop cultural centres around the country which all later became tourism products.
Hargreaves expressed similar sentiments and added that the Raun-Raun Theatre seriously needed immediate government funding support. She said the theatre was a huge tourism product for Eastern Highlands and should be restored.
The National Performing Arts Troupe is one of the three institutions that come under the National Cultural Commission.
The other two are the National Film Institute and the Institute of PNG Studies.