The Mill Theatre at Dairy Road has secured ACT Government arts funding for the first time, which creative producer Lexi Sekuless says will be a game changer for the Fyshwick-based company.
Ms Sekuless founded the 67-seat studio theatre in 2022 to give Canberra actors and theatre makers a place to develop their craft without leaving town.
The Mill will receive $50,000 a year under the government’s Arts Organisation Investment Program to produce independent theatre, develop artists, and provide professional opportunities for ACT artists and arts workers.
Ms Sekuless sees this grant as a chance to demonstrate what relatively modest investment in a producer can generate.
She has long argued that the ACT Government should put more money into local artists and organisations making work rather than ‘brick and mortar’ buildings.
Canberra’s independent theatre scene, however, is fragile and financially precarious, Ms Sekuless argues; many practitioners subsidise their arts work from their own unrelated jobs.
“I’m now in the cosy club of subsidised players, whom previously I have always complained about,” Ms Sekuless said. “The onus is on me to show that when you give me $50,000 what I would do for Canberra and the ACT is X, Y and Z.”
The Mill is one of 29 organisations receiving multi-year funding after the government increased the pool available to arts organisations by 25 per cent in this year’s budget.
Ms Sekuless said the funding “provides the opportunity to think long-term rather than short-term, adding a level of sustainability that is truly game-changing”.
“When you get ongoing funding, you’re moving from this gig-to-gig, project-to-project space to needing to think in three-year and four-year terms.”
Receiving organisational funding means that the Mill will change its legal structure and become a not-for-profit organisation. Ms Sekuless said that eventually the theatre may be able to seek deductible gift recipient status and philanthropy as another funding stream.
Actors Mark and Madeleine Lee will join the Mill as producers, while the company will also require a board.
“If something can live on beyond [its founder], then it belongs to a town or a community, so I’m really looking forward to there being a team,” Ms Sekuless said.
The Lees say they want to champion local talent, build collaborations, and make live theatre a shared ‘not Netflix’ experience “that brings people together, sparks conversation, and reminds audiences of the unique magic of live storytelling”, with artistically ambitious, financially sustainable, and accessible work.
“Our vision is simple but ambitious: to create and deliver outstanding theatre by Canberrans, for Canberrans,” Mr Lee said.
Ms Lee said that producing is far more than getting work on stage: it is supporting artists while balancing artistic ambition, strategic planning, finances, audiences, and community engagement.
“What particularly excites me about The Mill is its commitment to innovative programming that pushes creative boundaries while creating space for both emerging and established voices,” Ms Lee said.
Ms Sekuless said the grant would not mean increasing the number of productions. She deliberately reduced the Mill’s output this year, and wants to use the next four years to make the company more sustainable and secure. Instead, the money will help fund a part-time general manager and meet production costs.
“The Mill always does shows to the highest production values possible,” Ms Sekuless said. “To be able to put government funding towards that means that it will free up box office revenue.”
The Mill’s next major production is Stephen Sondheim’s Pulitzer-winning musical Sunday in the Park with George. It will be the Mill’s biggest production ever, with a cast of 11, five musicians, and a production team of 10.
Within four years, Ms Sekuless wants the Mill to help change how Canberra theatre is regarded nationally.
“I would very much like the Mill to have made a tangible contribution to changing the reputation of Canberra’s cultural offering and cultural ecosystem,” Ms Sekuless said.
“I would like people around the country to be saying, ‘Oh, you’re a Canberra actor. Oh, you’re a Canberra theatre maker,’ and they say that with positive inflection in their voice, not with negative inflection.”
