The design is innovative and includes a 1000 seat theatre, a smaller 300 seat theatre and a rehearsal space with up to 100 seats. The building can be opened up in "festival mode" like an amphitheatre to house 2,000 people who would face out to the mountains across the inlet.

TTNQ, Advance Cairns, the Chamber of Commerce and other business leaders have got behind the proposal and endorsed it as the most significant piece of infrastructure that this region needs in the next decade.

We gulped when the price tag was revealed: $165M for the performing arts theatres, $50M for the museum and $13M for the plaza area. We will be seeking community feedback and acceptance; if this is achieved, then the challenge will be to work out how it might be financed and what sort of operating model might be put into place.

I remind myself that the Sydney Harbour Bridge was proposed and built during the depression in the 1930's and that it's fine to be visionary even during an economic downturn. I would appreciate feedback on the proposal.