The Arts Academy in Ballarat is not just about training future creatives. The Camp Street cultural precinct is a destination.

We present local, national and international exhibitions, live performances, screenings, festivals and events in venues and spaces including:

• The Post Office Gallery
• Black Box Theatre
• Helen MacPherson Smith Theatre
• Performance activations in Alfred Deakin Place
• Window projections in Alfred Deakin Place display new animation, design and art in a nightly exhibition series of student work
• Pop-up exhibitions on walls and fences

Incorporating Ballarat’s heritage

The Camp Street Campus is anchored in the city’s gold rush history. The site between Lydiard Street North and Camp Street where the Arts Academy now resides was once known as The Government Camp (or Police Camp), and was first occupied by the police in 1851. Its elevation meant the troopers could oversee the surrounding gold diggings.

Read more about mapping Eureka.

Our Post Office Gallery occupies what was formerly the Ballarat Post Office, the third building erected on the site since 1858.

Other historic buildings, whose original purpose is creatively been left in their names, include the:

• Old Law Courts, the Arts Academy’s administrative centre, lecture theatres and performance studios
• Old Sheriff’s Office, a performance space
• Old Library, performing arts studios
• Old Post Office, which house the Post Office Gallery, printmaking and drawing studios