The Australian National Academy of Music will make Melbourne’s historic Abbotsford Convent its temporary home for the next three years. The move has been triggered by urgent engineering work required at the South Melbourne Town hall, where the music performance training institute has been based since 1996.

Abbotsford Convent. Photo supplied

Abbotsford Convent’s multi-arts precinct boasts over 120 studios, galleries and cafes, as well as 3MBS radio station, and is host to events such as Music in the Round. “We are pleased to be joining the creative community of the Abbotsford Convent,” said ANAM’s General Manager Nick Bailey. “The beautiful precinct – more of a ‘campus’ than a ‘venue’, although home to some extraordinary public performance spaces – provides an ideal environment for ANAM. When we are able to return to in-person training and performances, the Convent will provide a nurturing environment for the musicians and staff, and some wonderful spaces in which to share our music-making.”

“We are thrilled to be welcoming ANAM to our creative community,” said Abbotsford Convent’s CEO Collette Brennan. “As a vital part of the Victorian arts ecology, empowering artists’ creative practices is one...