Community organisations find new homes as Denmark council approves new leases for Denmark Arts and Denmark FM

Two Denmark community organisations will move into new homes this year, with the Shire of Denmark council approving new leases for Denmark Arts and Denmark FM radio station in its first 2026 meetings. Denmark Arts’ new home will be the old Denmark Library building on Strickland Street, a move made possible after the council approved the relocation of the library to the former visitor centre building on South Coast Highway last year. The library’s move enabled Denmark Arts to move from its current premises at 2A Strickland Street, and not a moment too soon, as the organisation had raised urgent health and safety concerns with its current building. According to the shire, ongoing structural deterioration of the building has made winter occupancy “untenable” for the group, and independent assessments indicated the building would require “substantial investment” to remain operational. The shire confirmed the council, who approved the arts group’s move at its January 27 meeting, was yet to decide the building’s future, but would consider potential purposes for it “in due course”. Denmark Arts director Abbie Pedersen said the relocation was a positive step for the group, enabling it to be more visible and accessible to the community. “While leaving our current location is bittersweet, we’re excited about the opportunities a central location will bring to our programming, and allowing Denmark Arts to connect more closely with our community artists and strengthen the town’s arts and cultural identity,” she said. Denmark FM and Denmark Arts have been longstanding neighbours at their current premises. This abutment will continue as Denmark FM also had its new lease approved at the Shire of Denmark’s February council meeting on Tuesday to move into a space next to the old Denmark Library and Civic Centre building. Station manager Matt Sivyer said the move came at a perfect time as the community radio station, which will celebrate its fifth birthday this year, had recently outgrown its current home’s capacity. “Everything really came together at the right time for us to make this move, we’re so happy the lease has now been approved so we have the full green light,” he said. Mr Sivyer said a big advantage of the new location would be giving the community, particularly local musical artists, the chance to get involved. “We want to set up three recording studios in the new space — we’ve got people working out in the hallway where we are now because we just don’t have enough space, with one of them set-up to accommodate a live band.” Shire president Aaron Wiggins said he hoped the relocations would enable all three organisations to flourish. The timeframe for the three separate relocations has not yet been finalised, and Cr Wiggins stressed that the moves would require patience and close collaboration to ensure the library, Denmark Arts and Denmark FM can all make the transition to their new homes as smoothly as possible.