The popularity of the arts at an Orange school has been rewarded with the announcement of funding for its first designated centre.
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Canobolas Rural Technology High School has gained funding for a $600,000 arts centre building.
You couldn't wipe the smile off my face
- Gabrielle Lindsay, Creative and performing arts head teacher
The school's Creative and Performance Arts head teacher Gabrielle Lindsay said it was a significant achievement.
"You couldn't wipe the smile off my face," she said.
Ms Lindsay said arts had undergone a resurgence at the school in the past five years.
"Our senior classes are full, most of the junior classes are full. We are really getting the kids in," she said.
"It allows them a lot more individuality, it inspires their creativity."
However, she said senior students had been 'feeling the pinch' of overcrowding and limited storage space for their work in the existing classrooms.
"I want these kids to have the best facilities we can offer because they deserve it," Ms Lindsay said.
"The work they churn out is amazing. Imagine what they could do if they've got the right space to work in."
The facility will be used by Year 11 and 12 students studying visual arts, visual design, ceramics and photographic and digital imagery.
The 400-square-metre building will have a large space for students to work in, two classrooms, a darkroom, a computer lab for digital art and visual design projects, a senior art studio and a covered outdoor working space.
It will also include a large storage space for equipment and artwork.
Ms Lindsay said the growth in interest in the arts was also noticeable in senior music.
"This year we have two classes where it hadn't been taught for a while," she said.
Ms Lindsay said the school also had other performing arts programs operating.
"We've got a band program up and running, we've got a choir program up and running which is really successful," Ms Lindsay said.
She said more modern facilities were needed.
Ms Lindsay is a former student of the school, graduating in 1986 before returning to teach there in 2009.
"I'm teaching in the same classroom I was taught in and it hasn't changed," she said.
"We really need it."
The arts centre will be on the south-eastern side of the school grounds.
A large mound of dirt on the site will be removed to make way for the new fully-lined steel structure.
The project has been jointly funded by the NSW Department of Education under its regional and rural renewal program and money provided by the school.
Planning is expected to start soon before calling for tenders for the building's construction.
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