| Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre | |
|---|---|
| TRECC | |
| Location | Greg Norman Drive, Tamworth, New South Wales 2340 |
| Opened | 1999 |
| Owner | Tamworth Regional Council |
| Operator | Tamworth Regional Council |
| Capacity | 5,100 |
Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre is an Australian arena, located approximately 5 km south of the Tamworth Central Business District, in the suburb of Hillvue. It is a multi-purpose centre, with a capacity of 5,100 and is the biggest of its kind, outside the NSW and south-east Queensland metropolitan areas.
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Its biggest event, each year, is the CMAAs, The Country Music Awards of Australia, held in January, during the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Other uses for the centre include:
The construction of a large event centre capable of housing a variety of functions on a year round basis and providing a facility capable of hosting Award ceremonies and concerts associated with the Annual Tamworth Country Music Festival has been on the “drawing boards” in Tamworth for at least 20 years.
During this time the profile of Tamworth as Country Music Capital has grown and country music has become a very popular music format. As a result it would be fair to say that Country Music is to Tamworth what miles of beaches are to the North Coast of NSW or the Blue Mountains are to Katoomba.
However, the Country Music Capital profile is not a natural advantage. It is the result of years of hard work and dedication by the country music industry and the community of Tamworth. Events had shown there was a need to keep pace with the country music industry growth rate and provide a facility to meet client expectations and demands.
Prompted by the need to protect our Country Music Capital profile and buoyed by offers of financial support, including a commitment by the business community to provide $800,000 over four years, and a commitment by the Federal and State Governments to provide $1.25m each towards construction costs, Tamworth City Council has decided to construct the Tamworth Regional Exhibition Centre as community owned asset for the long term benefit of the citizens of Tamworth.
The Tamworth Regional Entertainment & Conference Centre has been designed to provide a venue suitable for the staging of multiplicity of large major events, including indoor sports events of an international standard, in order to foster and contribute to the social and economic development of Tamworth and the North West Region.
Artists that have performed at TREC include Bob Dylan, Cold Chisel, The Seekers, Leo Sayer, Silverchair, Powderfinger & Missy Higgins, among others.
Australian bands Silverchair & Powderfinger played at the Centre, on 4 September 2007, during their Across the Great Divide Tour, in front of a crowd of 4,500 people.[1]