THE legacy of Warrnambool costume designer David Richards will live on through a Melbourne Arts Centre project named in his honour.
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To be officially launched on Wednesday night at the Arts Centre’s Stage Presence exhibition, the David Richards Gift is the result of a generous bequest to the centre made by Richards, who died last year.
The bequest to the Melbourne Arts Centre’s Australian Performing Arts Collection will allow the centre to “proactively collect and display performance design - including stage and costume - well into the future”, a spokesperson said.
Richards was a costume designer, arts advocate and founding member of the Music Theatre Guild of Victoria.
He studied at Warrnambool High School and did his initial costume designing for the Warrnambool Theatre Group before moving to Melbourne to become an actor.
Richards then found his way into costume design and did the costumes for Australia’s first amateur production of My Fair Lady.
He won a Designer of the Year award from Melbourne’s Free Entertainment In The Park committee for the 300 tailored costumes he designed for the musical Tenderloin.
Richards returned to Warrnambool on occasion for exhibitions of his award-winning designs.