The closure of the Dunedin Town Hall coupled with the redevelopment of the Regent Theatre has left several organisations scrambling to find alternative venues.
Dunedin City Council strategy and development manager Kate Styles said the council continued to work with groups affected by the closures.
Major events were to be held in the Town Hall during the Dunedin Centre development project, but last month the council announced it would close the venue from May for 12 months, citing health and safety reasons.
Groups affected by the closure of the 2200-capacity venue include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music New Zealand, the Southern Sinfonia, and the University of Otago.
Mrs Styles told the Otago Daily Times last month the council was discussing alternative venues with the affected parties, which included the Regent Theatre and the Edgar Centre.
However with the Regent Theatre scheduled to be closed from the end of October, and the Edgar Centre deemed unsuitable for many of the bookings, organisers were scrambling to find other venues.
From the end of October 2010 until May 2011, both the town hall and the Regent Theatre would be closed for redevelopment.
Mrs Styles said the closure of the town hall was a "red herring" for council, and it was too early to discuss compensation with affected parties.
Chamber Music New Zealand chief executive Euan Murdoch said he received a reply this week to a letter he wrote to Mayor Peter Chin last month, which raised the possibility of compensation if a suitable alternative venue could not found.
While Mr Chin has apologised for the lateness of his reply, the issue of compensation was not mentioned, he said.
Chamber Music had been shown a range of smaller but available venues, including First Church and Knox Church, "but the search was still on".
Otago Festival of the Arts director Nicholas McBryde said the closure of the Dunedin Town Hall had been a "big hiccup" for the biennial arts festival.
Festival bookings for the Regent Theatre were not affected, as its upgrade would begin following the completion of the festival, he said.
Suggestions some of the events scheduled for the town hall auditorium be held in other venues such as the Edgar Centre was "insulting".
"You wouldn't see the netballers be asked to play in the town hall," he said.
New venues would have to be found for one orchestral concert, four performances, and an a yet-to-be-named "international act".
A move from the town hall would be to a smaller venue, and that would also impact the festival.
The Otago Theatre Trust chairman, Mike Shield, said the Regent Theatre had fielded some inquiries from organisations put out by the town hall closure, but was already committed on some dates.
The trust had discussed with council, which owns the building, if it was possible to delay the theatre's development to accommodate bookings, "but we made our feelings clear that nothing would be achieved by delaying the start".
Southern Sinfonia general manager Philippa Harris said the sinfonia traditionally held three concerts in the Dunedin Town Hall and two smaller concerts in the Glenroy Auditorium.
"With suddenly no venues and no plan B, we've had to launch into an expensive investigation into alternative venues."
The organisation had juggled concert dates so they could put the three large concerts on in the town hall before the end of May when it would be closed for developments.
However, investigations were continuing into alternative venues.
Schedule
Dunedin Town Hall, May 30, 2010 to May 7, 2011.
Dunedin Centre (including the Glenroy Auditorium), end of February 2010 to November 2011.
Municipal Chambers, February to October 2010.
Regent Theatre, closing end of October 2010 to August 2011.
