Frank van Straten

Frank Van Straten (14 May 1936 – 19 April 2024) was a noted Australian performing arts historian and author.

He arrived in Melbourne in 1940 aged four with his parents, Leon, an English bandleader, who had met his wife Evelyn in Melbourne on a tour in 1925. Frank took his early love of theatre into a career in advertising, television production, and record marketing.

He applied successfully in 1979 for the job as the first archivist of the Performing Arts Museum (now Australian Performing Arts Collection), at the Arts Centre Melbourne, and became its director from 1984 until 1993. During that time, as the only specialised collection of its kind in the country, the collection grew enormously, and formed the basis for the many exhibitions held in a dedicated space in the theatres building.

Since 2020, the Arts Centre Melbourne has been offering the Frank van Straten Fellowship, with funding of $15,000 awarded to conduct research using the collection.

Frank Van Straten died on 19 April 2024, at the age of 87. To commemorate the renowned theatre historian, archivist, author, radio presenter and devoted patron of the performing arts, a public memorial was held for Van Straten in the Playhouse of Arts Centre Melbourne on 16 July 2024 and was attended by hundreds.