Artist Kevina-Jo Smith moved to the Blue Mountains in NSW for a six-month stay with her partner. Five years later the couple are still there, working on their creative practice and enjoying the lifestyle available in the mountains.
‘We thought we were doing it temporarily; we both approached it as an ‘extended residency’ of a kind and we were both at a point where we wanted to get away from the city. We were looking to move in together and we wanted a place that would accommodate two different practices, mine being visual arts and his being music. Obviously that is fairly impossible in the city and it was his suggestion that we come and look up here. We initially took a six month lease and thought that would be it.’
The couple are part of a trend that sees creative types moving away from metropolitan centres. With city housing prices increasing and infrastructure for transport and communication technology improving, working in a regional location has become more viable.
Regional arts centres and widespread local government investment is providing arts sector jobs in areas such as Castlemaine, the Yarra Ranges and the Blue Mountains. It turns out there are some serious benefits for creative practice.
IT’S MORE AFFORDABLE
Across the board, affordability is recognised as the catalyst for many artists who choose to relocate, especially for those considering starting a family.
As Creative Industries Cluster Manager for the Blue Mountains, Kelly Blainey works closely with the creative community in the region.
Read: What is a Creative Cluster?
Blainey has noticed a lot of people relocating to the mountains from the inner west of Sydney and agrees that affordability is the major drawcard.
‘City prices are out of reach for a lot of people, especially young creatives. But up here they can buy a house with a big garden and studio space, for the same price as an apartment in the city,’ she said.
The same can be said of Castlemaine. Approximately one and a half hours from Melbourne, the creative community in Castlemaine has also expanded over the years. ‘Rents are cheaper than in Melbourne. And with various creative hotspots around Castlemaine such as the festival and Lot 19 which has artist studios, there is a landscape that’s very supportive of contemporary art practice. People have felt there is increasing possibility here,’ said Punctum Artistic Director Jude Anderson.
‘A lot of artists are moving here when they want to have kids. There are really great primary schools and secondary schools in the area. People often say its a great place to raise kids, it goes back to that adage ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. It still has that village feel. And it has a great music and arts curriculum because of the teachers that are here. Right through from Kindergarten to the end of high school there is a supportive environment for kids who want to develop their creative practice and skills. There’s support all around the place really.’
Smith said moving enabled her to keep working on her practice. ‘Previous to the move it was constantly in the back of my mind that I would have to give this up at some point. I can’t keep living; you are essentially living off a teenage income that isn’t realistic. By moving I could move forward instead of having to stop.’
YOU WILL BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
Affordability may be the catalyst behind the decision to move from the city, but it is not the only benefit. For Anderson, one major advantage has been an increase in productivity.
‘The productivity that is possible when you are based regionally is quite extraordinary. I am very productive here, whereas in the city I’m distracted and things go more slowly,’ she said.
‘We work really hard regionally. And you work fast because you don’t have to grapple with the vicissitudes of public transport or traffic jams, that sort of thing. You know directly where to find people.’
After a long period overseas, Anderson founded the experimental live art organisation Punctum in Castlemaine because she understood the appeal and benefits the location offered for international artists.
‘I spent my childhood in the country and I understood how it could fit with the way I work and many other artists with whom I sought to work. It has since drawn a lot of people to the area, or has uncovered a lot of people in the area who are doing amazing work in all sorts of contemporary art forms.’
The organisation introduced a residency program eight years ago that allows other artists short term access to the advantages of the regional location. ‘When you are working with international artists as well, they actually like to experience a bit of Australia that is not expressed through a metropolis,’ she said.
Both Smith and her partner, a musician, also noticed a burst of productivity after they moved to the Blue Mountains. ‘I got lots done and he wrote and recorded a new record so we looked at extending our stay and now we are here for good.’
‘It was really exciting to see how much we both achieved. I guess it’s that snowball effect that the more you do the more you get excited and you take your practice seriously and see it viable,’ said Smith.
Caitlin Shearer, Eloise Maree Crossman, and Georgia Blackie; Photo by Ona Janzen, supplied by Blue Mountains Economic Enterprise.
INCREASED OPPORTUNITY FOR COLLABORATION
Perhaps counter-intuitively a smaller community can actually mean more opportunity to collaborate.
Amy Middleton, Community Cultural Development Officer at Burrinja Cultural Centre in the Yarra Ranges, believes a smaller creative community leads to more collaboration between artists. ‘I’ve noticed in the last couple of years a huge groundswell of collaboration between different artforms and different artists. You get your animators working with your performers and choreographers and that’s really interesting. There is some really interesting work happening in that collaborative world,’ she said.
‘Maybe because you don’t have the volume of artists practicing in the same space, geographically or conceptually, the partnerships and cross-pollination of artforms happening are really interesting.’
Editor of Hillscene Adriana Alvarez agreed that because the community is small people can get involved and collaborate more easily. ‘It is not so big and overwhelming. As long as you know one person you get to know other people. It is very community minded and is very inclusive of everyone, but it is also big enough that there is enough happening.’
In her role as Cluster Manger, Blainey actively seeks out opportunities for collaboration between local creatives and has started many new initiatives in the region to help facilitate this. ‘My job is to help make those connections happen and to introduce people to one another. We hold a monthly salon and people come along and give readings and then after that people just mingle and get to know each other. That’s when you see collaborations start to happen, having that opportunity to get out and meet each other.’
INDEPENDENT VOICES FLOURISH
For Smith, moving from the city has allowed her to focus on what she wants to do rather than being influenced by what is going on in the art world.
‘I’ve developed, in a way. I feel like I was just carrying on post art school and not really finding my individual space to operate. I kept thinking, ‘I have to do that because that’s what I learnt at school’. I think you get into structures that aren’t necessarily even relevant to being an artist. Literally taking a step back and looking in on what is happening and how it is happening in the city so you can step in to the things you choose, rather than trying to be involved in everything or saying yes to everything. That has been really great,’ said Smith.
Anderson also makes the point that a regional location is suited to certain practices, such as live art which doesn’t call for a large audience. ‘The kind of work that we do embraces that and has taken us into the realm of what is the intimate relationship with the audience, and live art avails itself to that,’ said Anderson.
YOU CAN HAVE IT BOTH WAYS
While some distance from the city can be helpful, the creative communities of the Blue Mountains, Castlemaine and the Yarra Ranges are not so far as to be remote.
As Middleton said, the hills are perfectly position just outside the city of Melbourne to capitalise on the benefits of distance but also allow people to commute to the city if needed. ‘In the last five years there are has been an influx of really interesting artists coming to the hills. The train line has a lot to do with that. People can still commute back to the city and live out in the hills.’
Anderson says the same of Castlemaine. ‘We aren’t too far from Melbourne, when you are required to be in Melbourne you don’t need to give over two days. It doesn’t become an expensive exercise.’
‘We aren’t a remote town we are a regional town. When you are working in a remote town you have to shift your work again,’ said Anderson.
Photo by Louisa Clayton
THE ENVIRONMENT CAN INSPIRE YOU
Regional locations are often beautiful. Being closer to nature every day can be a motivator for your creative work. ‘For my practice in particular the nature of the space is really inspiring. I’ve feel like even though I’ve been here five years I have hardly explored all of the space that is available to explore. It’s never endingly inspiring,’ said Smith.
Anderson also finds the surrounding nature of Castlemaine in Dja Dja Wurrung country as not only an inspiration but also an interesting setting for creative practice to develop.
‘It extends across about four or five different geographies. That is often really surprising for artists and they draw on that a lot. I think the sense of solitude and isolation takes on a different form when you are working regionally than it does in a metro environment, and both can feed into work. But the spaciousness of nature is certainly felt strongly here and a lot of artists comment on that. The shifting dimension is extraordinary for them, Anderson.’
But Kevina-Jo also added that even though the isolation can lead to more productivity it can get lonely and inevitably you will want some reassurance or critique that comes from working alongside other people.
‘I was working away alone and I liked the anonymous aspect at first. I really liked just being able to work and go get a coffee and not be distracted and run into a hundred people I know. But you start thinking, ‘Even though I’m being really productive, is it good? No one is around to tell me.’
Luckily Kevina-Jo said recent initiatives in the area such as the MTNS MADE campaign have brought the local community together so now she can easily make contact with other artists in the region.
SUPPORTIVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND REGIONAL CULTURAL SPACES
It is important that a balance is struck between the distance and isolation that can benefit creative practice in regional locations, and the need for a sense of community and opportunities for collaboration. Supportive local initiatives run by cultural spaces such as Burrinja or facilitated by local government are key to striking this balance.
‘We have a supportive local government bureaucracy that understands what artists can bring to the area,’ said Anderson.
‘It is cited as one of their four pillars of support, I guess that’s linked to tourism as well. We have a very frank and delightful relationship with the arts officer. It’s a small town, the area is about 12,000 people and the town itself is 6,000 people, so its not a wealthy town. It doesn’t have triennial grants for artists, but we have a full time arts and culture officer – that’s indicative of the advocacy the shire is prepared to give to the arts. And we are always in conversation with them.’
‘No one is afraid of steeping into a meeting of council and questioning the budget and questioning the strategic plan and looking at that in the context of supporting arts and cultural programs across the shire.’
Middleton notes that while there seems to be an influx of artists who would normally spend a lot of time on their own developing their work, they have also recognised the importance of connecting with local artists and the broader community and Burrinja facilitates this. ‘We have great infrastructure, we have a beautiful theatre, and some really lovely gallery spaces, and this give people a space to belong to. Then it is an affordable area to live in and you can then take your practice back to the city, which is accessible too.’
‘For those artists who are supported by local council funding, the pool is less populated as well. The Yarra Ranges council are great with their community grants and the arts, culture and heritage grant. They have a healthy program there that supports local artists,’ said Middleton.
