As Australia experiences bushfires, extreme heat, and hazardous smoke, it’s proving a challenge for the arts industry to return to business as usual. Already, large-scale events have been cancelled, arts institutions closed, and health advice issued to stay indoors.
What this truly means for our creative community remains unpredictable, because we’ve not experienced a climate crisis of this scale.
As bushfires continue, we may see audiences avoiding outdoor venues due to the hazardous air quality. Rural touring could become a thing of the past if artists deem it too dangerous to travel into communities affected by fire, or when smoke causes flights to be cancelled.
The orange haze blanketing our towns and cities paints a grim picture for our performing arts industry. However, its practitioners remain practical. Rather than abandoning their audiences, they have figured out how to adapt to these changes to their environment – and quickly.
For every arts event that is cancelled, another fundraiser pops up. One such venue chipping in is Tempo Rubato – a new Brunswick music bar. This February 29, the venue will present 16 hours of continuous music as a tribute to the firefighters’ enduring efforts.
For Tempo Rubato founder Georgina Imberger, it’s been a challenge to navigate this summer’s conditions when her building was designed without air conditioning, as a way to reduce energy consumption.
‘If I can find a way to keep it cooler and more circulated in there on the really hot days, without consuming more energy, we will do it,’ Imberger said.
The venue is housed inside a brick factory and enveloped in cement, which helps to keep things cool. Air is circulated with industrial fans as windows and doors stay closed to help prevent outdoor pollution from entering.
‘It always feels like a sanctuary to me in there – from life; and lately, from the smoke on the bad days. But it seeps in, of course, with punters coming in and out.’
Imberger also uses Tempo Rubato’s Facebook page to provide a community service, sharing news about fires and medical information.
‘In the face of this extraordinary loss that we are seeing … it feels very necessary to me to voice support; to believe that all help is helpful.’
Mutual benefits
TV presenter and comedian Tim Ross – an advocate for Australian architecture – chose to present an encore of his show Motel as a benefit for the Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund.
‘We want to pitch in and do our bit. This is our version of filling up the car with food and needed objects and dropping them off,’ Ross said.
He described Motel as ‘an exploration of Australian holidays of the past’ through stories and song – a theme that may hit home for those feeling nostalgic for happier seasons.
Of events like these, Ross believes audiences ‘appreciate artists giving you their time for a cause. It makes the social contract between performer and the audience even closer’.
‘I have seen so many beautiful, thoughtful, and collegiate responses to this disaster in the arts community and it has made me proud.’
Composer Josh Belperio gifts his talents to the fire efforts through his upbeat song Homo Vs Scomo – a comedic albeit damning open letter to Scott Morrison about the government’s crisis response. The music clip is free on YouTube, but when the track is purchased, Belperio donates 100 per cent of the profits to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal.
It’s one of the many examples we’re likely to see of the climate crisis making its way into the career output of Australia’s creative community.
‘I use comedy so that I personally don’t get overwhelmed when I dive head-first into responding to a very serious and concerning emergency,’ Belperio said.
Though he presents a lighter response to the crisis, it still takes its toll on the artist: Belperio braves the smoke each day, thinks twice about touring, and laments a friend’s evacuation from their home.
‘I feel afraid and I feel small and I feel hopeless. I can’t really imagine a way that despair is a useful emotion, so I just try not to wallow, and instead to direct my energy towards activism, writing songs, and attending protests. But it’s hard, it really is.’
Pianist Andrew Rumsey has been personally impacted by the fires, and is currently organising a series of fundraising concerts.
‘I can’t fight a bushfire. I’m not in a location where I can house injured wildlife. I can’t build someone a new home that has been ravaged by flames. But I can use music for good,’ Rumsey said.
‘I can’t build someone a new home that has been ravaged by flames. But I can use music for good.’
Andrew Rumsey
It’s not been an easy road for Rumsey, who spent a month preparing his Bundanoon family home in anticipation of fast-moving bushfires.
‘The sky started to turn orange and then red, and we knew we were in trouble. We received a message that it was too late to leave as we were getting in the car,’ Rumsey said. At this point he was determined to evacuate, and drove through fire zone to escape.
As might be expected after such an experience, Rumsey explained ‘the past few weeks have been filled with sadness and anxiety, and my mind has been far away from music’.
‘Creatively speaking, it has been suffocating,’ he said.
Andrew Rumsey performing under pressure. Image supplied.
‘My heart breaks for the people who have died, for those who have lost their homes and their livelihoods, and for the millions of animals that have perished – it is a level of suffering we haven’t known in this country for a very long time.’
Now, Rumsey spends much of his days indoors, and uses a P2 facemask and emergency apps when he needs to go outside. Though he doesn’t have any outdoor concerts coming up, the musician feels it would be ‘perfectly understandable’ for venues to cancel their events.
‘People’s safety obviously needs to come first, but I also understand the disappointment if an event had to be cancelled.’
The bushfires are already proving to shake up our arts industry – and they are expected to continue over the months to come. For this reason, it’s important for the community to remain connected and supportive.
‘Supporting one another will be a bridge over the troubled waters. Be a friend and help in any way you can,’ Rumsey said.
‘We have seen beautiful acts of kindness, generosity and support from people across Australia, and indeed internationally.
‘Any helping act, no matter how big or small, is worth the effort.’
