A calm, eased reopening out of lockdown is the consistent approach being taken by the Canberra region’s arts venues.
For the region’s theatres and galleries, it’s not simply a case of picking up where you left off after putting everything on hold for nine weeks of lockdown.
With exhibitions, performances and events often booked months and even years in advance, the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre (The Q), Belconnen Arts Centre (Belco Arts) and The Street Theatre all told Canberra Daily they would be feeling the ramifications of the lockdown well into 2022.
Despite the logistical headaches that poses, there is a strong sense of optimism amongst the sector as they look to welcome patrons back in the coming months.
Belconnen Arts Centre
On Friday 26 November at 10am, Belco Arts will reopen their doors. It won’t be to a flurry of traffic or a big party, but a comfortable opportunity for the public to reacquaint themselves with the space.
“It will enable people to enjoy it either during the day with their kids or, if they’re working, they can come after work … it will be a nice, relaxed evening by the lake,” Belco Arts artistic director and co-CEO, Monika McInerney, told Canberra Daily.
The Centre will reopen with new exhibition Other Worlds: Exploring the Universe of Graeme Base, featuring a host of materials and planning documents behind the acclaimed Australian illustrator’s book, The Worst Band in the Universe.
“Our real focus over the next couples of weeks is to install and get our ducks in a row,” McInerney said.
“Our exhibition openings are usually very well supported and attended, we have a great community that supports us, and we reflect that back to them.”
A major exhibition years in the making for Belco Arts, Other Worlds was produced with full access to all the materials behind the book and will feature interviews, stories, and hand-drawn original illustrations from Base.
“When I first looked at the original works, it took my breath away,” McInerney said.
QR codes will be placed around the building to allow patrons to access some of the stories on their own devices.
A host of events and installations will run in conjunction with the exhibition; click here for more.
From Friday 29 October, a month before the public opening, the centre will first reopen for the multitude of small businesses that hold classes in the facility’s dance studio.
Belco Arts’ various community engagement programs will continue running online for the meantime and slowly welcome participants back into the venue in the months ahead.
Live shows and ticketed events in the black box theatre “won’t necessarily” take place until the end of 2022.
“Those things take months and months of planning, and so we’ve moved them into 2022 program,” McInerney said.
Despite that, the theatre and rehearsal spaces will be open for artists to make and hone their works, “maximising these spaces” over the coming months.
The Street Theatre
Street Theatre arts programs producer, Shelly Higgs, told Canberra Daily they have a “measured plan” that includes a soft reopening in November with several music and comedy events at 75 per cent capacity.
“We’ve got a few things on to whet people’s appetite,” she said.
The Street will officially reopen to the public on Saturday 4 December with roots band Kopasetic launching their new single, Petrified.
The South Coast-raised, Nashville-based Daniel Champagne will play 10 December, and then Kim Yang will launch her EP, Brave, on 17 December.
Comedian Randy Feltface will perform at The Street on 16 December.
The City West venue has, however, had to shuffle around a great deal of work, a process that began in June/July with the Sydney lockdown affecting a lot of pre-existing bookings.
The biggest move The Street has been forced to make is that of in-house production, Twenty Minutes With The Devil.
Originally scheduled to premiere in August the week after lockdown was called, Twenty Minutes With The Devil has been pushed back to June 2022 after the team were hopeful they would be able to have their season in November.
“We were hoping we could do that, but we just want to do best by the work; there’s three and a half years of work that go into it,” Higgs said.
“We just didn’t want to be in a position where it was pulled again because then there’s no outcome.”
Similarly, numerous musical performances have moved to March/April to fit in with wider touring schedules.
Higgs and the team at The Street will start returning to the venue from November.
“That’s exciting to be not stuck in a home office anymore,” she smiled.
“We’re ready to go in some ways, the building is just sitting there, it’s just waiting for its audience.”
The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centrre
The Q’s artistic director/programming manager, Jordan Best, returned to the building this week with the team “all slowly coming back in and trying to figure out what that means”.
While the biggest assignment right now is preparing to launch their 2022 season at the end of November, The Q will “gently and slowly” start welcoming patrons back next month with music and wine tasting nights.
“It will be a chance for people to come in and listen to some beautiful local music and try our new house wines,” Best said.
Then, come December, a host of “incredible” local dance schools will take the stage to present their end-of-year performances.
Looking ahead, Best holds a strong sense of optimism for The Q’s 2022 season as it, like so many performing arts venues, looks to rebuild.
More than half of the shows presented as part of The Q’s 2022 subscription season, the first Best has programmed, will be local productions.
“That’s massive for me, to have more than 50 per cent of our program is huge,” she said.
“Despite the fact we’re all feeling a bit weird at the moment, I am full of optimism for what 2022 will be.”
The new season will start in February with an in-house production of comedy musical, Ruthless.
“It’s an absolute explosion of joy and humour, it will be a lot of fun, it’s just brilliant,” Best smiled.
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