Earlier this week I spent two days at ADAPT: Queensland’s Performing Arts Conference. It was great to be in a room full of performing arts colleagues after so long.

I was there at the invitation of arTour and Stage Queensland to share insights about audience trends since the onset of the pandemic.

It was also a chance for me to connect with colleagues: artists and producers readying new works for touring and presenters planning artistic programs to bring audiences back to arts centres and festivals.

What struck me the most, as I listened to other speakers share their learnings, was that the pandemic has forced us to become more responsive, more innovative and collaborative—and that these attributes could actually be the keys to tackling some of our sector's long-standing challenges.

The session that made this most clear was 'Lessons from 2020,' a discussion among leaders from our country’s three largest arts centres. The speakers were unanimous in observing a need to focus on people and relationships. They suggested that collaboration across departments and externally with the independent sector might enable us to not just recover the old ways, but build a more vibrant, equitable and sustainable culture sector in future.

Sydney Opera House

Fiona Winning at Sydney Opera House reflected on the heightened communication and innovation in response to the uncertainty and anxiety brought about by the pandemic.

Already poised to invest in their role as a digital broadcaster pre-pandemic (and with the excellent Stuart Buchanan newly appointed to the role of Head of Digital), SOH ultimately streamed 50 events and performances during the pandemic period. Fiona shared that what they learned over COVID equalled what they expected to learn and achieve over two years of their digital strategy.

Interestingly, construction in concert hall continued—since the building industry wasn’t as affected as the arts. SOH also fundraised $1.5m for a commissioning programme to invest in artists—money they wouldn’t have had if it were not for COVID.

Arts Centre Melbourne

We also heard from Melanie Smith at Arts Centre Melbourne, where the city's population was enduring another lockdown following an outbreak of the virus. She remembered back to when they first decided to close ACM on 16 March 2020. Their team was faced with cancelling 500 events—and ultimately lost $50 million in revenue (a quarter of a year’s trading) —but moving through the experience they had come together to support each other: 'There’s a lot more trust between us, we grew as a team.’

She said she has learned to focus on really looking after people and acknowledge that everyone is having a different experience.

QPAC

John Kotzas at QPAC said it has been the most challenging time of his career. He reflected that the only precedent they had to work with was an extreme weather event, which unlike the pandemic had a clear beginning and an end.

He shared that apart from having to reschedule events and communicate with audiences, there was confusion with promoters, ultimately creating extreme pressure on the team. At QPAC they went from having a board meeting every 2 months to having one every 2 days, working more closely than ever before.

He also spoke about some financial learnings. Working towards a business case for a fifth venue in QLD pre-pandemic, QPAC had reduced reliance on their base grant to 15%, relying on earning 85%—a model which proved to put the organisation under stress during Covid. Previously thinking $10m+ in reserves would put the organisation in a great place, he realised that those funds could be spent in 3 months with no other income. The organisation is now exploring new business models for digital work.

Leadership lessons

Stephen Foster from Cairns Performing Arts Centre said it was a time where true leadership would really shine—and I would suggest that this time is far from over. As we tackle the task of rebuilding, there are positive signs, with many presenters reporting strong sales (albeit with reduced capacities and fewer events). However, data from the Audience Outlook Monitor suggests that it's still early days in the recovery process, and we will need to work hard to not just bring back all segments of our past audience, but look to further grow and expand access so that more Australians have the opportunity to participate in arts and culture.

In opening the conference Minister Leeanne Enoch spoke about moving out of ‘survival’ mode and into ‘sustainability,’ and I think her words were spot on. She said she’s observed greater collaboration in the sector—and that if we work together, giving and telling stories, culture has the power to heal everything. She said ‘through the arts we see ways to deal with what’s going on around us’; it is fundamental to our recovery and helps focus on adaptation and agility.

Thank you to the organisers of Adapt QLD. It has helped many of us start to process the events of the past year and look at how we can tackle the challenges ahead through more collaboration, braver innovation and greater responsiveness than ever before.

 
 
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About the Author

Tandi Palmer Williams
Managing Director

Tandi is Founder and Managing Director of Patternmakers. She’s an arts research specialist and leader of the agency’s research projects.

 

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