Art galleries and cultural hubs devastated by flooding

Art galleries, museums and cultural hubs and organisations in Queensland and northern NSW have been significantly impacted by the recent and ongoing extreme weather event with many inundated by flood waters.

At its height, the Wilsons River at Lismore in northern NSW peaked at 14.4 metres, causing the worst flooding in history and rising so high that Lismore Regional Gallery was inundated while nearby spaces such as Arts Northern Rivers and The Northern Rivers Conservatorium were also severely flooded.

Lismore Regional Gallery shared via Facebook “we are heartbroken for Lismore and our Northern Rivers community. Our thoughts are with the incredible SES and volunteers continuing to rescue our friends and loved ones—thank you. Lismore Regional Gallery is entirely inundated by the flood, as with most Lismore. It will be a long road to recovery. The gallery will be closed until further notice. For now, stay safe and dry and look after each other.”

Ashleigh Ralph, Director of Lismore Regional Gallery told ArtsHub “from the footage that we’ve seen, and knowing the height of the flood, we can see that the water went above the second floor of the gallery, about two or so metres, which would have inundated all of our pre-packing of the space.

“In the previous flood the top floor didn’t flood, but this time it did. We had everything on the top floor, which is now gone. So that’s our collection, that’s artworks from exhibitions that were on display, including the war rugs from Afghanistan, it’s the Hannah Cabinet. It’s everything” she said on Tuesday.

Ralph noted that she had yet to speak with the gallery’s insurer; nor was she certain how long it would take to be able to enter the building and inspect the damage. Most importantly, she noted that her team are all safe and accounted for.

NORPA, a theatre company based in Lismore shared “we do not yet know the extent this flood has impacted NORPA and Lismore City Hall and we will be in touch as we figure out our next steps. These coming weeks will be extremely tough for our region. Huge thank you to the SES and amazing volunteers braving these conditions to rescue people stranded in their homes - we are so proud to be part of this truly incredible community. Much like the rest of the Lismore CBD, NORPA and Lismore City Hall have been completely inundated with water.”

Arts Northern Rivers, the region’s peak body, is based in Lismore and represents the entirety of the creative industries from Tweed Heads to Grafton. Their Executive Director Jane Fuller told ArtsHub “we are devastated as we have lost everything in the floods: all our office equipment, books, furniture, the lot … We are not insured – like many here in the region, flood insurance can be at a minimum of $30,000 per year: simply unattainable for the arts sector.”

Arts Northern Rivers is already contemplating its next course of action with Fuller advising “This area has experienced a devastating recent run of disasters including the 2017 floods, 2019 fires, 2020/21 pandemic, and now the 2022 “Mega Flood”. How do we go forward? We are collectively tiring of the word ‘resilience’.

“Arts Northern Rivers is now forming a political and action response to assist – we need the Ministers to show up: State and Federal. Arts and Regional. To hear us, to believe in us and the future.”

Meanwhile in south-east Queensland, which received a month’s worth of rainfall in a couple of days, Queensland Theatre and galleries like QAGOMA, placed along the Brisbane River, have been closed since 27th February along with a number of other galleries temporarily closed due to the flooding and extreme weather.

Queensland Theatre had taken on a significant amount of flood water with power and phone lines cut off. Posting on social media on 28th February they shared “hopefully the worst of the hurlyburly is behind us but we're still not ready for guests….At this stage we are not able to re-enter the building, but we'll be sure to let our community know if we need clean up assistance in the coming days. Our thoughts are with all the people whose homes and businesses have been inundated.”

Amanda Jolly, Executive Director of Queensland Theatre advised that waters had overrun the ground level of their building affecting some offices, the foyer, the Diane Cilento Studio, The Bille Brown Theatre and many surrounding backstage and storage areas.

Art Guide has listed the following galleries and organisations as being impacted

Queensland
Queensland Arts Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA)
Queensland Theatre
State Library of Queensland
Institute of Modern Art
Jan Manton Gallery
Metro Arts
QUT Art Museum
Griffith University Art Museum

New South Wales
Lismore Regional Gallery
Arts Northern Rivers
Spaghetti Circus
The Northern Rivers Conservatorium
Lismore City Hall (NORPA)
M-Arts (Murwillumbah)

While various fundraising plans from galleries and arts bodies are set to be announced in the coming weeks, they can be supported now by donating to the Red Cross QLD and NSW Floods Appeal
The Queensland Government is offering one-off support assistance payments

Image top: Holly Ahern and Eden Crawford Harriman, In the Heart (2021). Sculpture in Lismore, New South Wales. Courtesy the artists. Via Instagram. Image above Queensland Theatre Courtesy Facebook