The Friends of Lismore Regional Gallery Inc has spent a decade championing creativity in the Northern Rivers. Established in 2012, The Friends exists to promote and support the Lismore Regional Gallery, advocate for artists and deepen community connection with the visual arts.
In February and March 2022, Lismore experienced catastrophic flooding. The Lismore Regional Gallery was flooded twice, resulting in the loss of a large portion of its permanent collection, alongside office infrastructure, workshop materials and equipment. Despite the efforts of gallery staff, volunteers and The Friends’ members to relocate items ahead of the flood, almost nothing was salvageable.
The Friends lost all its administrative materials, equipment, promotional assets and event infrastructure. Many artists and creatives in the region lost homes, studios, income streams and places to exhibit, teach and sell work. The disaster deeply affected physical infrastructure and the social, cultural and psychological wellbeing of the community.
The Friends recognised its role had shifted from supporting a physical gallery, to reconnecting artists and audiences in a post‑disaster environment. It assumed the role of supporting cultural recovery and collective healing; creating alternative ways for creative practice and storytelling to continue; strengthening organisational governance to support long‑term recovery and redevelopment; and much more that isn’t easily named.
With a $12,295 grant through FRRR’s Rebuilding Futures grant program, which is supported by Suncorp Group, The Friends delivered a three‑part arts renewal, activation and governance strengthening project.
Key components of the program included:
- Bus trips to local galleries across the flood affected region;
- Artist talks and presentations which provided opportunities for artists to share lived experiences of flood impacts and recovery and discuss future models for creative practice; and
- Governance training to support The Friends transition towards charity and future DGR status.
These activities took place in non‑traditional venues such as local service clubs, pop‑up galleries, reopened pubs and regional gallery spaces. Despite operating in a highly disrupted recovery environment, the project delivered many strong outcomes. Most notably, artists were reconnected with community residents and opportunities after an extended isolation period, The Friends strengthened their role as a recovery partner within Lismore’s social and cultural community, and the governance training received positioned the Friends for long‑term sustainability through future fundraising.
Importantly, the project helped re‑establish social connection, shared identity and hope at a time when many community members were still living with loss and uncertainty. As one participant said, “Arts and culture practices have the ability to create cohesive communities, address contemporary issues, tell difficult stories and demonstrate that different futures are possible.”
Through this activity, The Friends has learned that future projects would benefit from increased on‑ground delivery support and extended timelines to match post‑disaster realities. They are however quite willing to take on this challenge, if they believe the activity will support community recovery.