A 3000-square metre joinery factory is set to become the unexpected launch pad for an arts-led revival of flood-ravaged Lismore.
After the 2022 disaster, artists and performers, like many Northern Rivers residents, have been struggling to put a roof over their heads let alone find a roof to put their works and shows under.
The Northern Rivers Performing Arts regional theatre company has signed a contract to take over a vacant joinery factory.Credit: Danielle Smith
That is all about to change as the reimagining of Lismore continues apace.
Regional theatre company NORPA (Northern Rivers Performing Arts) on Thursday signed a contract with the Hampton & Larsson family company to take over the vacant joinery manufacturing site in the middle of Lismore’s CBD, where flood levels reached a record 14.4 metres in 2022.
NORPA executive director Libby Lincoln said they would need to raise $1.5 million by March 2025 to finalise the purchase and for basic repairs under the terms of the contract.
The vacant building, where doors, window frames and stairs were first manufactured in 1946, will initially be used for training, rehearsals, temporary events and back office operations, Lincoln said.
Then-premier Dominic Perrottet, arts minister Ben Franklin and Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich examine flood-damaged artworks from Lismore Art Gallery under restoration in Sydney in May 2022.Credit: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw
NORPA had been homeless since the inundation of its former long-term home, Lismore City Hall, led the company to stage its latest production, Wildskin, at the Lismore Showground and other shows at unlikely venues like the Eltham Hotel.
“Like many of the local businesses and community, we are digging in and not running, but becoming more adaptive, collaborative, smart and innovative in designing our future,” Lincoln said.
“The Joinery will become the engine room for NORPA and a resource hub for performing arts creatives [nationwide].”
Lincoln said investment partners, state and federal government grant programs, and philanthropists would also be targeted to help fund a $7.6 million second-stage building program, which includes raising the first floor above flood levels.
Furniture maker and Hannah Cabinet creator Geoff Hannah, pictured in his flood-affected home in Lismore in March 2022.Credit: Elise Derwin
In a document titled A Catalyst Project for Regional NSW, the company outlined that the site’s full potential could take further form, including “new tenancies with both arts and recovery organisations, temporary event spaces, parking, community landscaping, or the addition of a multi-storey development unlocking future revenue and capital gains”.
The proposed NORPA site is adjacent to the current city cultural precinct, which includes the library, music conservatorium, and art gallery, all of which are currently undergoing large-scale rebuilding works.
Further around the block, The Living School’s $6 million application to convert a vacant country department store into a campus for 200 students will also make available exhibition and performance spaces to community creatives.
On September 27 the reimagined Lismore Art Gallery will host its grand reopening, featuring a number of exhibitions across five galleries after being smashed by the disaster.
Director Ashleigh Ralph said the new gallery had been galvanised “by the excitement of the audience and colleagues in the region and across the country”.
The flood destroyed 40 per cent of the gallery’s permanent collection. However, the centrepiece of the collection, Geoff Hannah’s masterwork, The Hannah Cabinet, has been deemed salvageable.
The staggeringly complex 2.5-metre-high timber cabinet, which cost $1 million to acquire after a campaign to keep it in Australia, features 140 drawers and 17 types of precious and semi-precious stones and is still being restored.
The permanent collection, which includes works by Margaret Olley, Lloyd Rees, Albert Namatjira, Thea Proctor and Elisabeth Cummings, is currently being stored on the Gold Coast until a permanent flood-free storage solution is found locally.
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