Scots’ Church and Salvation Army host busking festival to help CBD recover after shutdowns

Melbourne’s CBD is still struggling after all the shutdowns, so a novel idea has been launched to help bring the buzz back.

The Salvos' Major Brendan Nottle, busker magician Aiden McHarg and Rev Phil Campbell from Scots’ Church. Picture: David Caird

When Scots’ Church’s Reverend Phil Campbell looked down from his office in Collins Street during Melbourne’s lockdowns he didn’t like what he saw.

“It was a pretty sad scene, quite miserable,” he said.

“It was one of the busiest corners of the city, but during lockdown it was a ghost town.”

Driven by that image, Rev Campbell has joined forces with the Salvation Army to launch a campaign to help bring the buzz back to the CBD.

The Salvos' Major Brendan Nottle, busker magician Aiden McHarg and Rev Phil Campbell from Scots’ Church. Picture: David Caird

Dubbed Loving the City to Life, it includes a Festival of Buskers that will see artists performing at lunchtime on Wednesdays and Thursdays starting this week.

“We are keen to show the city some love, so we and the Salvos will be running parallel programs on getting the city back on its feet,” said Rev Campbell.

Free coffee will be served during the performances, but nearby cafes will be compensated so they don’t lose income after the devastation of lockdowns.

Rev Campbell said: “Because we love our city small businesses, we don’t want our excellent free flat whites to compete with local cafes, so we’ll be paying it both ways.”

A Melbourne busker. Picture: Alex Coppel

Salvation Army welfare worker Major Brendan Nottle said his organisation was keen to help revive the CBD.

“We want to recreate that vibe that Melbourne is known for, which is a really positive, engaging and welcoming place for everyone,” he said.

“We want to provide some interesting activity in the city that might help attract people back in, and while they’re watching a busker they can have a free cup of coffee as well.”

Maj Nottle said that the Salvos had remained busy caring for people during pandemic shutdowns, with the vulnerable including international students and those who had been employed as casual workers but had been unable to access JobKeeper and Jobseeker.

Buskers will perform Wednesdays from noon to 2pm outside Salvos’ Project 614 at 69 Bourke Street, and Thursdays outside Scots’ Church at 150 Collins Street.

As part of the campaign, Scots’ Church will also create a community herb garden next to the Westpac walkway, and host a free community sausage sizzle in December.