Show to go on
An ‘epic’ outdoor music venue will survive for a little while yet after efforts to save it in September, but the next few months will be critical
Amuch-loved music venue with lots of history has learnt its fate for the rest of the year after efforts to save it in September. The Kuranda Amphitheatre is expected to survive after community efforts to raise funds. Kuranda Amphitheatre Society president Liza Dewey said after the roadmap was announced by the state government to open the borders she was more hopeful the venue would survive.
In September, Ms Dewey said she couldn’t see the venue lasting longer than a couple of months but they held a festival to try to raise funds.
“At the moment we will probably see it through to the new year, with the little bit of money we got from the Spring Festival fundraiser,” Ms Dewey said.
“It’s hopeful, but usually we have to sit through the wet season. Usually we don’t get gigs through the first part of the year as it is an open-air venue.”
Ms Dewey said the next few months would be critical in seeing the future of the venue.
“If we don’t get anything within the first half of the year, then we will have to close up,” she said.
But they are trying to do everything they can to make sure this doesn’t happen.
“We are just trying to scale everything down at the moment. We are looking at our costs for those smaller community events so all those events have had to be put on hold,” Ms Dewey said. “They cost us money and we have to keep everything for paying the bills.”
Ms Dewey said after no concerts over the past two years, the only hope was for promoters and management to actually hire the venue.
She put a call out to any promoters out there to go ahead and book the beautiful venue, which has seen its fair share of performers over time. When many people think of Kuranda Amphitheatre they think of some of the bigname performers – acts the likes of Mumford and Sons, The Rubens, the John Butler Trio, Don Burrows, INXS, Midnight Oil and The Furies.
UNFORGETTABLE, THE PLACE TO BE
Kuranda Amphitheatre Society’s first president Brian Clarke said there was a lot of history attached to the amphitheatre.
He said after hosting many of these amazing artists he got lots of feedback about the outdoor amphitheatre.
“Guys like John Butler tell us there are two places to play – Kuranda Amphitheatre and Red Rock in Arizona,” he said.
“It is an amphitheatre so if you are on stage with a full house you can see everyone’s face when you are the performer; these things really make a difference.
“One thing I do know is when the band’s having a great time, everyone in the audience can’t help themselves but also have a good time.”
Artists have not been shy about their love for the amphitheatre in the past. John Butler has played at the amphitheatre a few times.
“Kuranda Amphitheatre is one of my favourite places. It is an epic spot, it’s an amphitheatre in a rainforest on top of a mountain. That’s pretty amazing,” he said.
But the amphitheatre first began around the late 1970s.
Mr Clarke said something about their journey that was pretty special was how they were community run.
“It’s been a long journey – 40 years. Something that’s really special is that we are unique in the country and it’s a great example of social enterprise,” he said.
FOR THE COMMUNITY, BY THE COMMUNITY
The amphitheatre first started because they did not have a community space, and after some time the issue became vocalised by many in the community.
Mr Clarke said a group of 30 people got together to make it happen. He said the work went on for four years with help from a bunch of different young people, and some senior members including a lawyer, councillor at the time and postmistress.
“Finally it got to the point where structures were being built and the place really needed to seek a lease from council to ensure the effort would remain in community hands,” he said.
That is where the Kuranda Amphitheatre was developed.
“Cairns only had a small civic theatre, no major hotels, no large venues other than the showground on Mulgrave Rd,” Mr Clarke said.
“The idea was to create a space where we could secure artists that wouldn’t normally have thought they would be able to do that because of the lack of venue.”
From there they started the Spring Festival, which had a jazz show as the first ever one they produced.
It began with small theatre companies supporting them.
But the uniqueness behind the venue was how the committee secured promoters, which in turn brought some big performers.
“The amphitheatre itself is a venue for hire. We don’t run shows. It’s a very risky business. We were very fortunate to become known to a couple of promoters,” Mr Clarke said.
“We suggested to him (the promoter) if he was to bring people on Sunday and bring people
IF WE DON’T GET ANYTHING WITHIN THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR, THEN WE WILL HAVE TO CLOSE UP.
at 3 we might be able to pull people from the markets so people could spend all day in Kuranda.”
But Mr Clarke said that the most important thing was that the amphitheatre was still there.
“The main thing is, it’s still there. That’s the legacy of the community, that’s also the legacy of people that are there to put in and not just take out.”
PLACE OF JOY
A WELL-known Australian singer has expressed his sadness the Kuranda Amphitheatre may not make it past the middle of next year. Vance Joy said the Kuranda Amphitheatre was a beautiful place to play and he had great memories from it.
“It was such a great place (to play), it’s going to be really sad if it doesn’t survive,” he said.
Mr Joy said he performed at a music festival with many other performers and the beautiful scenery made it a great venue.
“That was a great day – The Rubens played, Emma Louise played, I played, Big Scary played ... it was a very cool line-up,” he said.
Having performed in Cairns a few times, he said he had mostly played indoors but the crowds in the region were lovely.
“It was enthusiastic.
“That was a tour where we played mostly theatres, it was indoors. But that outdoor show in Kuranda was very memorable. There was beautiful weather.”
With an outdoor venue, Kuranda
IT WAS SUCH A GREAT PLACE (TO PLAY), IT’S GOING TO BE REALLY SAD IF IT DOESN’T SURVIVE.