Managing Director of MPH Australia during the day and renegade lighting designer by night (Dope Lemon, The Presets), Matt Hansen answered these questions whilst stuck in the Northern Territory’s Howard Springs Detention Centre. No, he hadn’t been arrested, rather he was serving two-weeks quarantine having travelled from Melbourne to participate in Alice Spring’s Parrtjima Australia – A Festival in Light.
What would you normally be doing this time of year?
Funnily enough, September is traditionally one of our quieter months. We tend to think of September/October as the calm before the storm, a brief reprieve before the summer period kicks off and we don’t stop for 6-months. We’d typically have something like a dance party on and maybe a small touring system or two out on the road.
Right now though we are fortunate enough to have a large outdoor lighting festival on in Alice Springs. It had originally been scheduled for April but was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak and, to the event organiser’s credit (AGB Events), in conjunction with the NT government, it has gone ahead. Hence being in quarantine at Howard Springs Detention Centre on my way from Melbourne to Alice Springs.
What’s a fairly normal day at the moment for you?
What can one say? Not much. Extended lengths of time sitting on the front deck (fortunately we have one!) with MPH Production manager, Michael Parsons, drinking coffee and solving the world’s problems. Making use of my 60 minutes permitted to walk, a bit of Netflix, dabbled in some Yoga with Adriene… two COVID tests and counting…
There’s also been a lot of very creative/dubious use of canned five bean mix.
Are you learning anything to improve your skills set?
I’m dabbling with learning Fusion 360 and would like to spend some more time on making ‘stuff’ although, when I’m back in Melbourne there’s plenty of home-related projects I need to finish up. We were in the process of getting a non-lighting related design and manufacture project off the ground but the latest round of lockdowns in Melbourne put a stop to that as well. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get back onto that soon and find an alternate source of income.
What bad habits have you slipped into?
I had heaps already. In seriousness, I like to think I’m making the best use of my time during a really horrible period. The silver lining to all this (if there is one), is having time to finish up personal projects.
How are you coping financially?
To some extent, we are all very lucky that COVID-19 hit at the end of the busy summer period, as bad as it is, I think it would have been felt harder, sooner if it had all kicked off mid-winter. Of course, we had months worth of booked shows cancel along with everyone else and every day that goes by without work, we go backwards but we were in a good position going into it I suppose.
Needless to say, JobKeeper has certainly meant the difference between staff being paid or not and we’re grateful that’s there so we don’t have to deal with losing them and the repercussions of what that would mean for them. For us, our bank and landlord have been extremely understanding and have definitely come to the party to help us weather this storm. Clearly to businesses that were doing well beforehand, they recognise this is no fault of our own.
We’ve of course still had to make some really tough decisions with regard to staff and wage cuts as well as personally to make sure we’re still around on the other side and in good shape. It’s definitely been a mentally taxing time and will continue to be until we’re permitted to get back to work.
When do you think live entertainment will return and in what format?
The return will depend entirely on the Governments’ (local, federal and international) handling of COVID-19 moving forward. There’s unfortunately very little we can do if the strategy continues to be lockdowns and restriction. The suppression strategy in Australia has no end in sight so there’s little hope at this point for the ban on large scale gatherings, which make up most of our income, to be lifted. Until there is herd immunity (from a vaccine or achieved naturally) is reached we won’t see a return to our usual work. Any limits on gathering numbers, social distancing, use of public facilities and the like, make it extremely difficult operationally to stage events and they, of course, aren’t likely to be financially viable though the entire industry has certainly been problem-solving from day dot to attempt to get various events off the ground. So far with limited success.
As an aside, we’re actually quite concerned that the decisions that have been made this year are going to see an unnecessarily protracted impact from the virus, with a potentially a worse flu/coronavirus season dragging on into next year with the effect obviously being us and many other industries out of work for a long time.
But really, it boils down to international touring for us as it makes up the bulk of our income. When Qantas is back to pre-COVID air travel, we’ll be back to pre-COVID production.
We’re all in it for the long-haul is our best guess. Summer next year if the strategy doesn’t change?
Do you have any words of encouragement?
I guess eventually things will return to some kind of normal and with all the science and data coming out surrounding the virus, it may actually turn around surprisingly quickly… or, it could.
It’s a great time to reskill or upskill. Some might not return to the live entertainment business at all, but that’s okay too. Maybe they needed this break to find their passion or follow a dream.
And to those out there who are struggling, there’s no doubt it’s an incredibly tough time but I think it’s important to recognise you’re not alone. I’m certainly always available to talk to anyone who reaches out and I just hope that anyone who is doing it tough feels they have someone they can reach out to.
What makes you happy at the moment?
Quarantine woes aside, I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to light some stuff up with our gear in the heart of our beautiful country. As the business has grown, I’ve had fewer and fewer opportunities to get out on gigs and do the dirty work and to say I’m looking forward to it is a good reminder that I’m incredibly fortunate to do a job, and work in an industry, that I love.
It also makes me happy to think of all my friends and colleagues in the industry being permitted to go back to work so we can all do what we love!
