WITH local pubs and live music venues closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the local arts industry has been hit with a sudden loss of income and creative opportunities.
Gigs have been cancelled for the foreseeable future, but many musicians have taken to online platforms to fill the live performance void the industry finds itself in.
Local musician Mark “Crafty” Dean has gone down that very route, teaming up with Australian music icon Dave Gleeson – of The Screaming Jets fame – to host a weekly online concert to fulfil music fans’ hunger for some tunes.
“As a full time musician, a lot of my career relies on me being live and in person a lot,” he said.
“In late March I had a gig in the calendar which would have been at Dave Gleeson’s pub in Lenswood.
“So I said to him ‘why don’t I just come around your house instead of your local pub and we’ll do a live stream’. And he loved the idea.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on Crafty and his musical career.
Besides playing gigs, he teaches music at numerous schools and holds private lessons, with many of those lessons cancelled or postponed due to the virus.
Like his live performances, Crafty has moved some of his music lessons online via computer platform Zoom, but he has still been left with a large loss of income.
He said local musicians are hurting as they have limited ways to make money from their craft throughout the pandemic.
“It was my version of feeling like what a small business owner of a premises and I had to just close up shop. Everything else around me was just halting proceedings.
“I was trying to stay positive and keep the fact that we’re adaptable as human beings at the forefront of my mind.
“It wasn’t too long until I started to tell myself ‘this is the situation. Rather than fighting the situation, what is it I can do in this situation’.”
Despite the tough time many musicians are facing, Crafty said he is looking forward to the day Gawler’s pubs and venues open to put on “a big party”.
“I can only imagine for all the musicians and all of the bar staff, it will be a bit like ‘hey, we get to see our family again’ once all the restrictions are lifted,” he said.
To watch Crafty and Mr Gleeson’s live stream, visit the latter’s Facebook page each Sunday.