Covid taught us one thing – to value the intimate, in-person art experience. It is not surprising then that this has stuck (even when so many Covid lessons haven’t).
Since that pesky pandemic, we have seen a bubbling up of house concerts – those ticketed performances held in people’s lounge rooms, backyards and private homes.
Moving to Mittagong, just an hour south of Sydney in the Southern Highlands, was a game changer for producer Drew Fairley, who established The How Do You Do? Club in his lounge room.
ArtsHub caught up with Fairley to better understand the challenges, the pleasures and the wins of house concerts.
In this story:
House concerts: what’s the attraction of the micro-venue?
Fairley says that the trigger for him to start a house concert series came out of an observation: ‘I’ve noticed such incredible heart in small theatres. They feel like an extension of the patron’s home as opposed to a public building. And, as a performer, you feel nourished creatively in a small loud room. You can see and physically meet the people who were part of the night and your soul gets a bit bigger. That’s my experience anyway.’
He continues: ‘Knowing this, I was on the hunt in my rural town for such a venue to try out shows and add to the local theatre scene. It’s not easy. There are huge financial risks and building an audience with that kind of pressure is not heartwarming at all.
‘Then it dawned on me, my lounge is big enough to make a pretend little theatre. I’m lucky enough to know some incredibly exciting performers and I’ve got a nice little space in rural NSW where they can raise the roof so I put two and two together. A micro-venue was born.’
He adds: ‘An afternoon on Canva and I had a neon sign saying “How Do You Do?” – the whole thing came together.’
House concerts: what’s the most memorable event that you have attended?
‘Alice Terry – jaw dropping singer/songwriter – once moved her show from a theatre to her rehearsal/recording room. The experience was much more bespoke. I loved the house party feel, mixed with the high-end professional show. It was a really beautiful evening,’ explains Fairley of that ah-ha moment.
It is not surprising, then, that the first act he invited for The How Do You Do? Club was Terry, who performed in late 2024.
House concerts: what are the challenges of presenting one?
‘The challenges fall into two categories – lugging and cash,’ says Fairley. ‘I move every stick of furniture, pot plants, artworks and even power cables around to fit the audience and performer in (I try and make it beautiful too.)’
Fairley has set up his ticketing so that it pays the performer, and the audience brings their own wine.
‘But it’s the arts so the “tickets” only cover around 40% of the costs.’ Fairley says that while he is addressing this challenge of breaking even, for him it’s more important to ‘make sure the spirit of the night is not affected. I love it so much’.
He adds as an after-thought, ‘but sometimes the clean-up can be a little hollow’.
House concerts: How do you find the acts?
‘Sometimes I make the bold claim that I’ve performed in every theatre in Australia. Although that’s not completely true, I’ve certainly seen my fair share,’ Fairley tells ArtsHub, adding that his network is wide.
Since kicking off The How Do You Do? Club in 2024, he has delivered six performance, with another three schedule to close out the year.
And when it comes to finding the talent, he tells ArtsHub: ‘35 years of performing around the globe has its benefits.’
This year alone, Fairley has presented from his loungeroom Jude Bowler (Theatre / Cabaret), a return performance by Alice Terry (glorious singer), Tim Handsome (Cabaret / Comedy), Christa Hughes (legend, Machine Gun Fellatio), and most recently ChrisTine Ryan (Comedian).
Trying to mix it up further, Fairley is testing three Afternoon Tea shows in spring, on top of the evening performance.
Read: So you want my arts job: Cabaret Artist
House concerts: why are they so rewarding?
Fairley says its simple: ‘It’s the best of both worlds – I’m getting my friends to travel out of Sydney to catch the show and spend the weekend out of town, and I see a great show all in the comfort of my lounge room.’
He continues: ‘Everyone gets a special experience. Any room charged with so much love, personality, warmth and satisfaction is worth being a part of. Creating work for performers is so important and meeting the coolest people locally is an unexpected pleasure.’
Fairley makes a really important point: ‘I think we associate large scale with success in the arts. I think that has something to do with fame and legacy.’ He continues: ‘If there was a small theatre or gallery or recording studio in every street we’d have more arts, better arts and most importantly nourished audiences.
‘I suspect micro-ventures make you feel like you belong.’
Advice: how do you plan a house concert?
Fairley keeps it simple: ‘Stay small, stay special, and get good cheese.’
He adds: ‘I think this scale of show is much closer to putting on a party. So, make sure your guests know where everything is, how long throngs will take, and let them have fun.’
The scale of your house concert will depend largely on the space you are working with, and your network to both find talent and audiences. There is a fine balance between too big and too small to make it viable.
Fairley averages an audience of 35.
Disclaimer: The writer (Gina Fairley) and the interviewee (Drew Fairley) are not related.
