Artists Encourage Audiences to Play Their Role in Pandemic Recovery

Artists from Victoria's diverse arts community have joined forces with some of Melbourne's leading arts organisations to create an awareness campaign encouraging Victorians to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Conceived and delivered by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the campaign encourages audiences to play their part and get vaccinated against COVID-19 by giving the community their 'performance of a lifetime'. The content is based on health communication theories and models to address vaccine hesitancy in the community.

Written and directed by Emma Muir-Smith, the 'Performance of a Lifetime' video features a stellar line-up of Melbourne-based performers including Deborah Cheetham AO, Tim Minchin, Meow Meow, Rhonda Burchmore OAM, Virginia Gay, Tripod, artists from The Australian Ballet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Theatre Company, Short Black Opera and many more.

"Whether we play in an orchestra, act within an ensemble or dance in the corps de ballet, it's essential that we each perform to our highest standards in order to deliver the performance of a lifetime," said MSO Managing Director Sophie Galaise.

"Along with our colleagues in the arts community, we are encouraging our audiences and the wider community to get vaccinated so we can all get back to doing what we love - whether that's playing contact sports, enjoying a meal with our loved ones, or getting back on stage to entertain our treasured audiences."

Applauded by the Victorian government, the campaign is based on health advice that mass vaccination is essential to preventing further lock downs and avoiding the need for social distancing and subsequent limited venue capacities.

Minister for Creative Industries, The Hon Danny Pearson MP recognised the MSO's creative and community leadership.

"Our arts community is doing everything they can to recover and reactivate and this campaign is a clever and creative way of encouraging audiences to play their role and get vaccinated. If you can get vaccinated, please book in or visit a Hub - the sooner we get vaccinated, the sooner we can get back to doing the things we love."

The social media campaign, which will also be aired at select MSO performances, was filmed at St Vincent's Hospital Royal Exhibition Building Vaccination Hub and Arts Centre Melbourne and features archival footage from a range of arts organisations.

The video will include captions for priority languages recommended by the Department of Health - Arabic, Cantonese, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Mandarin, Punjabi and Vietnamese.

Special thanks to the artists and organisations who gave their time in the making of this video:

Arts Centre Melbourne
Malthouse Theatre
Melbourne Chamber Orchestra
Melbourne Opera
Melbourne Theatre Company
Short Black Opera
The Australian Ballet
Victorian Opera
St Vincent's Hospital

Christian Bagin
Carlos Barcenas
Dale Barltrop
Shauntai Batzke
Benedict Bemet
Samuel Bortolazzo
Rhonda Burchmore
Deborah Cheetham
Matthew Chin
Wendy Clarke
Anthony de Masi
Nadine Dimitrievich
Virginia Gay

Kathleen Halloran

Robyn Hendricks
Miss Jay
Callum Linnane
Bailey McMillan
Meow Meow
Tim Minchin
Geetanjali Mishra
Bede Nash
Yiana Pandelis
Kurt Pimblett
Belinda Prakhoff
Sophie Rowell
Priya Srinasavan
Matthew Tomkins
Kurt Pimblett
Matthew Tng
Tripod - Scott Edgar, Simon Hall, Steven Gates
Emma Vize
Ian Wildsmith
Aaron Wyatt