Within days of fleeing the Christchurch quake on 22 February 2011, and still in shock, Jeff Clark responded the only way he knew how – by organising a fundraising Court Jester performance in Nelson. Since then he’s continued to share his ‘Afterthoughts’ and journey towards “getting back to the business of entertaining the people of Christchurch”.  In his latest post, Jeff reflects on the past year.

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I turned 33 on February 17. Last year, I took a short walk across the Arts Centre from my job at The Court Theatre to the Dux de Lux, where I spent the evening in the Cocktail Lounge playing pool and hanging out with my wife and a bunch of my friends before going home to my 6-month old daughter and 2 ½ year old son. Five days later, midway through another normal working day, everything changed.

It’s hard to explain the magnitude of what has happened here in Christchurch over the past year. Everyone has had their own unique experience - their own personal losses, struggles and victories - over these twelve months, and for many, the ripples from that event are still spreading. My family has been relatively fortunate - our house is fine, we have family in Nelson who are more than happy to house us when necessary and I have managed to stay employed (albeit at various locales around the country). Even then, it has been one of the hardest times in my life.

The initial reaction to the earthquake is something we can be proud of. The acts of courage, bravery and generosity; the support shown across the country and the world (even as the aftershocks continued and the scale of the damage was still almost incomprehensible) meant that the people of Christchurch banded together (with the rest of the country around them) to ensure that while the city was damaged, it was not destroyed.

But the year has been one of struggle. Human acts of heroism and kindness are one thing, rebuilding infrastructure is another. Hope turns to frustration turns to anger, and there has been much of all three as local and national government continue to work on the realities of rebuilding a city. Benevolence and bureaucracy are mutually exclusive terms. Demolitions continue - it seems exponentially - and it is still uncertain when the cordons will open and the rebuilding of the CBD will begin. There has been strong concern voiced at the number of heritage buildings that have been - and will be - lost. A recent protest (sparked by a pay-rise for the Chief Executive of the City Council, but fuelled by much more than that) underlined that there are cracks in our society as much as the buildings.

I felt pride that the face of the city following the earthquake, the building that became the heart of the response to the quake to the disaster, was the Christchurch Art Gallery. Despite being a giant edifice of glass and metal (which, in an earthquake, seem the least safe of materials) it stood strong - stronger than even the brand-new Council Building. Such is the power of art to be greater than its component parts. As such, the gallery became the centre for the earthquake response effort. One year on, the art gallery is still closed and I feel a pining that we have yet to reclaim that space as what it was built for.

It’s a cruel irony that even as there is ever more space around the city from demolished buildings, finding space - to create, display, or perform - is still problematic for many artists. In some cases alternatives have been found, people have made do or compromised, but at the same time prices have skyrocketed and booking schedules are now months in advance. There are also spaces left by the artists that have left - gone to where the work is or for somewhere they can again feel safe. Much like the demolitions, these gaps will take a long time to refill.

But there have been some positive stories in the past year: The Court Theatre building and opening a new theatre less than ten months after the disaster being the most prominent. Over 13,000 people were through the doors to attend A Shortcut to Happiness, and the current show Side by Side by Sondheim is plowing on full steam ahead. Kudos also to Celebration Theatre for presenting two seasons of entertainment in a spiegeltent; Elmwood Players sharing their venue with the homeless-for-the-forseeable-future Riccarton Players and Repertory; the Christchurch Arts Festival for adapting so quickly to the new circumstances in the city to find new programming, new venues and offering cheap tickets (enjoying stunning numbers as a result); and initiatives like Gap Filler for offering some rays of sunshine amongst the grey.

Despite the internal and external tensions currently under the spotlight, the Christchurch City Council have made some great achievements. A section of Hagley Park has been transformed into a “one stop festival shop”, housing the Christchurch Arts Festival, Rugby World Cup Fanzone & Garden of Variety, Body Festival, World Buskers Festival and Chinese Lantern Festival (so far). The Loons have just received a grant from the Mayoral Fund towards repairing their theatre in Lyttleton - whether they can raise the remainder is yet to be seen. The Outwits have just finished their swan-song Summertimes production, “The Complete History of Christchurch (abridged)”. There have been a number of productions, concerts and exhibitions that have occurred in spite - or because - of the events of the past year.

As we approached the end of 2011 the opportunity to consign the earthquakes to the past was rudely stolen from us by the December 23 aftershock. It isn’t over, any more than it was in June. 185 birthdays have gone by without a guest of honour. A plethora of documentaries display images many would rather forget. Demolition and construction go on - the former will, eventually, stop and the scales will shift fully to the latter. For now, many of us still feel we are hanging in the balance.

This year, I drove from my job at the new Court Theatre in Addington, past the new Dux Live bar and back to my house (navigating a number of road works and detours) before my family loaded into a car to drive to Dunedin for a family wedding over the weekend. Given that on February 23 last year we were in Nelson it’s fitting that a road trip and family reunion rounded off the one-year anniversary of the event that sent us bouncing around the South Island and relying on family ties so heavily. We are both at home and somewhere completely new. Which, all things considered, is the best we can hope for.

• From the Archives

March 2011: Afterthoughts - Jeff Clark shares his experience during the quake inside the Arts Centre. In the month since the quake, Jeff has put on a fundraiser in Nelson, gone back to Christchurch to help with The Court Theatre recovery and now has a temporary job in Dunedin.

August 2011: Perspective -  Six months since everything changed for Christchurch - Jeff Clark looks back, looks around and looks forward to the future for the city, people and arts scene.

Christchurch Earthquake 2011: News and creative community posts

• Read all Afterthoughts blogs by Jeff Clark