The initiative, called isolo8, will ask audiences to pay-what-they-can to watch weekly content by the region's best creatives.

A percentage of payments will go into a fund to support artists during a period that has seen many lose their livelihoods, IO Performance co-artistic director Chris Jackson said.

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"We're building it as we go, but it does seem to building momentum so we're hoping it can be a bit of a stop-gap measure for a few of the local artists," he said.

"We realise that everybody is under pressure, which is why we haven't put any ticket price on this - if you can't afford anything you're still welcome to watch - but it would be fantastic if people are in a position to support the arts."

Participating artists in isolo8 will be given a "stimulus" based on the latest news in the unfolding global pandemic, and will work remotely with artistic directors to develop a work to be streamed to audiences: "whether that be a scripted piece of theatre, it could be a dance piece, it could be an installation art or performance art piece that's on video - there are no restrictions as to how they artistically respond to it," Mr Jackson said.

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"It also provides the community with an opportunity to engage with local artists during this period of downtime where all the theatres are going dark," Mr Jackson said.

There will be eight original pieces each week.

Mr Jackson said IO Performance had six contracts pulled for just their organisation in the past week.

"It looks pretty dire for us, and it looks equally as dire for many organisations," he said.

"A lot of companies will struggle to recover from this - arts organisations and artists have very slim budgets in terms of how much profit and therefore contingency money they have in reserve to deal with these crises, and this is an unprecedented event.

"When shows get pulled or cancelled, it has a massive impact."

More information for isolo8 will be released next week on the IO Performance Facebook page and in The Examiner.

Meanwhile, Breath of Fresh Air film festival director Owen Tilbury is in talks to move the May festival online, with the majority of distributors for the films he had planned to show at Village Cinemas interested in the idea of a streaming-based festival.

"There's a bit to be done, but I'd think we'd be able to be up and running electronically by May," he said.

"It could be the way of the future.

"We're not about to keel over. Our mantra is very much about using film to inspire positive change, so if we can't be positive, then who the hell can?"