Almost 30 tourists braved wild winds, freezing weather and heavy rain to listen to a recording of 2,000 ravens in a forest area that only four months ago was surrounded by bushfires.

Key points: Mona's DarkLab is running the $2 million Project X to use art to help bushfire-affected communities recover

Mona's DarkLab is running the $2 million Project X to use art to help bushfire-affected communities recover Hrafn: Conversations with Odin involves art lovers listening to the recording of 2,000 ravens in old growth forest at Hastings Caves

Hrafn: Conversations with Odin involves art lovers listening to the recording of 2,000 ravens in old growth forest at Hastings Caves There is concern that the money is shared out to benefit all communities in the Huon Valley

It was the opening of Hrafn: Conversations with Odin, a Dark Mofo art experience by Chris Watson which saw the visitors sit in an old growth forest on tree stumps at Hastings Caves south of Hobart, with nothing to protect them from the heavy rain but raincoats and plastic ponchos.

In January, many nearby areas were ablaze, as bushfires devastated the Huon Valley and other areas of Tasmania, deterring tourists and plunging many businesses and communities into economic decline.

As part of the Dark Mofo winter festival in Tasmania, Mona's DarkLab is running Project X, a major series of public art ventures to bring back visitors to the scorched areas with a $2 million budget stumped up by the Federal and State Governments.

Tourists were returning to experience the bird calls played from waterproof speakers mounted 15 metres up in the trees of the old growth forest, and spend money in the local communities.

The rain became so heavy and the wind was so loud, it almost drowned out the sound of the recorded ravens.

The forest fills with the sound of 2,000 recorded ravens. ( Supplied: DarkLab Media )

Poet David Mason said it was inspiring and motivated him to write about the artwork.

"Just amazing and to be out as the dark is settling in the forest, you really feel like you returned to something primeval at the beginnings of time," he said.

"This is a life changing experience in less than an hour, really amazing."

Most of the local, interstate and international tourists travelled to the event from Hobart on a bus as part of the Dark Mofo festival.

Victorian tourist Lorette said it was a peaceful experience.

"Walking through the bush in the rain to start on sunset … and just sitting in the bush with the rain and listening to those birds it was beautiful," she said.

The group that had travelled to the caves about two hours south of Hobart was then taken by bus to the nearby town of Geeveston for dinner.

They ate a feast of local produce that included local alpaca, octopus, pickles and vegetables.

Having her cafe and art gallery filled was both a financial and morale boost for owner Cassy Faux, whose business has not been the same since the summer bushfires.

Cassy Faux cooked up alpaca, goats and local vegetables for a feast to feed visitors. ( ABC News: Felicity Ogilvie )

"It's very hard to have five people walk through a day if that," she said.

Local restaurants have been taking turns hosting dinners to feed the tourists coming in for Dark Mofo.

Ms Faux has been excited about art being used to bring more visitors.

"It's really exciting to think this area is going to attract a whole new demographic of people who will be interested in my artwork, not just the coffee," she said.

Butcher warns about spending wisely

But just down the road, the local butcher and supermarket owner Matthew Nicholas is worried that only a few businesses in Geeveston are making money from the Dark Mofo experience.

His turnover has been down 12 per cent after the bushfires surrounded the community in January, and he questions how MONA is spending the $2 million governments' economic recovery grant on art projects.

Butcher Matthew Nicholas is worried that only a few businesses in Geeveston are making money. ( ABC News: Felicity Ogilvie )

"As long as they spread it around the community, I mean it's alright to have something down at Hastings, but maybe some close to the towns of Geeveston, Franklin, Cygnet and Tahune.

"Don't just keep it in one area because $2 million if it was spent in the right way could make a lot of benefits."

Ms Faux said her Dark Mofo dinner had already benefited her neighbours.

"It meant that I could buy local alpaca from the alpaca breeder, I could buy goat, I could buy vegetables from our local Geeveston community market garden," she said.

Chris Watson's Project X at Hastings Cave Reserve in southern Tasmania. ( Supplied: Remi Chauvin )

The $2 million art funding is designed to bring back the 85,000 tourists a year who used to visit the Tahune Airwalk, which was damaged by the bushfires and has been closed for months.

The towns of the Huon Valley did not get burnt by the summer bushfires, but large stretches of the forests did go up in smoke.

Visitors eating at a special Dark Mofo dinner in Geeveston. ( ABC News: Felicity Ogilvie )

John Fitzgerald, chief executive of Tourism Tasmania, has promised the arts funding would be spent fairly in the Huon Valley, could not say what the next art projects would be.

"There's definitely going to be some significant activities and attractions brought to bear in the region over the next six months," he said.

"Some of that's being still finalised, but I can assure the community down there there's going to be a lot of activity to shine a light on the region over the next six to 12 months."

The raven art at Hastings Caves will continue for at least another few months.

Communities take up to three years to recover: academic

Mehmet Ulubasoglu, a professor of economics at Deakin University, said it usually took two to three years for business recover after natural disasters.

Professor Ulubasoglu has studied the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, as well as the Queensland floods and cyclones, and mapped a national trend in terms of the people and industries that suffer the most.

"The vulnerable groups are quite similar [and include] low-income people … and renters, compared to homeowners," he said.

"Sectors that are badly hit [include] agriculture, transport, retail trade, and accommodation."

Based on national data, Professor Ulubasoglu said he expected the Tasmanian tourism funding would help the economic recovery of the Huon Valley.