Festival may go annual
The Christchurch Arts Festival could become an annual event as part of a revamp partly inspired by poor ticket sales last year.
Festival organisers are also appointing a new artistic director and chief executive to lead the revamped festival.
Festival trust chair Jane Gregg said she wanted to transform the event to make it less elitist. She said holding the festival every year, rather than every other year, was a ‘‘possibility’’.
‘‘We want to make it for everybody and not just a certain elite, with more accessible ticket prices and with more relevant presentations,’’ she said.
‘‘We want to make sure that what we are doing is for the whole city, not just a section of it . . . We wanted to get energy back into the festival and make it inviting to everybody.’’
She said the rethink was partly in response to poor ticket sales last year, when 9000 fewer tickets were sold than the previous event in 2015. About 20,000 tickets were sold last year, compared to 29,000 in 2015 and 31,000 in 2013.
‘‘Following the 2017 festival, we undertook a major organisational analysis and pulled in various friends and supporters of the festival for feedback.’’
A new director and chief executive, had been selected and would be announced in about two weeks, once officially appointed. The new director would programme the festival, while the new chief executive would focus on funding and sponsorship, she said.
Former director Craig Cooper ran the 2015 and 2017 festivals, but had reached the end of his contract. Gregg said they wanted a new director who lived in the city. ‘‘What we really wanted was somebody who lives in Christchurch, who is committed to being in the city all the time and part of the city’s arts community,’’ she said.
‘‘Craig Cooper didn’t want to live in Christchurch and that was a fundamental requirement for the role going forward.
‘‘The work is not just to deliver a festival, but to be an arts leader in the city.’’
Cooper last year said 2017 ticket sales may have been affected by the festival’s clash with Cirque du Soleil’s Avatar-themed show, performed in the Horncastle Arena over nine nights.
In 2009, the festival reported debts of $500,000. It was rescued with a $300,000 loan and a one-off grant of $177,000 from the Christchurch City Council, and $150,000 from Creative New Zealand.
Cooper did not return calls for comment. Stuff