Decision imminent for Wexford Festival Opera

WEXFORD Festival Opera is due to make a decision soon on the future of this year’s programme in the light of Covid-19 restrictions which are forcing many arts organisations to cancel events or hold virtual versions online.

‘We are still monitoring the situation. We are analysing the social distancing requirements and are hoping to have some news soon,’ said a spokeswoman on Monday.

The Opera Festival, which is the single biggest cultural contributor to the Wexford economy, worth tens of millions each year, is scheduled to take place from October 20 to November 1.

It was reported earlier that all going well, plans were proceeding towards a full festival in the autumn, with cast members already announced and stage designs in progress.

But under the recently-outlined Phase 5 of the Government’s plan to exit the lockdown, beginning on August 10, festivals and other cultural gatherings may be held only with restricted numbers and re-opened theatres must also maintain safe distancing.

That will present a major challenge for the Opera Festival with social distancing being the main difficulty in the National Opera House which has two theatres of 771 and 176 fixed seats, not just for the tightly packed audience but also the orchestra and performers, as well as in other spill-over venues around the town.

With an international audience and stage performers and backstage crews due to arrive from all over the world in September for rehearsals and preparations, Opera Festival management must make a decision soon on a viable format of this year’s event.

The festival spokeswoman confirmed on Monday that discussions are being finalised and an announcement on the holding of the 2020 is ‘imminent’ and will be ‘positive’.

Meanwhile, Wexford Festival Opera said it has always been publicly open about incurring substantial debts in 2018, following the publication at the weekend of an audit which found there was ‘limited oversight’ of the artistic budget and no formal policies in relation to expenses, payroll, procurement and credit card spending.

The audit was carried out by accountancy firm Mazars on behalf of the Arts Council after the international opera event lost €730,000 that year. The findings were published in the Sunday Times which obtained the information following a Freedom of Information application despite a request by the Opera Festival to the information commissioner not to make it public.

Wexford Festival maintained that the publication of the findings would be detrimental to its reputation.

The Arts Council withheld its €1.45m grant for 2019 while the audit was taking place in March last year and released the money after the festival gave a commitment to improve financial reporting in line with the audit recommendations.

A festival spokeswoman said the organisation has been open about its ‘2018 financial woes’ which were mentioned in a 2019 artistic programme press release and also the chairperson’s festival programme address.

The difficulties arose from an ambitious artistic programme going over budget and lower than expected box office and development income.

The festival engaged fully with the Arts Council in relation to these issues and with the audit review by Mazars.

The spokeswoman said the audit was carried out to examine how the Festival could become better and stronger as an organisation rather than as a reprimand and there was never a suggestion of wrongdoing.

‘It identified what happened, why it happened and what we can do to ensure it doesn’t happen again, to make sure we are working as efficiently as possible. We learned a lot from it and we turned things around straight away.

‘The relationship between the Opera Festival and the Arts Council is very good. They are there to help and support,’ she said.

The Opera Festival said it fulfilled all the conditions of its Arts Council funding last year and was awarded the same amount in grants this year.

The festival returned to profitability in 2019 with all cost headings coming in below budget, and achieved a surplus as it had previously done in 2017.

In the audit, Mazars said the lack of oversight of artistic budgets by the festival led to risks that budgets were not adequately controlled.

According to the Sunday Times, it found the amount budgeted by the artistic department was in excess of the amount approved by the board.

A salary increase for one staff member was not included in the budget and there was no formal timely reporting in place by the artistic team to inform the artistic director (David Agler) of the developing overspend position on the budget, or to immediately escalate the position to the finance committee and the board.

The budget over ran in 2018 because of higher than anticipated costs for set construction and transport. The extra expenses included delays in shipping from America for a co-production with Minnesota Opera, increased cost of accommodation and increased fees for late cast changes, partly due to a contracted performer cancelling at very late notice.

The auditors said the festival had been unable to build up reserves to meet these shortfalls, partly due to capital commitments made in the construction of the National Opera House over a decade ago and also recessionary constraints.

The auditors found there was no procurement policy at the time of the overspend and noted that: ‘in the absence of such a policy, including formally agreeing spending limits, it is unclear how the festival board could be satisfied that value for money was consistently obtained when procuring goods or services’.

There was no formal payroll policy and no approval needed for staff taking time off. There was also no policy on withdrawals on credit and debit cards and no limits on spending on accommodation, meals or expenses, leading to the potential for unauthorised spend.

A review of 24 expenses claims found six were not properly vouched. One claim for a hotel included minibar costs, with no indication of the purpose of the entertainment or who was involved.

The Arts Council is continuing to engage with the festival to ensure that all conditions attached to its financial assistance are being met.