Tweaks for arts festival after it runs at loss

The month-long Southland Arts Festival ran at an $8200 loss this year and some tweaks may be afoot for next year’s version.

The ninth annual festival was held from April 20 to May 20 in a variety of locations around Southland.

Nearly 5000 people attended 47 events, which were put on by 19 different acts in the music, theatre, dance, comedy and literary fields.

Venture Southland chief executive Paul Casson said any event carried a risk. ‘‘We plan to break even on these projects, but we can’t always,’’ he said at a Venture meeting this week.

A festival report prepared by creative projects manager Angela Newell said expenses for the festival totalled $110,000 and revenue was $101,500.

Income from ticket sales totalled $28,573 and funding came from numerous organisations, including the Community Trust of Southland [$17,000], ILT Foundation [$15,000] and Invercargill City Council [$10,000].

The events enjoyed good media coverage but ticket sales were down on budget, Newell said.

It was the first year the festival had run at a loss.

Next year the event would go back to three weeks.

The reliance on ticket income was considerable and any fluctuation in audience numbers could be detrimental to the bottom line.

Finding ways to attract audiences to more unconventional performance was still a challenge.

Shows were held in Riverton, Te Anau, Winton, Lumsden, Waikaia, Tuatapere, Otautau, Gore, Tokanui and Stewart Island.

Newell said organisers were happy with the festival and feedback. Events were hard to sell when there were no known ‘‘stars’’, while another event clashed with a big sports event.