How to run a sellout festival without selling out
It’s a week away from “bump in” and the Brisbane Festival offices are buzzing. The coffee machine’s on the blink, event signage and props are stacked up between desks and even the chief executive’s office is being used for storage. It’s all hands on deck for Brisbane’s annual cultural festival, which takes years of planning, a stellar team of staff, hundreds of artists and a steady hand on the tiller to bring it all together.
And for the past six years, that steady hand has belonged to chief executive Valmay Hill.
An economist by trade, Hill works hand-in-glove with the festival’s artistic director, who this year is debutant David Berthold, to deliver a program to “excite the mind”.
It’s a process, Hill says, that is a jigsaw of competing forces, which begins with the artistic director.
“We start with the art, so he crafts the design and the look and feel of the festival and then my job is then to deliver it,’’ she says.
“It always starts with the art, but in terms of say, our shareholders’ funding, we have to do a certain level of free events, we have to do something for everyone so we’ve got a whole array of deliverables that we have to come up with.’’
Brisbane Festival receives more than $5 million in State Government funding, plus support from Brisbane City Council, Tourism and Events Queensland and major
sponsors and partners.
Managing those expectations and the budget is a juggling act worthy of a Spiegeltent performance, but Hill says there are no tensions between the business of the festival and the artistic vision.
“Where the tensions come is in terms of monies and some of the hooks on those monies,’’ she says.
“We may have to modify things or it can’t be as big as this, or we can’t do that, direction about how to do that and what modifications you’ll do, so we still have a well-crafted festival.”
Those compromises are a common theme among festival organisers, who have complex budgets to balance and funding conditions to meet.
Nigel Lavender, executive director of the biennial Queensland Music Festival, says it’s a fine balance between risk and reward.
He and artistic director James Morrison delivered an epic program earlier this year that was attended by more than 125,000 people across 1000 events, including the creation of a symphony orchestra in Mount Isa.
“The truth is, unless you’re pushing boundaries and taking some risks, you don’t create opportunities,’’ he says.
“There’s a fine balance between risk and opportunity. What we try and do is alleviate risk as far as we possibly can.’’
Each festival, QMF identifies an A-list and B-list of projects at an early planning stage and then budgeting begins.
“You tend to scale the event according to what you think is affordable and appropriate,’’ he says. “Some events can actually be fairly expensive with a small income against them, but they’re worth doing because they’re festival pieces ... you need to produce a festival program with a balance.’’
It’s a similar balancing act for Hill, who says she’s worked hard over her six years at the helm to improve operational efficiencies to ensure she can pour as much money as possible into the art and to bring in a profit to keep healthy reserves.
And when festival week rolls around on September 5, it’s the start of a hectic schedule of events, with Hill attending as many opening night performances and parties as she can to catch up with stakeholders, partners and potential sponsors.
Bubbling along in the background are meetings and plans for future festivals, with elementary planning beginning years ahead.
Long-term planning has gone beyond each individual event, with Hill and former artistic director Noel Staunton focusing on building the festival’s brand and organisation to ensure it thrives, no matter who’s driving it.
“What I’ve tried to do is establish an organisation and a brand so the artistic directors come and go into that organisation, albeit with their own twist,’’ she says.
More than a million people attend Brisbane Festival events each year, generating $2.5 million in box-office revenue, while interstate visitors contribute 76,000 bed nights and $23 million to the local economy.
It’s just one festival that’s a solid money-spinner for Queensland, with events now a key part of tourism marketing.
Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) estimates major events attract 200,000 visitors to the Sunshine State each year, bringing $330 million to the economy.
“The good thing about events is that we can place them where there isn’t traditional tourism visitation,’’ TEQ chief executive Leanne Coddington says.
“So shoulder season, low season can have great events in that time to broaden the appeal of a destination.’’
TEQ supports several major events, but says it’s not bums on seats that are the only measure of success.
“It’s not just about selling out all of your tickets, it’s about who you’re selling those tickets to,’’ Coddington says.
“We want to see that interstate or out-of-town visitation … increase over time.’’
Woodford Folk Festival is an event that’s done just that and brings $20 million of economic value to the community each year, with 178,000 visitor nights.
This year, the festival is gearing up to celebrate its 30th anniversary and founding director Bill Hauritz says he plans to keep the annual music event around for generations to come. Hauritz says while most festivals “don’t stand the test of time”, Woodford has a vision he believes is sustainable.
“To set a platform for the future, we need to have an artistic vision with the eyes of an artist and not get too hooked into creating business for business’s sake,’’ he says.
“We’re not knocking business, but … we don’t want our future being encumbered by debt, and that’s environmental debt as well as financial debt.’’
The annual six-day festival attracts 120,000 people and making it run requires a full-time staff of 25 and 2500 volunteers. There’s been some help from TEQ in recent years, but the festival is run on a not-for-profit basis and more money would always be welcome.
“We said in the early days that we always needed $100,000 more than we had and now days that figure is about $1 million,’’ he says.
While Woodford thrives nonetheless, the future of other festivals hasn’t been as rosy, with electronic music festival Future Music hitting the skids, the Big Day Out dead and the company behind Noosa Food and Wine Festival going into voluntary administration in May.
It may be hard work delivering a festival, but QMF’s Lavender describes his job as the most rewarding experience of his career, while Hill can’t wait to get out and enjoy what she’s helped to create.
“What I love about the festival is when you’re sitting in a performance and the audience just love it,’’ she says.
“When they finish and they come out and they’re either chatting about it or they’re happy or they’re stimulated – that gives me goose bumps.
“That, for me, is the real thrill of the festival.’’
Brisbane Festival runs across various venues from September 5-26. For details visit the festival website
Source : Queensland Business Monthly Emma Chalmers 1st September 2015
