Festivals have become a major part of Australian life, offering a unique and valuable contribution to our culture. Community festivals in regional Australia are increasing both in number and popularity. They range in size from small community celebrations to major cultural events, and feature a variety of themes as diverse as flower arranging, heritage, food and wine, multicultural events, music and the arts.
There are now some 1,300 festivals Australia-wide each year, ranging from major international events such as the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide International Festivals to the more regional and community based events. These festivals provide tangible benefits by giving their communities a creative focus, generating pride in the community and providing economic benefits by attracting tourists to the area.
Table 12.22 reflects the findings of a survey of festivals conducted in 1995 by the Australia Council, and shows that the total government grant, backing small and large arts festivals in Australia, amounted to $13.3m. Box office and subscription sales for larger arts festivals amounted to $16.6m, while sponsorships and donations amounted to $10.7m. Income totalled $46.9m for larger arts festivals and $7.6m for smaller arts festivals. The Australia Council defined large festivals as those with expenditure of $300,000 and over. Using this measure, 31 arts festivals were included in the 'larger' group.
12.22 OPERATING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE OF ARTS FESTIVALS - 1995 |
|
| Larger arts festivals
$m | Smaller arts festivals
$m |
|
Government funding | 11.5 | 1.8 |
All other income | 35.4 | 5.8 |
Total income | 46.9 | 7.6 |
Salaries and fees | 17.0 | 3.0 |
All other expenditure | 28.9 | 4.6 |
Total expenditure | 45.9 | 7.6 |
|
Source: Australia Council, Festival Survey 1995. |
Four quarterly surveys in 1995 and 1996, which asked about attendance at festivals over the previous 12 months, were conducted by the ABS. Over half of the attendances (2.4 million or 58.7%) were to main arts festivals, followed by popular music festivals (632,000 or 15.4%), art/museum exhibitions (287,000 or 7.0%) and film/video festivals (252,000 or 6.2%). Females were more likely to have attended a festival in the previous 12 months (23.0%) than males (20.8%) (table 12.23).
12.23 ATTENDANCES AT FESTIVALS(a)(b) - November 1995 to September 1996
|
| Attendances
|
|
|
| Males
’000 | Females
’000 | Persons
’000 |
|
Main arts festivals | 1,101 | 1,303 | 2,404 |
Other festivals - | | | |
- Art/museum exhibition | 138 | 149 | 287 |
- Popular music | 335 | 297 | 632 |
- Classical music | 32 | 31 | 63 |
- Film/video | 115 | 136 | 252 |
- Theatre | *17 | 50 | 67 |
- Dance | 53 | 35 | 88 |
- Other performing arts | 89 | 77 | 166 |
- Craft | *17 | 24 | 42 |
- Other | 42 | 50 | 92 |
- Total | 840 | 849 | 1,689 |
Total attendances | 1,941 | 2,152 | 4,094 |
Total number of people attending | 1,335 | 1,518 | 2,853 |
| % | % | % |
Participation rate(c) | 20.8 | 23.0 | 21.9 |
|
(a) Attendances during the previous 12 months.
(b) Includes all people who attended a festival, whether they went to paid or free events.
(c) For each group the total number attending expressed as a percentage of the civilian population in that group.
Source: Attendance at Festivals, Australia, November 1995 to September 1996, Department of Communications and the Arts. |