FESTIVALS ADELAIDE FICTION
By Peter Maddern
It was with some surprise that one read this morning’s report in The Advertiser of the new Festivals Adelaide report on the figures of benefit to the State from our ten festivals. One might have thought these sorts of work of fiction had got themselves a bad name after the Centre for Economic Studies report into the supposed benefits we could all expect from the Adelaide Oval redevelopment. There, after the big splash release, we learned that none of the attendance figures used in that report were developed from research by the CES but rather supplied at the whim of the proponents of the development.
The surprise this morning was somewhat magnified when it was The Tiser’s respected Arts reporter, Patrick McDonald, who broke the story given he has been on the record in his own columns in his paper castigating the BS involved in such reports.
So how did this report go?
Well, last year the Fringe (one of the ten of Adelaide’s festivals) produced its own data and the comparison of its data with that of Festivals Adelaide leads one to again suspect the credibility of any of these ‘we are bigger, better, world class’ announcements much loved by the festivals’ organisers and the current government.
Using Festival Adelaide numbers and deducting out the Fringe equivalents we find that the Fringe produced the following:
- 62% of total tickets sold
- 77% of overall economic impact, and,
- 56% of total attendances.
There is nothing extraordinary about those disparities but then consider these:
The report suggests The Fringe produced just 24% of all visitor nights attributed to our Festivals and 14% of visitor spending. Given the above portions and the fact it is our longest festival (bar SALA), these numbers simply don’t add up and by a lot.
Further, McDonald quotes the report (which does not seem, as usual, to be available to the public – indeed a Google search does not even uncover Festivals Adelaide as an organisation) as saying that the average stay of visitors to Adelaide during and for all our Festivals is six nights per person which is nothing other than beyond belief. The report also claims that 63,850 visitors spent $58.1m. Average that out over the average stay of six nights and spending (other than on tickets) equates to $151 per day per person which is not a lot (if any) if accommodation is included. Yet, the report says there is a 5:1 ratio of return to dollars committed to generate the returns.
Needless to say no account is given on the total cost of putting these festivals on, particularly use of tax and rate payer money to attract these returns, let alone the police, security and maintenance squads necessary to keep order and return the venues to a normal state after.
To be clear, in the present environment, festivals in Adelaide are about all we have and given our unique city layout they are an enormous feature of our town. This writer loves them. But when figures produced make no sense and are breathlessly promoted when even a basic review like this shows how porous their credibility is, it might be time to tone it all down.
Further, if the 5:1 ratio is truly accurate, the State Government would be well served to pour as much cash as organisers could ever hope for to keep the gravy train coming and growing (cf the Adelaide Oval development where the returns are negative). Instead, the arts, like most things in this State, are being increasingly screwed by a government desperate for cash.
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