Festivals Crisis: NSW Gov’t Announces Major Reforms, Financial Support

As music festivals in New South Wales struggle from an assortment of downward pressures, some welcome relief.

State government unveils new regulatory and financial support, targeting those contemporary music festivals under the pump.

As part of the shakeup, announced Tuesday, Sept. 17, fests across the state will receive two years of emergency funding assistance, with an initial $3 million allocated.

In another positive for promoters, the NSW government has committed to a slew of reforms that would improve the regulatory framework for music festivals, doing so just in time for the summer festival season.

A range of amendments to the Music Festivals Act will be introduced to Parliament, including:

– Explicit objectives in the Act which focus on Government supporting the festival sector
– Removing the ‘subject’ festival designation from the Act
– All music festivals will now be required to have a Health and Medical Plan, expanding the industry’ existing best practice across the sector. Festivals with previous incidents will be required to agree their plan with Health.
– Liquor & Gaming NSW will become the key decision maker, on advice from NSW Health and NSW Police. The Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority will retain a role if a festival organiser appeals a requirement to have its Health and Medical plan agreed by health.
– Decisions on costs and conditions will now be able to be appealed internally within agencies. A festival will have a right to appeal to a cross-government panel on costs if a festival’s economic viability is under threat.
– NSW Police will retain an ability to recommend safety and law enforcement measures for a festival where they deem it is necessary.

“NSW has had a strong music festival sector, but it has been under intense pressure. We have seen the chickens come home to roost after years of pressure, with major festivals failing,” comments minister for music and the night-time economy John Graham.

“Festivals are facing challenges across the globe and around Australia with the increased price of doing business, the costs of living crisis and changing audience behaviours,” adds Graham. “We know these challenges have been felt acutely in NSW thanks to overlapping and confusing regulations.”

Now that the review on the Music Festivals Act is complete, adds Graham, “we are introducing these reforms to strengthen our support for these vital live music events.”

As part of the shake-up, a two-year Contemporary Music Festival Viability Fund has been established by Sound NSW, an initiative to address the myriad financial pressures facing the industry, from rising costs, inflation, freight, the currency exchange and more.

The fund will offer support to existing large-scale contemporary music festivals (with a 15,000 capacity or greater) with a track record of delivering significant outcomes for contemporary music up to $500,000 per festival.

The aim of the fund “is to help improve short-term viability for festival operators,” reads a statement from Sound NSW, “reduce burden and risk, and boost confidence across audiences and the live music industry at large.”

Funding is available for two years for festivals, for a program that opens in September 2024 and close on June 30 2026. Applications will be accepted at any time, on a needs-basis.

The nation’s vibrant (and troubled) festivals industry was dissected by a panel of music industry experts for the inaugural Variety Live Business Breakfast in June.

“We’re in a probably a five-year transitional cycle of change,” explained Evelyn Richardson, the outgoing CEO of Live Performance Australia. “I’m optimistic that we’ll see new festivals emerge.”

The operating costs are “just so severe,” she continued at the time, with some touring shows reporting costs of 30% up to 70%. “To sustain the industry, when we talk with government, anything that reduces those operational costs is going be important. And I think governments, particularly state governments, can do stuff in terms of the venues that they own, the user, policing, medical and all of the services that they provide,” she added. “Anything they can do today to reduce those costs. That’s something practical that they can do.”

The landmark Soundcheck report mapped Australia’s festivals market and found operational costs remain the biggest barriers to organisers. Noted Dr Christen Cornell, research fellow and manager, research partnerships at Creative Australia, which presented the report in April, the main ticket-buying demographic of 18-24 had aged to 25-29, and that “ticket-buying behaviours had changed, so people are buying later.”

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