‘This is a Game-Changer For Our Entire Industry’: AFA Responds to NSW Festivals Reforms

Sweeping changes announced by the New South Wales government this week to support the struggling music festivals sector are nothing short of a “game-changer.”

That’s the response from the Australian Festivals Association (AFA), which is celebrating a win with state government committing to two years of emergency funding assistance (with an initial $3 million allocated) and a batch of reforms that would improve the regulatory framework for music festivals, timed to coincide with the upcoming summer events season.

In a clip shot outside NSW parliament, AFA managing director Mitch Wilson and chair Adelle Robinson addressed the major reforms, and thanked minister for music and the night-time economy John Graham, head of Sound NSW Emily Collins, and their respective teams, for delivering this “crucial package” for fests.

“We’ve secured a huge win for festivals in New South Wales,” comments Robinson. “$500,000 grants and major reforms to the Music Festivals Act,” adds Wilson.

“This is a game-changer for our entire industry,” adds Robinson.

Following a review, state government confirmed a range of amendments to the Music Festivals Act would introduced to Parliament. They include:

– 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.

“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,” said Graham, announcing the reforms earlier in the week. “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 initiative, a two-year Contemporary Music Festival Viability Fund has been established by Sound NSW, offering 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.

“Through these proposed amendments, our music festival funding package, and our ongoing Vibrancy Reforms,” Graham continues, “we are seeking to make NSW a more vibrant place for live music to thrive.”

Music festival organisers across the land have been undermined at every angle, from the cost-of-living crisis, to late ticket buying, bad weather and more. The NSW government’s helping hand comes as another brand, the travelling R&B show Fridayz Live, announces it would skip 2024. 

Read more on the festival funding here.