Adelaide Festival Centre reports 77 shows cancelled during Coronavirus shutdown

October 14, 2020

The Adelaide Festival Centre has unveiled the effects of COVID-19 restrictions on its finances with more than 77 shows having been cancelled during the Coronavirus shutdown.

In the period to 30th June, the venue had to refund more than $2 million in tickets and lost another $2.4 million in venue hire fees between March and June while income from its sales of goods and services fell by around $12 million to just under $16 million compared with the previous year.

Staffing levels have also been slashed by more than half (58%) including the loss of 180 casual staff who were stood down and six full-time or part-time roles which were not renewed or replaced.

Writing in the venue’s annual report, Chief Executive Douglas Gautier stated that after the Centre’s closure in March “in the following weeks, AFC’s ticketing agency, BASS, refunded 19,560 tickets with a gross value of more than $2 million for School of Rock the Musical, which was due to open in March.

“Between the closure and the end of the 2019/20 financial year, 77 bookings for shows in AFC venues were cancelled or postponed, resulting in more than $2.4 million in lost revenue from venue hire.

“This in turn resulted in similar revenue losses in ticketing, food and beverage, production and marketing services. All the functions, conferences and weddings which would usually fill AFC’s Banquet Room and restaurant and generate revenue were also cancelled.”

A report released today by the Live Entertainment Industry Forum (LEIF), undertaken by consultants EY, shows that COVID-19 will lead to a fall of 65% in the economic output of the entertainment industry to $12.8 billion in 2020 if restrictions remain in place until the end of year.

Image: Adelaide Festival Centre.

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