News
4 June, 2024
Folk ticket sales strong
Woodford Folk Festival tickets went on sale last week and Woodfordia president Amanda Jackes said the sales are going “really strong”, leaving “no doubt the festival is going ahead” this year.
“We’re very pleased with sales,” she said. “The festival has such a high, loyal audience, with 70 per cent of people being returning attendees.”
Ms Jackes said almost half the tickets are sold before the festival program is even released, showing the confidence festival goers have in organisers delivering an amazing experience.
People who want to attend the festival but may not have the means, can apply for volunteer positions in September.
Volunteers typically work five hours per day, every day of the festival, and get free entry in return.
This exciting news comes after many big Aussie festivals were cancelled due to financial pressures and lower ticket sales than expected.
Ms Jackes said putting on festivals has definitely become a riskier business since Covid, as festival expenses increased 30 per cent during that period and some costs haven’t dropped since.
Combining this with increasing cost-of-living prices, festivals today need to basically sell out to pay bills.
“You can’t pass these expense increases onto ticket holders, which means festivals are having to absorb costs,” she said.
Ms Jackes estimates before Covid every one in five festivals wouldn’t do well, often having to do with weather conditions and other similar factors.
Today, she estimates it’s every one in three, with festivals that rely more on international acts being harder hit.
Some costs ticket buyers may be unaware of, that go into the pricing, include employee costs, which make up over 12 per cent of expenses (Woodfordia has full-time, part-time, and casual employees, hired security, on top of over 2500 volunteers, who also cost money), insurance costs, food and beverage licenses and purchases, performers, and interest expenses.
A Moreton Bay Council spokesperson said the festival is “an institution on the Australian music and festival scene”, bringing an estimated economic activity of over $20 million to Moreton Bay.
“We look forward to the Festival continuing to make a valued impact on our creative and tourism economy and encourage people to buy tickets,” they said.
It is estimated 93 per cent of festival goers come from outside Moreton Bay, with 40 per cent coming from outside Queensland, generating an estimated economic impact of $32 million overall in Queensland.
Council supported the Woodford Folk Festival with $500,000 through two operational support grants in the past two years and in 2011, purchased the Woodfordia site to guarantee the long-term future of the Woodford Folk Festival and the economic benefits it brings to the Woodford township and more broadly the local economy.
