Cancelled music festivals in one Aussie state handed lifeline

The NSW government unveiled its two-year Contemporary Music Festival Viability Fund, which it says will “improve short-term viability for festival operators” and “retain contemporary music festivals” which are vital to the state’s music landscape.

Sound NSW established the fund to address financial pressures which have forced multiple festivals to fold, including rising costs, inflation, freight and the currency exchange. 

The fund will offer up to $500,000 per festival, with the emergency cash support available for two years for festivals with capacities of 15,000 or more.

It will kick in this month ahead of the summer festival season and is set to run until June 30, 2026.

There will also be amendments to the Music Festivals Act to help revive the struggling industry.

These reforms include giving festival operators more power to control spiralling costs.

Minister for Music and the Night-Time Economy John Graham said the fund was a response to the slow collapse of music festivals both in NSW and around Australia.

“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,” Graham said.

“Festivals are an important place for music fans to experience the music they love together and form connections with artists and their community.

“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.”

Ryan Park, NSW Minister for Health, said the program will prioritise health and safety at music festivals.

“NSW Health continues to work closely with musical festivals to institute a range of harm reduction measures including deploying NSW Ambulance personnel; peer based harm reduction service providers; private medical providers onsite; as well as communications and awareness campaigns,” he said.

In May, NSW festival Return to Rio called it quits and blamed the rising costs of government regulations around music festivals, saying that police and medical costs had risen by “529 per cent” in the last year.