News
24 July, 2024
Festival still fighting
Despite a really strong start to ticket sales, the Woodford Folk Festival is still running a large financial risk if there isn’t a consistent flow of monthly sales until December.
Woodfordia managing director Amanda Jackes emphasised in a heartfelt letter how critical attendance is this year, more than it has ever been, due to poor sales last year and increasing financial pressures.
“At a gathering earlier this year, everyone agreed that we should forge ahead unapologetically for an ambitious Woodford Folk Festival this year, and we are”, she wrote.
“We hope you noticed our very small ticket price increases are nowhere near matching the infl ation rates we are seeing from suppliers.
“We are totally dependent for the future of Woodford Folk Festival on the number of people who purchase tickets and attend.”
Ms Jackes added “the risk is only increasing”, with their surplus margins being halved, acknowledging “the margins will never return to what they were”.
It’s through surplus margins that Woodfordia was able to transform a dairy farm into the Folk Festival village, including building the infrastructure and reforesting the land.
“We have been working to establish other great social enterprises that will allow sustainable surpluses, helping us underpin the risk the Woodford Folk Festival takes annually”, Ms Jackes wrote.
“We know that not everyone can come every year, but this is the year that really needs to work for us.”
According to Ms Jackes research has shown that most Folk Festival newcomers have come because of the dedicated Woodfordia lovers, who have “passionately introduced” their friends and family.
“If everyone can bring just one more person to share the festival with this year, Woodfordia will prosper into the future”, she wrote. “Music is universal and celebrating it live with community is as powerful as it gets.”
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.
Woodford Hotel owner, Richard Deery, says the Folk Festival provides a huge boost to the town over the Christmas break, bringing an extra 20 to 30 per cent more people into town the week before and week of the festival.
“The festival is fantastic because it puts Woodford on the map and is an amazing event supporting cultural mixture”, he said.
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.
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.
The 2022/23 six-day festival generated an estimated $28m economic impact across the Moreton Bay region in 2022/23.
More info and tickets can be found at www.woodfordia.org.au
