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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-03-29 Daily Xml
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Festivals Adelaide Report

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:54): I was thrilled to read a new report commissioned by Festivals Adelaide which showed the outstanding economic impact of South Australia's 10 major arts festivals. Arts SA revealed that the festivals injected $79.8 million into South Australia last year and that South Australia was responsible for almost half of Australia's overall festival ticket sales. To quote minister Jack Snelling:

It is not just something for the hoi polloi, it actually puts dinner on the table for thousands of South Australian families, they get jobs directly employed in the arts but also the general hospitality sector as well, and in our hotel rooms and so on.

Festivals Adelaide CEO Christie Anthoney added:

The festivals in South Australia employ the equivalent of 850 full time people and provide deep engagement and entertainment to South Australian inquisitive audiences, so they are indeed a sector to be reckoned with.

This year, ticket sales at the Fringe were up 9 per cent, and the Adelaide Festival took a record-breaking $4 million at the box office. A total of 655,541 Fringe tickets were sold, worth $16.2 million. According to the media release on the Fringe's official website, 43 per cent of total ticket sales were from the Fringe's smaller venues and the remaining 57 per cent of sales were from the Garden of Unearthly Delights, Gluttony and the Royal Croquet Club.

SA is leading Australia with our festivals, and Adelaide deservedly stands as a Unesco City of Music. Music delegates from eight countries met in Adelaide as we hosted the Unesco Creative Cities Network from 7 to 10 March. The objectives of the meeting were to develop and build collaboration across the network, share information and best practice, and showcase Adelaide as a creative city with music as its heartbeat.

The Live Music Office comparative table shows SA is leading all other states with our live music regulation. South Australia has demonstrated multi-agency coordination, led by the MDO and Music SA, along with industry, local and state government collaboration. South Australia has delivered a list of policies that are not found anywhere else across the country, but our work is not done, as we watch Sydney dissolve into an entertainment wasteland, suffocating under draconian lock-out laws. A new study by the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has found that, predictably, the lock-out laws have not cured the state of alcohol-fuelled violence, but rather have pushed it out into surrounding suburbs bordering the lock-out zone.

On a brighter note, I attended the Grace Emily Hotel's induction into the South Australian Music Hall of Fame recently. Proprietors George Swallow and Symon Jarowyj should be very proud of their hard work and community building. Where else would you find the likes of Billy Bob's BBQ Jam on a Monday evening or the Christmas Day yabby race? The Grace Emily Hotel is truly an iconic venue and deserved the Hall of Fame induction.

The Gov has just been announced as the inaugural APRA Music Awards Licensee of the Year for commitment to supporting local artists and the broader music community. These awards acknowledge their many years of commitment to nurturing live music and artists, particularly in the early days of artists' careers.

Adelaide rapper Tkay Maidza has just been listed as one of Nike's Aussie ambassadors during their Month of Max, the only Adelaide ambassador across the range. Tkay is managed by Adelaide based Five Four Entertainment and has engaged with or moved through funded programs of Northern Sound System, Music SA, the Robert Stigwood Fellowship Program and international touring grants.

Congratulations to the Grace Emily, the Governor Hindmarsh and Tkay. Congratulations also to all of those involved in the recent festivals. Their success stories are a reminder of what can be achieved when we invest in local grassroots arts programs. Gail Kovatseff, chair of the Arts Industry Council of South Australia, called for greater investment in grassroots arts and expressed concern about any depletion in investment.

I too believe that it is important to recognise what grassroots venues and artists are achieving with some good ground-level investment and support. Grassroots venues are not to be taken for granted, and support needs to be consistent. Greater support for these venues and artists will assist them in being sustainable and encourage them to flourish and support the next generation of artists.

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