2023 - 24 Annual Report
2023 - 24 Annual Report content
Message from the Chief Executive
The 2024 Adelaide Festival was a rich blend of curated work by renowned directors, thought provoking theatre, deeply personal storytelling, outstanding dance performances, and a celebration of our First Nations artists.
2024 was a festival quite unlike any other. This year, our free events, including the iconic international symbol of human rights, Little Amal, and Captain Boomer’s Whale, smashed previous attendance records with 391,175 people attending our free events, exhibitions and installations. A total audience of 457,505 attended all Adelaide Festival events, both ticketed and free, more than doubling that of 2023.
However, despite the record attendance, our final box office figure of $4,327,766 was short of its target, and this, combined with rising costs such as freight, labour and general business expenses, has meant that Adelaide Festival has posted a deficit of ($825k) for the financial year 2023-24.
Adelaide Festival is not alone in experiencing a box office shortfall in 2024, with many of our industry peers encountering similar challenges and numerous festivals being cancelled or postponed, underlining the theory that cost of living pressures had a profound impact on ticketed events. Despite the shortfall, we were pleased to exceed our targets for economic impact ($76.8m up from $58m) alongside the overall record audience attendance numbers.
Adelaide Festival has a prudent policy of building reserves to navigate the inevitable cycle of good and bad years that all festivals experience - a strategy that will enable us to absorb the current deficit. Thanks to this foresight, we are presenting a rich and dynamic program in 2025, one that we are confident will drive growth and rebuild our reserves.
Adelaide Festival truly is Australia’s International Festival, and we are proud to carry on the great tradition of Adelaide Festival, over more than 60 years, of presenting the world’s best artists, including artists from right here in South Australia. Running an international festival in this global environment is not an endeavour for the faint hearted, but one that is more important than ever.
I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who played a part in making this great festival such an iconic event for South Australia. Special gratitude goes to the government of South Australia and our many, wonderful corporate and philanthropic supporters, all the festival artists and, of course, our incredible board and the amazing team – we couldn’t do it without you.