Page 2927 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 29 June 2011
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to gain recognition and momentum over time. It is nigh on impossible to create a runaway overnight success when it comes to festivals. Floriade is a good example of this; as we all know, it started out small and local and now has grown to attract visitors from much further afield.
For this reason, I think some of the commentary on the profit margins and number of free tickets has been somewhat short-sighted. I think it was unrealistic to expect the event to be an instant success. It may well take a number of festivals over a number of years to grow into what the government hopes it could be.
That said, there will be lessons learnt from this year’s Enlighten. Certainly the choice of artists, the focus of the festival and the target audience are areas where we need to learn lessons. And whilst INXS are very popular for people from my and Mr Barr’s generation, they perhaps were not the exact type of artists we need for this kind of festival. They are some of the evaluations that no doubt need to take place.
From what I have heard, the light shows projected onto the buildings in the capital were particularly well received, and I think there are things that can be worked with to make the festival more successful next year. The essential idea of working with our national institutions and doing night-time events is an attractive one, particularly in winter. As most members know, I spent a number of years living in Amsterdam; certainly the major cultural institutions there had a very significant program of night-time openings. They were immensely popular; once they became well known, it was very difficult to get tickets to many of them because it was such a popular thing to do. So I think there is real opportunity in that sort of area.
I encourage the government to both experiment and learn from the things that did not work so well this year. Recommendation 86 in the estimates report sums up the situation pretty well when it suggests that the government should provide details on how it will improve Enlighten and over what time frame. As I said, I think there are improvements that need to be made, and the government needs to be quite strategic in looking at its future investment in the festival.
Another aspect of tourism in the budget is the blockbuster fund, which has been welcomed by the industry and related businesses. Certainly it was well recognised at the AHA dinner on Monday night; it was clearly a popular decision amongst the industry. It is a proactive way of putting aside some money towards getting those blockbuster events into the ACT. I note the recommendation from the estimates committee that the government should table the guidelines that apply to accessing the blockbuster fund. I understand that there are large amounts of money involved in the fund and that it needs to be spent in a transparent way and according to strategic guidelines where we can see that the money is being spent in a sensible way.
I endorse the recommendations, but I would like to make some additional comments. The guidelines will aid transparency and ensure that there is direction as to how the government spends the money, but we also need to allow for flexibility and responsiveness to the sorts of events that may appear on the horizon. We have all talked very positively about Masterpieces as being the ultimate event to come to Canberra. The government’s investment in that was clearly a very successful one. But
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