Page 1186 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 7 May 2014

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MR SMYTH: Minister, what are the elements that led to the $7,500 loss for the Fringe Festival?

MS BURCH: It is my understanding that there was not a loss to the Fringe Festival. I read some of that information for the first time in the Canberra Times where Mr Gardner has claimed that he is in fact out of pocket. But there was $20,000 put on the table for the Fringe Festival. It was a success and Mr Jorian Gardner has indeed acquitted to the $20,000.

The Fringe Festival was a success. Over 18,000 people went through it. I am very satisfied with the level of the Fringe Festival. It has had positive feedback to me and I would expect that we will see the fringe back in 2015.

MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mrs Jones.

MRS JONES: Minister, is the territory compensating the festival director for a $7,500 loss, and what discussions has the government had with the director regarding this?

MS BURCH: I am not privy to any of those contractual arrangements and discussions between the directorate and Mr Gardner.

MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Porter.

MS PORTER: Minister, how did the community respond to the Fringe Festival?

MS BURCH: The community responded very well to the Fringe Festival and the Multicultural Festival. We saw 250,000 people, that is, a quarter of a million people, out of this city and the area come to celebrate our diverse multicultural community. I call that a great success.

The fringe, which has been out of connection with the National Multicultural Festival for a number of years now, has come back, and I perceive that 18,000-plus Canberrans came through. I have not had anyone who was directly at the Fringe Festival make any other comment than of their enjoyment of the fringe.

Multicultural affairs—Fringe Festival

MRS JONES: My question is to the Minister for the Arts. Minister, on 26 November 2013 you advised the Assembly that you made the appointment of Mr Gardner as director of the 2014 Fringe Festival yourself. In documents recently released through the FOI process in relation to this appointment, you noted that you “took into account advice from artsACT and the Office of Multicultural Affairs”. In documents released, a senior executive in artsACT had advised:

We have similar experience with Jorian and grants that remain unacquitted, however his name has always been replaced by a business colleague (read girlfriend). I project an active negative response from the arts community to the announcement and the lack of peer review due to Jorian and his reputation for not paying artists/suppliers and his lack of artistic credibility and judgement.

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